Israeli-American Council (IAC) announces newest Regional Office

Via: Jewocity.com

Las Vegas, NV, April 2 - The Los Angeles-based Israeli-American Council (IAC), the largest Israeli-American organization in the Unites States, announced the opening of its newest regional office in Las Vegas this week to serve the local Israeli-American community. Some 10,000 Israelis are estimated to live in Nevada, mostly in or around Las Vegas.

The IAC Las Vegas Regional Office will immediately begin to launch community-building initiatives in keeping with IAC’s mission of galvanizing the Israeli-American community, including partnership in the Las Vegas 2014 Yom Ha’atzmaut-Israeli Independence Day Community Celebration. The IAC helps broaden support for Israel, bolster the Jewish and Israeli identity of the next generations, and engage in outreach to the Jewish American community.

The new Regional Office is part of IAC’s national growth, which includes opening local offices throughout the United States to provide community and national-level structure for Israeli-Americans, working together with other organizations to offer support, and through its grant program, providing funding to Israeli-American community-building initiatives throughout the U.S.

Amir Eden, the newly appointed IAC Las Vegas Regional Director, brings extensive experience from the non-profit world. Most recently serving as Head of Jewish Life and Israel Connection at the Adelson Educational Campus in Las Vegas, he received his Masters in Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University. Amir has acquired more than 15 years of leadership experience, including as Head of Student Life at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, FL, and as Head of Middle and Upper School at Jess Schwartz College Prep in Scottsdale, AZ.

Dr. Miriam Adelson serves as the chairwoman of the IAC Las Vegas Regional Council, which acts as the local IAC board. The generous support of Dr. Adelson, an Israeli- American herself and her husband Sheldon Adelson, who are residents of Las Vegas, have facilitated the IAC’s national growth to build Israeli-American community nationwide. Additional members of the IAC Las Vegas Regional Council include Yochanan Lovie, Dr. Neville Pokroy, Ilana Aybar Agron, Dr. Danny Eisenberg, Iddo Gavish, Moshe Rosenblum, Yoav Etzion, Roni Amid, Arik Riter, Rom Hendler, Lior Gal, Dr. Adin Boldur, Nir Kaufman, Dr. Joseph Shalev, Dr. Nili Sachas, Benny Yerushalmi, Ben Cohen, Tal Hackmey, and Yuval Herscovits.

“The Israeli-American Council is changing the landscape of the Jewish community in America,” said Dr. Miriam Adelson. “We are thrilled to see the IAC fill the void of facilitating Israeli-American community in the United States through the full spectrum of educational, cultural, traditional and social programming. We are always thinking of strengthening the Jewish and Israeli identity of future generations, and their endless support for the State of Israel. The dynamic community in Las Vegas sets an example for cities nationwide.”

A special committee leading the IAC’s national growth efforts is chaired by Israeli-American philanthropistAdam Milstein and is comprised of IAC National Chairman Shawn Evenhaim; IAC Co-founding ChairmanDanny Alpert; IAC CEO Sagi Balasha; and IAC COO Miri Belsky.

The IAC currently helps support over 30 organizations related to the Israeli-American community in the United States. It also runs a variety of community programming. Among its projects are Celebrate Israel, the largest Jewish festival in North America; Sifriyat Pijama B’America (SP-BA) the largest Hebrew outreach program in North America, reaching 10,000 families every month in partnership with The Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) and the Adam and Gila Milstein Foundation; IAC BINA, a program for young professional Israeli-Americans and other young Jews, which works to strengthen connections within the community and to Israel; IAC Care, a volunteer community for Israeli and Jewish Americans of all ages in Los Angeles;  MISHELANU, a young leadership group on American college campuses where Israeli-Americans come together to strengthen their Jewish and Israeli identities and their ties to Israel; and TZAV 8, which organizes community activists to participate in demonstrations and pro-Israeli activities.