Sha'ar HaNegev Council Receives Grant for Educator Mental Health Support

The Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council has been awarded a special matching grant from the Genesis Prize Foundation and the Jewish Funders Network (JFN). The grant is part of an initiative honoring Genesis Prize laureate Gal Gadot, who chose to dedicate her prize funds to supporting trauma treatment, mental health, and rehabilitation in Israel. This initiative has attracted additional philanthropic partnerships for organizations and communities on the front lines of coping with the aftermath of the October 7th events.

In Sha'ar HaNegev, the grant will fund a dedicated program to strengthen the mental and professional resilience of the council's education teams. Since the October 7th attacks, educators have shouldered immense responsibility, needing to provide emotional support, rebuild students' sense of security and trust, and simultaneously cope with personal and community impacts of the complex security reality, all while managing routine educational tasks.

The program offers educators ongoing professional guidance and support, creating a space for them to process the complex situations they encounter in classrooms and activity spaces. By providing tools to understand the effects of trauma, the initiative enables staff to better identify students' needs and offer sensitive, inclusive support, based on the understanding that children's resilience is directly dependent on the resilience of the adults guiding them.

The Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council praised the partnership with "Kerem HaBayit" for helping lay the groundwork for securing the matching grant. They expressed gratitude to Gal Gadot, the Genesis Prize Foundation, the Jewish Funders Network, and all parties supporting community rehabilitation and long-term resilience building in Sha'ar HaNegev.