5 groups win Ruderman Foundation inclusion prize

(JTA) — The Ruderman Family Foundation recognized five Jewish organizations that integrate people with disabilities into their services and programs.

The Ruderman Prize in Inclusion, which awards $50,000 to each recipient, aims for communities around the world to replicate the integration models created by the prize winners.

This year’s recipients are:

• The Yavne Institute in Montevideo, Uruguay, a Jewish school with broad services for students with disabilities.
• The YouthAbility program at Cleveland’s Jewish Family Service Association, a volunteer program for youth with disabilities.
• The Kisharon Adult Employment Program in London, which finds and supports jobs for people with learning disabilities.
• The Luria Academy of Brooklyn’s Room on the Bench program, which integrates students with disabilities into the New York City Jewish day school.
• Beit Hillel in Raanana, Israel, a religious Zionist group that has worked to enhance the status of Jewish community members with disabilities.

“As our worldwide Jewish community begins to accept and practice the value that all Jewish people have a right to belong and participate in Jewish life, this year’s Ruderman Prize in Inclusion awardees set the standard for the rest of our community organizations to aspire to attain,” Jay Ruderman, the Ruderman Family Foundation’s president, said in a news release Monday.

The prize was first given in 2012.

JTA is a media partner of the Ruderman Prize in Inclusion.