18 | JULY 7 • 2022

OUR COMMUNITY

T

he Israeli Consulate’s
first-ever Michigan
Social Impact Grant
Awards Ceremony took place
June 17 at the Renaissance
Center in Detroit, highlighted
by three “Detroit change-mak-
ers” winning $5,000 each.
In the spring, the Consulate
General of Israel to the
Midwest launched a grant
opportunity for individuals and
organizations committed to
creating critical social impact in
their communities in Michigan.
Change-makers were sought
whose mission, in line with
Israeli and Jewish values, seeks
to advance public health, envi-
ronment, social justice, diversi-
ty, education and more.
The ceremony recognized
the founders of three local
Detroit nonprofits, with the
Israeli Consulate investing
$5,000 to enhance each of their
communal initiatives.
The winners were
Rasheda Williams, founder
of Empowered Flower Girl;
Laprisha Daniels, executive
director of Detroiters Working
for Environmental Justice; and
Jonathan Quarles, founder/
CEO of Quartz Water Source.
These organizations’ mis-
sions are focused on addressing
critical social issues including
empowering young women to
overcome cyberbullying and
societal pressures, providing
environmental advocacy train-
ing for people of color and
low-income earners, and cre-
ating equity to game-changing

water technologies.
Consul General of Israel to
the Midwest Yinam Cohen
presented the awards. Cohen is
a career diplomat with 16 years
of experience in the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Cohen said that, in general,
the consulate tries to expand
its outreach to other commu-
nities, but the past two years
have shown there’s room to get
involved even more.
“We’ve seen Israel and local
communities share a lot in
understanding that it’s really
about the communities to
transform challenges into
action,
” Cohen said. “
And we
want to create partnerships
with those grassroots organiza-
tions who are actually active in
their community to do that.
“This is all about taking care
of your community, taking care
of those being marginalized
within the society, those who
deserve better environmental
conditions in their neighbor-
hoods and cities, and more,
”
Cohen added.
“That’s exactly Jewish and
Israeli values, and these are
the values we try to share with

communities. There’s so much
to partner on.
”
The inaugural Michigan-
based awards followed last
year’s awards in Minneapolis.
“We received tons of appli-
cations from organizations all
across the city of Detroit and
the state of Michigan who
understand if they don’t take
the initiative and take action,
nobody will,
” Cohen said.
“We had a hard time choos-
ing only three, but I think we
chose organizations that make
up a beautiful representation of
what a civil society looks like
here in Detroit.
”
Dozens of community lead-
ers gathered for the ceremony,
including Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit CEO
Steven Ingber, JCRC/AJC
Executive Director Rabbi Asher
Lopatin and Deputy Mayor of
Detroit Todd Bettison.
Cohen hopes to bring the
awards back to Michigan in the
future.
“I hope next time we will also
partner with Jewish organiza-
tions here to amplify what we
do and to make sure it’s a long-
term partnership,
” he said.

Three Detroit nonprofits win $5,000 at Michigan
ceremony.

Israeli Consulate Hands Out
Social Impact Grants

DANNY SCHWARTZ
STAFF WRITER

Yinam Cohen, Consul General
of Israel to the Midwest, center,
posed with the grant winners.

New Prayer Leader
at B’nai Moshe

Congregation B’nai Moshe
in West Bloomfield is happy
to introduce Rabbi David
Rosen as its shaliach tzibbur
(prayer leader). Rabbi Davey
is an educator, musician
and spiritual caregiver, and
newest member of the B’nai
Moshe clergy team.
Rabbi Davey joined
Jewish Hospice &
Chaplaincy Network in
January 2002. He received
rabbinic ordination from the
Academy for Jewish Religion
in New York in 2022, an
M.A. from the William
Davidson Graduate School
of Jewish Education at the
Jewish Theological Seminary
in New York in 2008, and a
B.A. in Jewish history and
thought at the University of
Judaism in Los Angeles in
2003.
During the summer, he
is the camp rabbi at Camp
Young Judaea Sprout Lake
in New York state, where
he and his wife, Jillian, first
met.
Rabbi Davey’s past
leadership includes serving
as associate director of the
University of Michigan
Hillel, assistant director of
Camp Ramah New England
and family educator at
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun
in New York. Rabbi Davey
and Jillian, and their two
children, Elah and Jonah,
live in Ann Arbor.

Rabbi
David Rosen