Scholarships For Higher Education

The Need

Otot’s population of young adults between the ages of eighteen to twenty-five cannot initially pursue higher- and vocational education in the same manner that their peers do at this stage of life. In the past, Otot was able to distribute only a few scholarships based on sporadic and restricted funding for this purpose.

Many if not all, lack family support, are mired in debt, and some have little or no idea how to go about achieving this goal. These are also young people whose circumstances prevented them from either enlisting in, or completing their military or National Service, and therefore cannot access the benefits and entitlements that their peers who served are eligible for. Without funding options for education and vocational training as the means to combat further deterioration into a life of substance abuse and violence, the odds are against them in becoming productive Israeli citizens.

 

Project Activity

The Scholarship Project aims to establish a stable and structured program with diverse funding streams that will provide young people living in Otot residences with scholarships. This form of assistance, to be managed by a senior-level staff committee, will enable them to go on to higher education, or to enroll in vocational training frameworks.  Otot will encourage those pursuing the vocational training path to consider fields that have a high likeliness for employment and inherent upward mobility potential such as Information Technology, systems and networks management, website and software development.  

The scholarship recipients will also benefit from ancillary services arranged by Otot staff so as to prevent recidivism to former problems by contending with, and overcoming the circumstances preventing them from being able to pay for their tuition fees. Services include accessing specific situational benefits and entitlements, debt, legal and financial counseling.

 

Outcomes

The principal outcome of this project, linked with the general thrust of the activities of the “Otot” organization is to ensure that problems, difficulties and setbacks encountered in adolescence and early adulthood do not cast blight on these youngsters entire life. The ability to go to school, get a degree or a certificate for an income-producing profession, hold down a job, especially one that will eventually command a reasonable income and has future prospects, is a paramount factor.

Otot has witnessed processes whereby given all of these supports, the youngsters are able to save money, pay their rent, and study with much more stability in their life.

Furthermore, the added value to philanthropic funding will be that each  scholarship recipient will be required  to volunteer in one of “Otot’s” frameworks as a way to ‘give back to the community’.

 

Success Measurement

Otot staff will closely monitor all those that were granted scholarships, to make sure that they have enrolled in the framework of choice, and are fulfilling the requirements to complete their studies and obtain viable employment.

The evident outcome in the few that received scholarships in the past as mentioned above, are that they successfully completed their studies or training, are integrated as a functional member of the Israeli workforce

 

The Funding Request

The average annual tuition fees for academic studies are $3,500, and $2,500 for vocational training courses. Otot is seeking funding to provide its young people with a scholarship to defray their tuition fees in the amount of $2,800 for each individual. We are seeking funding that will enable Otot to distribute a total of 20 scholarships for the 2020 academic year.

 

Summary

The Otot organization seeks support for a scholarship program that will enable young adults regarded as ‘high risk’ and without the usual means to do so, to pursue an education so that they can begin to create for themselves a positive employment horizon.         Israel’s ability to succeed as a thriving economy is predicated on the ability of all sectors of its population to engage, integrate and advance in their economic mobility.  Thus integrating this sector of the population in educational studies is one more crucial step to a strong Israeli economy. Otot thanks the XY Foundation for its consideration of this request, and looks forward to its reply.

Share

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on print
Share on email