Enhancing Capacity for Jewish Enrichment: An Evaluation of BBYO’s Directors of Jewish Enrichment Pilot
May 5th, 2015
In 2012, BBYO, Inc. (BBYO) added three Directors of Jewish Enrichment (DJEs) to its field management structure. With professional backgrounds and graduate training as Jewish educators, these full-time employees were brought into the organization in an effort “to deepen the Jewish experiential learning offered to [BBYO’s] teen-led community and prepare Jewish teens for a lifetime of Jewish involvement.” The three DJEs are in place for a three year initial pilot project, from 2012 to 2015, with the understanding that a second cohort of three DJEs would be added, provided that the grant criteria for the pilot phase were achieved.
Growing out of a 2011 study of BBYO’s impact, the DJE Initiative is part of BBYO’s broader intentions to strengthen the potential for teens’ Jewish enrichment and deeper “meaningful Jewish experiences.” BBYO’s new Educational Framework, now called “Kivun,” was also developed in response to BBYO’s impact study. Kivun outlines BBYO’s goals for teens’ Jewish growth, outcomes related to those goals, and indicators of teens’ Jewish growth. The DJEs are meant to help BBYO implement this new Educational Framework in order to achieve the articulated goals.