Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, whose fortune is estimated at $102 billion dollars, according to Forbes, announced that he will donate 100 million shekels, about $27.8 million, to the reconstruction of the areas in the north that were damaged by the war. Senior officials in local governments estimate that this is only an initial investment.
James Anderson, a senior official at the Bloomberg Foundation, wrote in a letter to the heads of the northern municipal authorities: "We ask to stand by you, the heads of the authorities in the north and the south, and help with the challenges of reconstruction and growth. It is clear to us that the challenges you are facing will require an overall strategic vision, with critical local needs, to bring a comprehensive regional development boom," he wrote. "In order to succeed in creating a common story together with the residents, a shared destiny is needed, not only in disaster, but also in growth and redevelopment."
Bloomberg will not give the money and forget about it, but plans to track what is being done with it. To this end, the philanthropy fund of the richest Jew in the world chose to lead the program the Bloomberg Sagol Center for City Leadership at Tel Aviv University, which Bloomberg established in 2022 with his Israeli partner Yossi Sagol, whose family's fortune was accumulated thanks to their activities in the business sector, including the Keter Plastik' company.
"The real war of the residents of the entire country and the residents of the north in particular, is the fight for its resurrection and not as a slogan of politicians. This war proved the strength of the citizens and Diaspora Jewry, in places where institutions have failed. Thanks to Michael Bloomberg and other amazing donors who have opened their hearts and pockets, I am convinced that we will not only rehabilitate the North, but lead it to a prosperity that it has never seen," said the head of the Meta Asher Regional Council regional council Moshe Davidovich on Thursday morning.
The plan for the restoration of the areas in the municipalities has already been put into action: the Bloomberg Sagol Center has recruited over 60 professionals who are experts in the fields of project management, some of whom will be physically placed among the 40 municipalities selected to participate in the program, and some of whom will be accompanied and trained by the professionals who work in the municipalities themselves.
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In addition to the financial contribution, Bloomberg is centering the international knowledge and experience gained through the leadership program that they lead in the US by their international foundation, which three years ago opened its first branch outside the US, at Tel Aviv University. The branch operates in partnership with Harvard University.
The Bloomberg-Sagol Center annually trains 40 senior municipal officials from the 20 municipalities selected to participate in the program. Half of them are heads of municipalities and half are senior professionals in those municipalities. The program was established based on Bloomberg's worldview that through local government, the most significant impact can be made on the quality of life of residents, because this is the environment in which, in the end, each person consumes most of their services from state institutions on a daily basis.