Community Magazine June 2016

IYAR - SIVAN 5776 JUNE 2016 33 me that failure is not an option,” Rebecca says. “It taught me to think on my feet, to get the job done, and to get the job done well .” Event planning taught her other things, too – the importance of carefully reviewing all documents before signing a contract, how to pay business-related taxes, how to manage money, and how to find her voice as the head of an operation – all skills that she would take with her to the next stage of her life. After being an event planner for almost 10 years, Rebecca and her husband were blessed with their sixth child. She briefly considered taking a break and staying at home with her children. It was at that moment, however, that her alma mater FIT called and asked her to teach a course as an Adjunct Professor named Event and Promotional Design. “It was a good transition,” Rebecca says of the opportunity, which lasted two years. “It was therapeutic to teach it after practicing in the field for so long.” During this time, Rebecca chose to involve herself in her children’s school. She would do so, as she did all things – par excellence. During her tenure as President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Yeshivah of Flatbush, Rebecca helped to raise $350,000 for the school. “I incorporated everything I knew in a perfect storm to help the school,” Rebecca says. “In those two short years, I learned that I had acquired skills that I could use to give back to our community.” So would begin Rebecca’s influential career in nonprofit work. In 2004, she founded Imagine Academy, the first school of its kind for children living with autism. “One in 68 children are born somewhere on the spectrum,” says Rebecca. “Autism doesn’t know any better. It cuts across every socio-economic barrier. We were looking for the most severe cases and we took those students in.” The school had modest beginnings. Formed with a board made up of five couples, and David Jemal as President, enrollment was initially only 10 children. Now, 13 years later, The ImagineAcademy educates 38 children and has a waiting list of families hoping to enroll. To accommodate the enlarged student body, Rebecca, David Jemal and their Board of Directors worked together with our local elected officials and community supporters to raise enough money to move the school to a much larger building. Because of its unique approach – combining Applied Behavioral Analysis with Floortime play – Imagine Academy is considered a model school for children on the spectrum. Something about the melding of data-driven and relationship-based methods truly resonates with the children and their teachers, allowing them to achieve success in unprecedented and lasting ways. Children with autism were not the only children Rebecca felt needed attention. As a board member of Gesher Yehuda Yeshiva, the school’s eighth grade students were of concern to her, too. Rebecca realized there would be a gaping hole in these children’s educations unless she did something to fill it. After all, there was nowhere for these students to go once they graduated elementary school: nowhere that took their specialized approach to education into account. “These children needed their own high school,” says Rebecca. “We couldn’t throw them to the wolves!” And so, she founded Yeshiva Prep High School in 2008. Tailored to students with mild learning challenges, intimate and singular in its focus, Yeshiva Prep HS recognizes the value of socialization for young teens. From conception, the high school struck a Memorandum of Understanding with the Yeshivah of Flatbush, which was just down the road on Ave. J. Every non-academic activity would be done in conjunction with Flatbush students. Each Yeshivah Prep High School student proudly and confidently graduates with a Regent’s diploma and goes on to college. Beginning in 2010, Rebecca’s trajectory shifted yet again. She began working as the Director of Programming for Safra Synagogue in New York City. Working directly with Rabbi Elie Abadie, MD, she created and implemented numerous programs throughout the year for congregants and their families. One year later, the family of Mr. and Mrs. Moise Safra asked Rebecca to become the Founding Executive Director of the Moise Safra Community Center (MSCC) on the Upper East Side. Rebecca devised a fundraising plan and began recruiting donors, eventually raising $25 million dollars toward the project. She worked with contractors and interior designers to develop the look and feel of the building. With the help of the New York City Building Department and city officials, Rebecca succeeded in getting the construction started while building community excitement over having a community center to call our own in NYC. During her fulfilling three years at MSCC, Rebecca received hundreds of calls from women asking for jobs. “All of these women were looking for work and wanted to help their families, but they didn’t have experience – they didn’t have a marketable skill,” she says. Confident that the community center was off and running, having been built upon a strong foundation, Rebecca left her position there to fill what she felt was an area of even greater need – helping our community’s women earn money. Thus Propel Network was co-founded with President Ezra S. Ashkenazi. The organization is changing the financial future of so many families! It comes as no surprise that, just last month Rebecca graduated with a Master’s Degree in Business and Fundraising Management from Columbia University. She constantly uses her knowledge in so many different capacities for the benefit of our community. Lest you think that be the end to Rebecca’s ambitions, having lived a full professional life, B’H , bringing to fruition so many one-of-a-kind initiatives, think again! Now, Rebecca is delving into the political arena, seeking a seat in theNewYork State Assembly’s 73 rd District, to represent the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she and so many Sephardic Jewish families are residents. The seed was first planted while Rebecca was looking for a property to house Imagine Academy. She had her heart set on a beautiful condominium that was financially out of reach. Rebecca sought mentorship from her local elected officials, who helped her and the Board find money for the purchase of the building. At that moment, a spark was lit inside a woman always looking out for the underprivileged. “I was very inspired by the power and incredible support elected officials can give to a community,” says Rebecca. “I have always admired any elected official – no matter their political party – who can help us.”