Stepping Up and Forward: NYTI 2019 (Phase II Year 1) Evaluation Report

The New York Teen Initiative (NYTI) is the collaborative effort of UJA-Federation of New York and the Jim Joseph Foundation (as funding partners), and The Jewish Education Project (as lead operator) to redefine the New York area’s Jewish teen engagement field. This ambitious initiative unfolds as part of a national effort—spearheaded by the Jim Joseph Foundation—in which 14 foundations and federations are working together as a Funder Collaborative to expand and deepen Jewish teen education and engagement in 10 communities across the United States.

To evaluate the ongoing success of its second phase, NYTI has partnered with Rosov Consulting to explore the following five questions:

1. In what ways and to what extent do NYTI programs demonstrate readiness to expand?
2. To what degree does the diversity of the Jewish teens served by NYTI programs resemble the known diversity of the Greater New York City Jewish community?
3. Has NYTI’s investment in marketing efforts—specifically the FindYourSummer.org website and the deployment of Find Your Summer Ambassadors—increased market awareness of NYTI?
4. What is the ongoing impact of NYTI’s investment in scholarships on incentivizing participation, at a time when the level of subsidization is projected to decline?
5. How has the new internship program—Summer Excelerator—fared? Was it able to successfully get off the ground, meet its recruitment goals, and meaningfully engage teens?

Stepping Up and Forward: NYTI 2019 (Phase II Year 1) Evaluation Report, March 2020