Hispanic Israel Young Professionals Program (HIYPP)

"…I believe it is critical that we are developing young leaders who can see across the divide between different ethnicities and cultures. I believe that these young men and women that we have selected for this leadership training program will do a terrific job in setting the example of what can be achieved in promoting understanding between Hispanics, American Jews and Israelis."
Bronx Borough President, Adolfo Carrión, Jr.
speaking on HIYPP, AIFL's new initiative reaching out to Hispanic Americans.

The America-Israel Friendship League is excited to join with Bronx Borough President, Adolfo Carrión, Jr., in launching the Hispanic - Israel Young Professionals Program (HIYPP).
HIYPP selects groups of highly talented and motivated young professionals who take part in a seven month training program to become leaders advancing relations between the Hispanic community and Israel's supporters.

The Need

American Hispanics (the nation's largest and fastest growing minority) currently express a troubling ambivalence regarding Jews. According to the most recent Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report on anti-Semitic attitudes in the United States, 29% of Hispanics surveyed fell into the "most anti-Semitic category" of Americans. The study suggests that among Hispanic Americans ignorance of and antipathy for Jews is disproportionately high compared to the national average-14% of respondents overall fell in into the same category.1

It is not our intent to single out Hispanics in these disturbing trends. The study revealed even higher degrees of anti-Semitic sentiment among African Americans. Additionally, the results of Hispanic respondents were encouraging in that they reveal significantly fewer incidents of pronounced anti-Semitism among Hispanics born in the U.S. This fortunate contrast is a testament to the strength of democracy's spirit in America, and the relative tolerance of Americans born and nourished in that spirit.

However, the knowledge that citizens of other nations are less tolerant than Americans is nothing to celebrate, not while in the fastest growing U.S. ethnic community 19% of even those born in America hold strongly anti-Semitic beliefs. More can, and must be done to strengthen ties between Jews and Hispanics.

The Program

Workshops
HIYPP participants are chosen competitively based on applications and interviews.
communities they represent. Young Hispanic and Jewish/Israeli participants share
their cultural perspectives, meet and talk with leaders of each community,
and travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress.
The Project
After the program's initial training stage the group collaborates on a local community outreach
project of the participants' own design. The projects are aimed at spreading HIYPP's
message of friendship across cultures.
Trip to Israel
The program ends with a trip to Israel, where the group can experience first-hand
the spectacular beauty, the diversity and democratic pluralism described throughout
the program by Israeli participants and Jewish/Israeli community leaders.

HIYPP Success

At the inaugural program's announcement Fernando Arzola, a professor at Nyack College and a Bronx resident, remarked, "I think there is perhaps no greater weapon against misunderstanding than authentic dialogue. My hope is that the dialogue between this small group of Hispanic and Jewish leaders will be a humble seed sown towards greater understanding and justice…."

Professor Arzola's hopes have been realized, as HIYPP members testify: In the beginning of the program, it was clear to see that we were two separate groups, tentative but curious to learn about each other. But by the time we hit the 8:15 Amtrak to Washington D.C., we were one unified group, interwoven personally, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually....There was such a sense of solidarity among us that our ethnic and racial differences were virtually transcended by a common bond of human affection. We were like two separate people sharing one heart.
Carlos Feliciano, 24, Assistant Instructor at M.S. 302 in the Bronx

If we have learned anything through our experiences over the past six months (and we have learned quite a bit), I believe it is how very much more we all have in common than any of us could have expected or believed, and how quickly and how deeply we can form bonds even across our differences. Thus, what our two communities - the Hispanic and Israeli/Jewish - have in common seem to have grown greater than [our] differences.
Max Nelson, 38, Vice President for Public Policy and Strategic Business Planning of OFS (formerly Lucent Technologies)

1 The study gauges anti-Semitic propensity with eleven survey questions, or statements which either alone or in some combination reflect common anti-Semitic views: "Jews have too much power in the U.S. today; Jews are more loyal to Israel than America; Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want; Jews don't care what happens to anyone but their own kind", etc. To fall in the most hostile category respondents had to agree with six or more of these eleven statements. 29% of Hispanics did.