NACOEJ-Vidal Sassoon Adopt-A-Student Program 20-year Reunion in October 2004

NACOEJ recognizes the great potential of Ethiopian Jewish young people. Bright and eager to learn, many Ethiopian-Israelis have made their way – through hard work and often with the help of NACOEJ Limudiot and High School Sponsorship programs – to a point where they can pass the “bagrut” (Israeli matriculation exam) and go on to higher education and successful futures. However, for Ethiopian Jewish families who have come to Israel with literally only the clothes on their backs, financing their children’s college education, or helping them cover other expenses, is often impossible.

AAS nursing students

The Israeli government generously pays for college tuition for Ethiopian-Israelis, but the students’ everyday essential expenses – books, lab fees, transportation, clothing, and above all, food – are not covered. A student without financial help may not be able to go to college, or may have to drop out for lack of money for such basic necessities.

AAS student in her student-teaching role

The NACOEJ/ Vidal Sassoon Adopt-A-Student program (AAS) matches Ethiopian-Israeli students with American sponsors whose generosity helps the students complete their degrees. Sponsors provide modest monthly stipends for their students, enabling them to live simple but sustainable lives, paying for necessities so that they can afford to get a college education. It will make the difference between well-paid careers that help lift this generation out of poverty and bare-subsistence jobs that perpetuate poverty.

I want to be a sponsor!

A grant of $95 per month ($1,140 per year) will sponsor a single student. You can “adopt” a student as an individual, a family, or as a project of your school or synagogue.

For more information, please contact Evelyn Deitchman at 212-233-5200 x. 226 or contact us by email at college@nacoej.org.

Click here to sponsor a college student