Making a neighborhood began as a project in Ramat Eshkol as a spontaneous initiative by Faten El-Zinati, a member of the Executive Committee of the Lod Foundation. Ramat Eshkol is considered one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, characterized by the complex fabric of the population with very low socioeconomic features. Faten, who grew up in the neighborhood, eventually became the coordinator between the Local Authority and Arab society in Lod. Every time she visited the neighborhood, she was shocked by the status of the physical infrastructure of the buildings and courtyards, and by the residents' sense of helplessness. Faten decided to do something, and she organized the children of the neighborhood to collect trash and clean the stairways in their buildings. After that, she recruited the company, Even v'Sid [Stone and Cement] which contributed from its experience and its professionals, and together with the community, they renovated and renewed the stairwell, the courtyard and the entrance to an apartment building in the neighborhood with multiple tenants.  

 

The spontaneous model that Faten proposed was adopted and made more sophisticated in cooperation with the Lod Foundation, and became the project known as Making a neighborhood. In the framework of the project, the Lod Foundation promotes a social agenda combined with physical renovations, and seeks to help residents take responsibility for the common, public grounds where they live, and to encourage them to have a residents' committee for their residential buildings, and to practice proper management standards for their routine and communal lives in their buildings. 

 

We propose to businesses, companies, and private donors to adopt-a-building in the framework of the project. The adoption includes: a financial contribution to the renovations of the outer building and the courtyard (including plumbing, electricity, paint, fencing, and gardening), and/or contributions-in-kind (professionals in these fields and equipment), and/or volunteering and involvement of employees.