JDC Announces Winners of 2005 Leonore and Larry Zusman-JDC Prize

Three sets of recipients awarded $45,000 each for social services excellence in Israel

NEW YORK--- The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has announced the winners of the 2005 Leonore and Larry Zusman-JDC Prize. This annual award, underwritten by the Leonore and Larry Zusman-JDC Fund, recognizes social services excellence in Israel with a grant of $45,000 each for three sets of winners. Each winner represents one of the following categories: elder-care, immigrant assistance, development of services for the disabled, advancement of volunteerism, assistance of children at risk and organizational development.

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The 2005 recipients are as follows:

Neta Degan and Tirza Leibowitz

Attorneys Neta Degan and Tirza Leibowitz have served for over five years as the legal team of Bizchut, a nonpartisan human-rights organization working to promote the rights of people with physical, mental, or intellectual disabilities. The organization's work combines the use of legal, communal, educational, and public tools.

As the legal team of the organization that initiated the Law for Equality of People with Disabilities, they have developed a unique expertise in the area of these people's rights in general, and their right to accessibility in particular. Recently, they coordinated coalitions and forums of disabled people's organizations, putting a stress on representation for all types of disabilities, and shepherded the proposed law through dozens of Knesset sessions and meetings with met with government representatives

Nabhan Macawi

Nabhan Macawi is a resident of the Bedouin town Tel Sheva, who has for more than 20 years been working for Bedouin youth, in numerous and impressive ways.

Mr. Macawi managed the Negev Project for Equal Rights, and contributed greatly to the formation of new and advanced frameworks for children and youth. These included the Forum for Advancement of Preschool Children and the Central Parents' Committee for Children with Special Needs. He initiated and founded the Forum for Advancement of Youth, a partnership of the education and welfare authorities, third sector organizations, youth movements, and foundations, which has attracted hundreds of young people. Mr. Macawi was one of the initiators and founders of the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment, and Cooperation (AJEEC) at the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development.

Yehiel Shershevsky

Mr. Yehiel Shershevsky, who is a clinical psychologist by profession, has for the last 15 years been in charge of the system for rehabilitating the mentally disabled in the community, at the Ministry of Health. In this capacity, Mr. Shershevsky has played a central and vital role in the initiation, adoption, and implementation of a policy that seeks to rehabilitate the mentally disabled in the community.

Although the importance of the community dimension for the treatment and rehabilitation of the mentally disabled has been emphasized for many years, it has been only in recent years, and to a large measure thanks to Mr. Shershevsky's efforts, that the community approach has been applied on a larger scale.

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The Leonore and Larry Zusman-JDC Prize aims to boost awareness of the important role of voluntary and governmental social services and to recognize those, who without publicity, have impacted the lives of the less fortunate members of Israeli society. The Zusmans of Dayton, Ohio have maintained a close relationship with the State of Israel and with JDC. Their deep commitment to the welfare of Jews around the world is reflected in their active involvement in a wide range of activities through JDC, including Larry Zusman's longstanding service on the organization’s Board of Directors.

They have supported and continue to support a range of projects designed to improve the well-being of Israel's mentally and physically challenged, its elderly and its youth. Among the many initiatives in which the Zusmans have been deeply involved are the creation of the Child Development Center in the Soroka Hospital, Beersheba and a project in Jerusalem’s Old City that made the Western Wall Tunnels and the Jewish Quarter accessible to the handicapped. This project also included the creation of the first-of-its-kind Zusman Visitors and Education Center for People with Special Needs at the Jewish Quarter Community Center.

The Zusmans have also shown a rare commitment to projects for disadvantaged children and youth. These include the Neve Ruchama School, the Zichron Mecnachem Day Care Center for Children with Cancer and their Families, the Zusman Center for the Deaf and Mute in Jerusalem, and the Shiluvim Head Start program to enhance the integration of Ethiopian-Israeli schoolchildren. They also provide scholarships to needy students at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

To apply or for more information about the Larry and Leonore Zusman JDC Prize, please visit www.jdc.org/who_awards_zusman.html or email awards@jdc.org.