(Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Krivoi Rog, Donetsk, and Kyiv) Report of a ...

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Dnipropetrovsk. The relationship also includes some projects involving Haifa, Boston’s
Partnership 2000 city in Israel.
Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (the Boston Jewish federation)
provides essential subsidies to Beit Baruch, the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish day school, and
certain other programs. Education components of the relationship include consultations
in special education to the special needs program housed at Beit Chana and
methodology for teaching English as a second language at School #144. Exchanges of
teachers take place annually, and Boston-area Jewish teens travel to Dnipropetrovsk for
a winter camp with local Jewish adolescents. Occasionally, the teen exchange also
involves youngsters from Haifa as well. A medical care program provides critical
expertise in geriatric care, as well as advice, training, and advanced technology in
pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology to Dnipropetrovsk clinics and hospitals. Boston
Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, although an independent entity, initiated its Adopt-a-
Bubbe program in association with the sister-city effort.
Although some refer to the relationship as a “partnership,” almost all initiatives and
funding originate in Boston. Unlike other relationships between North American Jewish
federations and post-Soviet Jewish population centers, the Boston-Dnipropetrovsk
relationship does not include collaborative projects with the Joint Distribution
Committee, the Jewish Agency for Israel, or the Hillel student organization.
Kharkiv
Founded in 1653 at the confluence of the Udy, Lopan, and Kharkiv rivers, Kharkiv today
is a city of 1.4 million people, the second largest municipality in Ukraine. Capital of
Ukraine from 1921 to 1934, it remains a center of industry, culture, and higher education.
Its industrial core is based on armaments and complex machinery, some of
which has been sold in controversial arms deals to rogue states. Notwithstanding the
relative sophistication of a portion of its economic base, however, the larger economy of
Kharkiv and the surrounding area is floundering, a result of general Ukrainian economic
conditions, poor governance and a failure of local officials to embrace private business
initiatives.
Kharkiv is a major university center in Ukraine, hosting more than 25 institutions of
higher education, including 13 national universities. The total number of students in the
city is about 150,000, of whom approximately 9,000 are from other countries. 50 Young
adults are very visible throughout the city as they attend classes in universities and
other institutions of higher education. Perhaps as many as 26,000 scientists are
employed in Kharkiv’s universities and three national research institutes.
50 One individual familiar with foreign student enrollment in Kharkiv said that a substantial number of
Arabs and other foreign Moslems study at various post-secondary education institutions in the city.
However, continued this source, Islamic and/or pro-Palestinian agitation is minimal because security
forces are quick to deport any foreigners who espouse extremist views.