Future Leaders for Israel (FLI) originated as Florida Loves Israel conference (FLI). It was founded by Florida State University in 2011 in an effort to unite and educate pro-Israel students from around the state of Florida. The mission was, and still is, to inspire students to cultivate their personal relationship with Israel, connect them with other pro-Israel students, leaders, and professionals
, and empower them to strengthen thier states relationship with Israel in a meaningful and exciting way. The conference is designed to operate on a yearly rotating basis. This allows a different university to host FLI each year with new students developing key leadership skills not found anywhere else through the experience of planning and executing such a massive program. The inaugural conference took place at FSU on February 2-5, 2012 and was attended by over 130 students from 7 major universities. The conference included 14 national and international co-sponsors. FLI was ranked the #1 Israel event for visibility, support, and impact by the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) between 2010-2012 amongst over 2,300 on 180 campuses nationwide. FLI was also recognized with a Theo Award by the ICC and given an Israel Programming Innovation Grant through the submission of an original and inventive “How-To” program guide. Additionally, the conference logo was the recipient of a 2012 Graphic Design USA Identity Design award. The University of Florida’s student Israel delegation was selected to host the second annual Florida Loves Israel conference, which took place April 12-14, 2013. It welcomed over 150 students and garnered a doubled national and international co-sponsorship with 32 separate organizations. Now FLI is looking ahead to the future for an even bigger third year. Chiam Schahm, The Israeli Consul General to Florida and Puerto Rico said, “It’s a step in the right direction for Israel and Florida.”
