Establishing a Science and Technology Experience Hub for Evacuated Secondary School Students

The southern city of Eilat, a tourist destination in normal days, is home to 55,000 residents. Now, the population has more than doubled, with 60,000 evacuees immediately relocated to the city’s hotels. A month later, the city is grappling with the challenges of overcrowding, displaced and posttraumatic youth, violence, and substance abuse – the human challenge is enormous. The municipality, together with many philanthropic partners, is doing its best by opening the local schools for a second shift in the afternoon and setting up a large tent along the city’s boulevard, where social workers are available during the night.

In an effort to contribute to the efforts of providing educational frameworks for the youth in Eilat, we turned to Unistream. Unistream is a grantee partner of the foundation and an expert in organizing educational and entrepreneurial programs for at-risk youth. The flagship program they operate is managing a network of entrepreneurship centers for youth in the periphery, teaching them how to establish a startup. In collaboration with numerous high-tech companies, they organize an annual hackathon, with the participation of thousands of students.

Now, Unistream is proposing to set up a science and technology experience hub on the boulevard for the youth in Eilat. Youth aged 13-18 will be encouraged to join and participate in scientific experiments, hands-on experiences with innovative technologies, workshops led by scientists and engineers, and informal meetings with high-tech entrepreneurs. The experience hub is to be created in collaboration with the municipality, as well as with high tech companies and science centers.

The hub will operate on an experimental basis for one month, with the goal of attracting 4,000 youngsters.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 551