(JTA) — Five organizations were announced as winners of a prize given to Jewish groups that integrate people with disabilities into their services and programs.

The Ruderman Prize in Inclusion, awarded by the Ruderman Family Foundation, recognizes programs that allow people with disabilities to be fully included in the Jewish community. It aims for communities around the world to replicate the models created by the award recipients.

The prize was first given in 2012, and awards $50,000 to each recipient. This year’s recipients include:

• The Yavne Institute in Montivideo, 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 press release Monday.

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

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.