Hands of Peace
Empowering American, Israeli and Palestinian Youth as Agents of Change
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Summer Program
The Hands of Peace Summer Program brings about 90 Israeli, Palestinian and American youth together for three-week programs in the Chicago and San Diego areas for intensive dialogue and interaction to build trust, understanding, and a commitment to becoming agents of change.
Each dialogue group is facilitated by professional Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian facilitators, and youth discover their common humanity by engaging and hearing the personal stories of people they may have seen before as "the enemy."
Alumni Program
Hands of Peace understands that after the transformative experience of the three-week Summer Program, Israeli, Palestinian and American youth need ongoing training and support to develop their leadership capacity and peacebuilding skills. The youth continue their dialogue as they participate in age and life-stage appropriate programs including skill-building workshops in social innovation, resiliency, mediation and negotiations. As they move into professional careers in their 20s and 30s, we provide mentors and networks to move them to action for positive peace, which is much more than the absence of violence.
Where we work
External reviews

How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
We serve American, Israeli and Palestinian youth, beginning with their participation in our Summer Program at ages 15-17 and continuing with alumni programming as they age. We also serve community members who support these youth as host families, volunteers and donors.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Community meetings/Town halls, Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We specifically solicited and used feedback in 2020 to drive a Reimagining process. Based on the feedback, we are shifting the emphasis of our older alumni programming to include more skills-based programs rather than simply continuing dialogue. We also implemented an Alumni Advisory Council, and have invited alumni to become a part of all decision-making committees and our Board.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners, We published the key points that we hear through various feedback avenues.,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
Yes, as mentioned above, we are now asking alumni to participate in or take the lead in planning alumni programming so that it meets their needs and so that they can gain leadership experience in the process. As an example, with two alumni on our Community Circles Committee, and one of them as chair, our community education events have been rescheduled to make it easier for alumni to attend virtually and we always look for ways to have alumni serve as group moderators, presenters or interviewers.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, Because our participants begin as teens, they move a lot so we are constantly updating contact info.,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Hands of Peace
Board of directorsas of 03/15/2022
The Honorable Wayne Andersen
Michele Arnison
BDO
Debby Fosdick
Robert Gelb
Reem Ghunaim
Gretchen Grads
Adam Heffez
Rich Katz
Kim Lande
Margaret Lee
Bonnie Lucas
Ruba Zanaid
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
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Disability
No data