Jerusalem Botanical Gardens Hub
Mission Statement
The Hub serves as a creative and supportive operational and networking centre for dozens of organizations and entrepreneurs in the environmental and sustainability fields.
Background
There are currently dozens of organizations and activists working in Jerusalem to promote social justice and environmental sustainability. Until recently, these organizations worked separately with very little interaction, preventing truly municipal-level impact. Research shows that collaboration increases impact by more than 30%. These studies demonstrate that open connections between activists across different disciplines create synergy, engendering mutual growth, creativity, innovation, and trust-building in change processes. All these can work together, healing the public sphere, reducing food insecurity, fostering a sense of community, reducing the city’s ecological footprint, restoring the city’s bio-diversity, creating jobs, reducing inequality and more.
Description
The Hub’s designated space will be built within the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens and will serve as an innovative-environmental demo and activity centre, and a home for dozens of sustainability change agents operating in Jerusalem. The space will enable meetings, development, brainstorming, serendipity, joint ventures and collaborations. The facility will be built using state-of-the-art eco-friendly construction methods. This home for “Green Visionaries” will include indoor and outdoor work spaces. The diversity of members using the space will create a unique cutting edge space for urban sustainability and agriculture which will turn into a showcase location drawing visits and tours by professionals in the field and beyond.
The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens has a long relationship with the Jewish National Fund in Australia. There is a large Australian section in the Garden with a beautiful display garden and a wilder “Tropical Australia” section. We are also fortune enough to welcome two horticultural interns a year sponsored by the JNF. These highly trained young professionals are an indispensable addition to our team.
The Hub plans a number of facilities. These facilities have the added value of being able to generate income, thus affording the Hub eventual independent economic sustainability.
