Beyachad – The Carasso Family Foundation is dedicated to advancing equal opportunities and social mobility for diverse populations, by investing in regional infrastructures and growth engines at the intersection of education, technology, and employment — driving inclusive growth, increased productivity, and socioeconomic resilience in Israel, with an emphasis on the Galilee.
The Foundation also invests in strengthening Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.
The Foundation was established by Stella and Yoel Carasso and their three children – Dafna, Michal, and Oded. Its mission continues the family’s longstanding philanthropic legacy, focusing on strengthening peripheral communities, advancing scientific and technological education, and leveraging the business sector for social impact. In recent years, sisters Yoni Goldstein Carasso and Orly Hoshen, together with their children, have also joined, contributing to activities centered on education and democratic culture, alongside additional Carasso family members through varied philanthropic contributions. In 2025, external trustees were also added to the Foundation’s board.
Values
A commitment to others and to the environment — acting for the benefit of others regardless of who they are, out of genuine care and active engagement.
A social order rooted in the commitment to human dignity, enabling every person to lead a dignified and equitable life — with the opportunity for self-fulfillment and economic independence, regardless of their background, while balancing individual rights with the needs of society as a whole.
To see every child and adult, every woman and man, as a world unto themselves — affirming the right to self-fulfillment, personal growth, and wellbeing.
A shared desire to work together to create a greater common good — while recognizing and embracing the diversity and inherent differences between people and organizations.
The belief that the State of Israel is our home as Jews, and that we must strengthen our connection to the State and to Israeli society — upholding Israel’s values as a Jewish and democratic state that promotes equality, freedom, social justice, freedom of expression, and shared coexistence.
Evidence-based action and continuous learning, aimed at designing innovative and relevant social solutions — while investing resources to achieve maximum and measurable impact.
Our Impact
Advancing mobility for diverse populations and inclusive growth in the Galilee, through the intersection of education, technology, and employment — for the benefit of socioeconomic resilience in Israel.
Challenges
Developing inclusive growth engines to strengthen the region, while addressing recovery and rebuilding in the wake of the Iron Swords War.
Education and vocational training have not kept pace with a dynamic labor market.
Regional industry struggles to grow and advance due to a lack of suitable human capital, applied research, automation, and innovation.
Growing social polarization and an ongoing erosion of Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state, in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.
Overarching Objectives
Strengthening the Galilee
by developing its human capital and creating inclusive regional growth engines in education, employment, and industry.
Nurturing Human Capital
via improvement of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), in line with the shifting needs of the labor market, while simultaneously encouraging responsibility within the business sector.
Why Strengthen the Galilee?
Demographic and Geographic Challenges
The diverse Jewish-Arab population faces many challenges in education, employment, housing, and more. Combined with the wide dispersal of local authorities across Israel, promoting broad cross-sectional change becomes particularly complex.
Local Assets
The Galilee is characterized by advanced industry (4.0) alongside innovative agri-food-tech. The connection between industry, applied research, innovation, and continuous STEM studies from kindergarten to employment creates an exceptional opportunity for regional growth.
Initiatives for Inclusive Growth
The University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee, high-quality employment with competitive salaries, accessible public transport, and other initiatives will drive regional socioeconomic development.
Quality of Life
The Galilee is characterized by abundant nature, wide open spaces, a strong sense of community, a culture of collaboration, and a unique frontier location along Israel’s northern borders, with the potential to bridge gaps and foster connections with neighboring regions.
Recovery and Rebuilding in the Wake of the Iron Swords War
The decision to invest in the Galilee predates the war, but the conflict has intensified our commitment and introduced new challenges — including community recovery, strengthening local education, and rebuilding the regional economy.
Why Invest in Local Democracy?
Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State, in the Spirit of the Declaration of Independence
Independent governing institutions and a democratic culture are essential for the continued existence and prosperity of Israeli society — building the relationship between the individual, society in all its diversity, and the state, while maintaining the continuity of the Jewish ethos as part of the democratic ethos, and ensuring space for minorities within society.
Israeli Society in a Civic and Values Crisis
An ongoing crisis is eroding core humanistic values — among them human dignity, justice, equality, and freedoms — which are fundamental to Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state. The significant heterogeneity between the groups that make up Israeli society, combined with separation from kindergarten through 12th grade across four separate education streams, reinforces this trend. Technology, social media, and economic, social, and security instability are accelerating it further.
Civic and Values Education
The education system has neglected, and in some cases abandoned, the field of civic and values education — which is a necessary foundation for social cohesion. There are many barriers, including a lack of tools and knowledge, reluctance to engage with the subject, and the absence of a broad strategic plan. Research shows that few students encounter peers from a different education stream, and that a significant group within each stream believes that voting rights should be denied to another subgroup.
Social Cohesion
A commitment to the democratic system, mutual responsibility and equality, civic engagement, respect between groups, and a democratic ethos — together, these elements support a society with social resilience and trust among its citizens.
Why Invest in Education and Human Capital?
Technological Education and
Quality Professional Training
Education is an asset that promotes social mobility and contributes to the individual, to society, and to the economy. Yet potential employees tend toward academic rather than technological education, due to an unattractive reputation and a lack of awareness that studying to be a practical engineer yields the same return on investment as an academic degree in most fields.
A Dynamic Labor Market and Outdated Systems
The exceptional technological advances of recent decades, alongside the Covid pandemic, have transformed the labor and training market. In this interdisciplinary world of constant learning at every stage of life, specialized skills are a necessity. Yet education systems are not adapting fast enough, and the organizational culture in the business sector is not keeping pace with the required changes in onboarding, employee retention and professional development, innovation implementation, and more.
Human Capital and High
Productivity as Engines of Growth
High-quality and diverse human capital is a necessary condition for addressing low productivity and fostering growth in advanced industry, high-tech, and agri-foodtech — in the Galilee and across Israel.
Insufficient Public Resources
Despite widespread recognition of the importance of training for human capital development, government resources dedicated to this area remain limited, policies are only partially implemented, investment in research and innovation is lacking, and cooperation between relevant government offices is insufficient.
Action Plan
- Investing in organizations with the capacity to build infrastructures and growth engines with significant regional impact.
- Networking, developing, and sharing applied research and knowledge.
- Creating and supporting cross-sector partnership management mechanisms.
- Pooling and mobilizing resources
Our Vision for the Future
- The University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee grows its science and technology departments (with an emphasis on agri-food-tech), driving regional development.
- STEM indicators improve in the Beit HaKerem cluster and in Kiryat Shmona, increasing the likelihood of participants’ future integration into higher education and advanced industry in the Galilee.
- Young people from the Galilee and Tel Hai graduates remain in the region and integrate into quality employment locally.
- Galilee industry grows, with an emphasis on local industry — 4.0 and agri-food-tech.
- Strong Galilean leadership drives an inclusive and forward-looking regional vision, mobilizing and leveraging resources to advance education and employment.
- Civic education and democratic culture indicators improve across the education system and in programs promoting local democracy.
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