An eventful retreat marked the completion of the first year of the Ofakim Program for Future Leadership
During a two-day retreat that took place on the shores of Ashkelon, the group members reviewed their experiences and what they have learned in the first year of the program, as well as having the opportunity to test their skills by leading their peers in various missions on the beach at nightfall. On the second day, the group met with the members of the Metropolitan Beer Sheba Program and spoke with Jacob (Yankale) Steinberg, the Director of the Mandel Center, and with a graduate of the Eilat program, Suzie Sharam Cohen. Discussions in small groups were consequently held. Alongside all this lively debates on the character and future of the Ofakim group took place, and clusters of personal visions were formed. The personal visions were presented in the course of the last month to the group and to the faculty of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev. In each vision the fellows mapped out the problem they had focused on, specified the vision they believe would bring about change and focused on an initial action plan. The discussion on the personal visions produced a fascinating discourse surrounding different fields in the city and outside it, such as education, the integration of the disabled, the improvement of quality of life and the environment and the creation of a multicultural community. The operative proposals raised by the group members included: opening an art school, forming a social Beit Midrash, founding neighborhood committees, developing a program for at-risk youth, and establishing a settlement community in town. 
The program directors, Dr. Itzhak (Kiki) Aharonovich and Dr. Shani Bar-On reported that the completion of the process gave the optimistic feeling that should these visions could be realized, and that they could bring forth a far-reaching change for the town of Ofakim and its residents.