Maayan Cohen, the municipal director of Urban Plan 95 – an international program of the Van Leer Foundation. Located in Beit Shemesh, the global Foundation promotes high-quality, healthy, and accessible urban spheres for preschoolers and the adults caring for them. Maayan directs and leads public collaborations, field initiatives, and community infrastructure development in the haredi sector. She guides initiatives and advises on social projects, partners in projects connecting various sectors (e.g., the Beit Shemesh women’s council; the Jewish Agency), connects academic research to the field, and conducts round tables and tours of Beit Shemesh. Before that she was a project manager at the D.V. Rose real estate company and the Ligdol V’lifro’ach (Grow and Blossom) NGO.Maayan believes in creating connections that enable direct encounters which foster a resilient, accepting, and diverse society. She holds a teaching certificate from the Beit Yaakov teaching institute; a BA in business administration, communications, and public relations from Ono Academic College; and is a graduate of the Mandel leadership program.Mother of six, married to Avishai, a religious scribe and Judaica artist. Lives in Beit Shemesh