Kulna creates accessible settings in which Jerusalemites from different communities can meet around common interests rather than political or ideological debate. Its initiatives have included community frisbee, chess programs connecting students from East and West Jerusalem, neighborhood tours, public cultural events, and the renowned Jerusalem Double, a large backgammon tournament that has brought hundreds of Jerusalemites together around game boards, coffee, and conversation. The organization also developed initiatives such as Coffee on the Tracks, a community café connecting surrounding neighborhoods, and the Bell Garden Forum, which promotes a shared, welcoming, and safe public space for Jerusalem residents. These encounters allow relationships to develop organically and create opportunities for people who may rarely interact in everyday life to share the city together.
Kulna works with residents who want to move from identifying problems to creating solutions. Through training, professional guidance, community organizing, and connections with relevant decision makers, the organization helps residents turn local ideas into initiatives that can produce practical change. Programs such as Speaking from the Field support young people from East Jerusalem in developing ideas into community initiatives, while Kulna's Jama'a brings together young adults from East and West Jerusalem for dialogue, community building, and shared action. Kulna also accompanies individual resident-led initiatives. These have included community efforts in Jabal Mukaber to address hazardous waste dumping in an open area near the neighborhood, with the goal of transforming the site into a safe and accessible space for children, as well as an initiative led by an East Jerusalem university student to advance the construction of a safe sidewalk on her route to university. Kulna's approach is based on the principle that local knowledge, when combined with professional tools, partnerships, and access to institutions, can create meaningful and sustainable change.
Alongside its shared society work, Kulna addresses practical social and community needs in East Jerusalem. Activities have included youth clubs and enrichment programs, cultural events in public spaces, assistance with accessing rights and services, and food assistance for families. Through Baskets of Hope, volunteers meet regularly to package and distribute food to Jerusalem residents. Another initiative, Kol Dichfin, creates an unusual form of Jerusalem solidarity around Passover by collecting unopened food products from residents in West Jerusalem and distributing them to families in East Jerusalem. Kulna's approach connects immediate assistance with longer-term community empowerment. Residents are not viewed only as recipients of services, but as partners and leaders capable of identifying needs and developing solutions for their own communities.
