Parlor meeting introduces Pittsburghers to Unistream and talented Israeli youth
Israeli nonprofit comes to Pittsburgh seeking support
A CEO and two Israeli GenZers visited Pittsburgh in hopes of sparking interest in an Israeli nonprofit.
Unistream, founded in 2001, provides Israeli youth with business-focused mentorship and entrepreneurial tools to reduce socioeconomic disparities across the Jewish state.
The organization maintains 22 entrepreneurship centers and works with 3,800 teens each year, according to its CEO Ifat Bechor.
“I can show you many statistics but it’s really about the personal stories,” Bechor told nearly 20 Pittsburghers on Nov. 17. “I’m proud to be able to cry every day from the good stories that I hear from our participants.”
Two of the participants, Tamar Shawah and Dvir Cohen, joined Bechor for the Sunday evening meeting. Speaking to potential donors inside a private East End residence, Shawah and Cohen recalled their experiences with the Israeli nonprofit.
Shawah, 21, joined Unistream in 2016 as a ninth grader. At the time, the young Druze student sought respite from bullying in school.
Working with the nonprofit for several years delivered skills, including how to critically think, interview, build a CV “from scratch,” and even how to behave in front of business leaders, she said.
The lessons also presented a financially viable path forward. In August, Shawah landed an internship as a full-time investment analyst with Vintage Investment Partners, an Israeli-based company with $4 billion in assets.
“As part of the program, I get to join all the teams in the company and then decide together where I should stay, and where I want to continue my journey,” Shawah said. The opportunity “honestly gave me a fresh start, which is pretty important during the war. I felt like I gained my confidence back. I had control over my future, which is something that many people during the war don’t think about —they’re thinking about how we’re going to survive the next day.”
Cohen, 16, is a third-year participant in Unistream’s program.
“They came to our school and told us about the program, and I decided it’s something that we don’t usually have in Kiryat Shmona,” he said.
Cohen joined, competed in a hackathon and continued participating with the nonprofit despite logistical challenges.
Because of the Israel-Hamas war, Cohen and members of his family have spent more than a year living in a Herzliya hotel. Along with social and emotional challenges, displacement resulted in Cohen missing two months of class.
“There’s kids like me that missed a lot more, and a gap has been created in their education,” he said.
Cohen and fellow Unistream participants developed an app that remedies the pedagogical plight by creating a study plan. After students complete a survey and identify topics they’re struggling with, the students’ teachers complete a similar survey. The app compares the two lists and makes a digital plan, complete with links to educational resources.
Had the app existed, “when I started going to a new school and had a lot of gaps I know it would have helped me,” Cohen said.
But the app isn’t just for evacuees, he continued. “It’s for everybody. It’s for children of diplomats and every student who missed a part of a school year.”
Bechor said Unistream works with Arab and Israeli youth from 85 municipalities across Israel.
“With all the complexities that we have as a world community, not only in Israel — seeing the teenagers that we work with — I’m telling you, we have a lot of hope. They’re amazing, and they’re going to build the country. Sometimes they just need the right network,” Bechor said.
Pittsburgher David Burstin praised the organization.
“Barbara (Burstin) and I are contributing to this program, and we’d be proud and happy to have any of you join us in this great effort,” he told the attendees. “Because if peace is going to come in the Middle East, programs like this are going to bring it. It’s not going to happen because adults argue back and forth forever.”
“Believing in yourself and in your dreams, no matter how big they seem — I know it’s a cliché, but I think this is something that Unistream has taught me all over the years,” Shawah said. “If I didn’t believe in my dreams, I don’t think I would be where I am right now.”
Shawah lives in Yarka, a northern Israeli village with a population of about 17,000.
“I feel like I’m somewhat of a role model for young Druze women in my village,” she said. “Not many of them get this opportunity. I’m proud to be an example for these young women.”
Unistream is an Israeli-based nonprofit but Pittsburgh’s support is invaluable, the visitors said.
“There’s no glass ceiling,” Bechor told Pittsburghers.
Speaking with the Chronicle following the meeting, the GenZers agreed.
“We want to let teens know that they can also be part of something big once someone supports them,” Shawah said.
“I wish everybody would believe in someone else and give them the support and the motivation they need,” Cohen said. “A belief in someone can make all the difference.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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