Groundbreaking project for Jewish, Muslim groups
Canada’s largest Jewish and Muslim community organizations are joining together in a groundbreaking partnership on Oct. 28. The Jewish-Somali project will engage the resources of the Jewish community to provide mentorship to young Somali professionals, in the first of a series of collaborative ventures under the auspices of the Canadian International Peace Project.
As a reciprocal gesture, the Somali community will respond by creating a scholarship fund for Jewish students. This large-scale initiative presents a new paradigm for the forging of substantive relationships between members of Canada’s diverse communities, and will serve as a model for future projects and partnerships.
The launch of this project will be held at Kipling Collegiate Institute, recently listed as one of “Canada’s Top 10 Extraordinary High Schools” by Maclean’s magazine, and recognized by the Toronto Star for its peace building initiatives.
This is the first comprehensive project of its kind in Canada, in which the Canadian Jewish community and a large Muslim community are working together. The project duration is three years and will continue subject to available funding.
Through this initiative, the Somali-Canadian community will raise funds to establish scholarships for one or more Canadian Jewish students annually as an expression of appreciation for the assistance offered by the Canadian Jewish community