Blog | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Cultural Competency in Healthcare Organizations – with Israeli Forum for Diversity in Employment

“Never say ‘Diversity’ without the word ‘Inclusion’ immediately following; that is the only way employees from diverse communities can be integral parts of the organization – members of the ‘family’ and not just ‘guests’.”

Continuing to improve employment diversity

That is how our first session in a series of cultural competency workshops, which was held in partnership with the Israeli Forum for Employment Diversity, started, on October 25. It was the first of a series.

A few principles of employment diversity in healthcare organizations

The first workshops dealt with cultural competency in healthcare organizations, which was facilitated by our own Dr. Rachely Ashwal. The first part of the workshop was led by special guest Malki Rotner, Director of the Israeli Forum for Employment Diversity.

Stay tuned for more.

Here’s the original Facebook post in Hebrew:

Naomi Roff2021-12-21T07:28:04+00:00November 1st, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Cultural Competence in the Workplace|

Continuing Cultural Competency Training with Sapir College Staff

We’ve written here and here about our activities in cultural competency in academia, and here about our work with Sapir College. In early October, 2021, we held another session about teaching remotely and in a culturally senistive manner. The session focused on the the challenges resulting from Covid-19 and its implications, including remote study, which added to the complexity of teaching in a culturally competent manner.

More about teaching culturally competently

Online conference of Cultural Competence and Diversity in Online Teaching

We were invited by the Coordinator of the Israeli Hope initiative at Sapir College to lecture on “Cultural Competence and Diversity in Online Teaching”, at a digital learning conference held by the Unit for Advancing Teaching and Learning.

Discussing different issues, including ‘camera on – camera off’ during Zoom classes

Dr. Hagai Agmon-Snir, JICC’s founding director and a lecturer at Bar Ilan University on multicultural and culturally competent community development, led a discussion on teaching online classes to a culturally diverse class, on the difference between inter-generational and age-based gaps, on open and closed cameras during Zoom meetings, and also about lecturers’ frustrations and thoughts about how to stay interesting enough and relevant enough for their millennial students.

This year, too, we will continue to advance cultural competence in academia, in collaboration with coordinators of the Israeli Hope in Academia initiative. Stay tuned for more updates.

And here’s the Facebook post of Orna Shani Golan, Director of our Cultural Competency Desk:

Naomi Roff2021-12-21T07:22:23+00:00October 15th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions|

Little Prince – Working in Kiryat Hayovel to Clean Up Ad-Hoc Garbage Dumps

We’ve described here, here and here the work the Little Prince project has done over the past few years to forge partnerships with city employees.

One recent example was in the Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood in southwestern Jerusalem.

Over the years, more and more abandoned vehicles have been left on an unused area of Kiryat Hayovel, known as the Warburg complex (since it borders on Warburg St.), which is also used as a parking lot for local residents. Although it is a large lot, there is not enough space for all residents to park their cars, and the abandoned vehicles take up very critical parking spaces.

Continuing to build public-private partnerships with Little Prince

Usually, the process of handling an abandoned vehicle, from the moment the request is filed until towing, is very long (at least 6 months) and requires contact and cooperation with the municipal inspectors office and especially, with the neighborhood inspectors. Thus, it’s so much easier when responsible and dedicated inspectors help residents deal with complex cases.

Kiryat Hayovel has two amazing inspectors who help the city to function and to be cleaner: Shirley the utmost professional who walks the beat non-stop and who is in contact with residents and helps solve problems; and Maor, who is responsible for the area of abandoned vehicles in the area.

Maor was very matter-of-fact and pleasant as Little Prince activists addressed the abandoned vehicle issue at Warburg. He informed them about the process, explained why it takes more and more time, enlisted the help of residents (who sent photos from the field and made a list with vehicle numbers and models). Maor updated when the crane will arrive and how many vehicles would be collected.

Getting rid of old abandoned cars

Many thanks to Shirley for connecting the Little Prince to the right person and to Maor for understanding the need expiditing the process, and for maintaining continuous contact with residents and assistance in returning the Warburg lot to the residents. Here’s the description of the process by our Tal Kligman in her Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/351842318545451/posts/1376155942780745/

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan for their continued support of the Little Prince!

Naomi Roff2021-12-21T06:58:20+00:00October 14th, 2021|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Window to Mount Zion – Accompanying Armenian Monks, Advancing Tolerance in the Old City

A significant part of Window to Mount Zion’s activities includes accompanying different Christian religious processions in an about the Old City.

Why do the different religious figures need this? Aren’t the police there to protect them?

Accompanying Armenian processions

Many of the religious rituals include processions through public spaces – from monestaries to the Room of the Last Supper (Cenacle) or to the Church of the Holy Supulchre. During these processions, the religious figures are subject to protests and objections (in the past, sometimes violence) on the part of the general public.

Accompanying another Armenian procession

Of course, police are on hand. But in the six years that this project has operated, we’ve found that our volunteers have been quite effective in diffusing tensions, alongside the police. Because the volunteers are not police, they are not not seen as the ‘establishment.’ And because most, if not all, are also trained tour guides, they are able to describe to passersby what exactly is going on. We’ve found that, with education comes a higher degree of tolerance.

Since May of 2021 we have been accompanying Armenian monks every week on their weekly procession from the Armenian monestary to the Church of the Holy Sepulcre. This came on the heels of an attack of a monk in May, during a procession.

You can read about our accompaniment of Armenian monks here:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the American Center Jeursalem, and Keren Nitzan for their support of Window to Mount Zion.

Naomi Roff2021-09-24T14:32:58+00:00September 5th, 2021|Blog, Mount Zion|

MiniActive Youth – Cleaning Up their Neighborhood, One Section at a Time

We’ve written about MiniActive Youth here and here, and about the especially important activities here and here during the pandemic.

Getting the kindergarten ready for the school year.

This past summer, they continued to hold activities. In August, this included helping to build garden furniture and clean up the yard of a local kindergarten in the Sur Baher neighborhood. With their help, the kindergarten was able to get ready for the upcoming school year.

Painting, building, cleaning – all in a day’s work

Here’s the post (in Arabic) from MiniActive’s Facebook page:

A group worked in Beit Hanina as well, helping prepare a local garden. Here are more pictures from MiniActive’s Facebook page:

Many thanks to MiniActive Youth! And many thanks to our MiniActive partners: the Jerusalem Foundation, to Natan and to the Leichtag Foundation‘s Jerusalem Model.

Naomi Roff2021-09-24T14:34:07+00:00August 30th, 2021|Blog, MiniActive|

Atta’a – Continuing to Empower East Jerusalem Palestinians

The Atta’a Assistance Center for the Rights of East Jerusalem Residents has been helping Palestinian residents obtain rights and benefits since 2004, and we’ve described here, here, and here the amazing work they’ve been doing since the onset of the pandemic. Indeed, between March 2020 and March 2021, they helped Palestinians deal with over 7,300 requests, 4 times their annual average.

Atta’a staff being interviewed for local TV / Internet broadcast

And since March 2021, Atta’a is continuing to help local residents at an accelerated pace: From the beginning of 2021 to the end of July, Atta’a has had nearly 2,500 requests for assistance. This breaks down to:

800 requests via Facebook
500 requests via WhatsApp
and another nearly 1,200 requests via in-person meetings

What’s the reason for the uptick in requests? Well, the continued pandemic, for one. Another is that the family re-unification law, which has prevented Palestinians from filing for residency status in order to live together with their families since the early 2000’s, was not renewed in early July, and many are turning to Atta’a for help. Since posting, this video has received over 210,000 views! Here’s the video in Arabic:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Rayne Foundation, the Leichtag Foundation, and the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders for their support of Atta’a.

Naomi Roff2021-09-11T17:03:20+00:00August 25th, 2021|Attaa, Blog|

Simplifying Language – A Principle of Cultural Competency

A main principle of Cultural Competency is making services accessible to all. This includes adapting language to increase understanding. This could mean translation into different languages used – or simplifying the language used.

Keeping calm – and keeping it simple

On July 29, the JICC’s Cultural Competency Desk held a Language Simplification workshop online for cultural competency coordinators from healthcare and welfare institutions.

Dr. MIchal Schuster, on simplifying language

Dr. Michal Schuster led the fascinating meeting, which practiced with the participants important basics of simplifying language during meetings between therapists and patients from different identity groups.

Here’s a Facebook post from Cultural Competency desk’s Dr. Rachely Ashwal:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its ongoing support of cultural competency in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2021-09-24T14:34:56+00:00August 15th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Government Institutions, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Dealing with Social and Political Tensions at the Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem

The tension from the recent Guardian of the Walls operation did not go unnoticed at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem. Guided by the principles of cultural competency, half of the museum’s instructors are Jewish, and half are Palestinian. The instruction team knows how to adapt the content to the various audiences that visit it – secular, religious, and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jews and Arabs, Israelis and tourists, and the museum’s exhibits contain information in three languages - Hebrew, Arabic and English.

The intercultural encounter at the museum invites quite a few conflicts and challenges for instructors – including social and political tensions. For example one instructor described a discussion with ultra-Orthodox students about an exhibit that describes a different perception of the length of existence of the world than that which the ultra-Orthodox students hold. During the operation, Palestinian instructors described their fear of going to the Museum, located in central Jerusalem, and groups’ fear of coming into the western part of the city. There were also numerous cancellations, or demands such as one school principal’s request that there be no Jewish groups at the Museum during their visit. There were instructors who wear a Hijab, who felt that Jews did not want to receive instruction from them because they were Muslim. Or Jewish and Muslim groups who called out racist chants to before entering the museum. These issues and challenges were difficult for instructors to deal with without appropriate tools.

Diverse staff – talking about Diversity

At the beginning of July we met with a group of museum guides – Jews and Palestinians, Hebrew and Arabic-speakers, for a two-session workshop. The guides acquired tools for dealing with intercultural group encounters, effective dialogue that helps each side to ‘see’ the other, and how to conduct a dialogue in socially or politically charged situations. Together with Orna Shani Golan, Director of the Cultural Competency Desk, the instructors developed responses for how to deal with groups conflict between groups, based on political or religious differences.

This is just the beginning of cultural competency work with the staff of the Science Museum. A future workshop is planned as part of the new instructor training, and additional work will be done with with instructors who teach classes to mixed groups of Jewish and Palestinian children, to ensure that the program is culturally competent.

orna2021-08-22T06:26:16+00:00July 20th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence|

Window to Mount Zion – Bringing Improvements to Mount Zion

We’ve the Window to Mount Zion project here, as well as recent efforts to maintain the different sites, here and here.

On July 6, 2021, the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, with funding from the Jerusalem Development Authority, placed an explanatory sign at the Dajani Family Cemetery on Mount Zion. The sign explains the history of the Dajani family cemetery on Mount Zion – the family’s heritage and its members who are buried in the cemetery next to David’s tomb. It is written in Hebrew, Arabic as well as English, shows the uniqueness of Mount Zion as a sacred international heritage site for three religions.

Ms. Dajani in front of the new sign

This sign is a milestone in many ways. First, it shows that public authorities recognized the rich, diverse history of Mount Zion and the numerous narratives of the place, and seek to display this diversity to all. Second, it is yet another step in the Municipality’s (Mayor Lion’s) promise to maintain and upkeep the entire area of Mount Zion. We hope that these trends continue into the future and that Mount Zion receives the resources it deserves.

Here’s the post from the Window to Mount Zion Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Nitzan Fund and the US Embassy’s American Center Jerusalem for their support of Window to Mount Zion.

Naomi Roff2021-09-24T14:31:46+00:00July 18th, 2021|Blog, Mount Zion|

Cultural Competency for On-Call Emergency Welfare Workers

What do you do when there’s an emergency late at night that requires welfare services? This is exactly what the on-call workers of the Jerusalem Municipality’s Welfare Department are for. The on-call workers, who are all social workers, respond to a multitude of incidents, including: delivering difficult news, domestic violence cases, treating youth who have run away, and answering emergency telephone calls on various issues. About 150 on-call workers took part in cultural competency workshops via Zoom – some 100 on-call workers (in three workshops at the end of June) who work in West Jerusalem, and another about 50 workers who provide services in East Jerusalem, in a special workshop which took place on July 8 delivered in Arabic for drives of the east of the city (on 8.7.21).

workshop for west Jerusalem on call workers

Workshop for on-call workers

During the workshops participants raised inter-cultural challenges they faced when they’re on-call, which is different than their everyday work – lack of familiarity with the callers and their cultural characteristics; the rapid transitioning between the vastly different cultures and backgrounds of callers; the sometimes-opposing approaches between welfare and community services; dealing with callers’ sometimes first encounters with welfare services; the objections that arise on the background of cultural perceptions versus the authority of the social worker to carry out legal orders, and more.

One on-call worker told that she had to inform an ultra-Orthodox family about the mother’s death on Friday afternoon, right before the Sabbath. She was surprised with the family’s preoccupation with burying the mother as quickly as possible, and that they weren’t open to her attempts at grief support. Another on-call worker recounted the time that she tried to move an elderly man living in unfit conditions to a shelter, and how there was significant opposition from the family.

Participants were given tools to enable them to have a culturally competent and effective encounter: to think before the encounter what cultural sensitivities they may encounter and what is the effective response to those sensitivities and tools for deepening intercultural dialogue that helps facilitate effective and sensitive care.

Two questions – helping social workers be culturally competent

This is the first workshop we’ve led for on-call workers. We hope that future workshops will preserve and strengthen this knowledge and skills.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their ongoing support of Cultural Competence in Jerusalem!

orna2021-08-02T13:40:56+00:00July 15th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Jerusalem Municipality|