News & Blogs Category: Partners in the News

The Jewish Federation of San Diego County has announced the launch of the community-based Center for Volunteer Service Learning, an initiative designed to catalyze more immersive and ongoing service learning opportunities for San Diego teens.

The initiative is supported by a matching grant of more than $3,000,000 from the San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation. As part of the grant, a local Teen Volunteer Corps will be created and hosted at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs Family Campus, in La Jolla.

“The collaboration between the Federation and the JCC to develop this initiative has been inspiring,” says Larry Katz, past President of LFJCC, Teen Steering Committee chair. “We are excited about how this partnership will evolve as we continue to work with other teen engagement programs throughout the community.”

The effort for the grant in teen engagement is part of Federation’s Teen Initiative, which engages teens through volunteerism and learning. Caryn Viterbi, who also chairs the Teen Steering Committee, said of the grant, “This initiative was designed to impact the entire community to move the needle on teens engaged in Jewish life.  It is the hope of the steering committee, and all those who helped design this initiative, that we will create many meaningful learning opportunities for teens to connect Jewishly.”

To deepen the quality of learning experiences offered, the Center also will provide educators and teen leaders with new skills to implement these programs and to connect teen participants to more Jewish experiences.

“The Jewish Federation of San Diego County developed a focused, thoughtful initiative that taps into the passion that Jewish teens have for service learning,” says Chip Edelsberg of the Jim Joseph Foundation. “We very much look forward to working with the Federation’s talented team as the Center for Jewish Service learning takes shape and engages more teens in Jewish life.”

The grant was awarded within the framework of the Jim Joseph Foundation’s Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder collaborative, comprised of national and local funders working together to expand and deepen community-based Jewish teen education and engagement.

The Funder Collaborative began two years ago following the release of the Jim Joseph Foundation’s report, Effective Strategies for Educating and Engaging Jewish Teens. Other grants within the Collaborative framework have been awarded to Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston; Rose Community Foundation in Denver/Boulder; UJA-Federation of New York; The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore totaling more than $37.3 million. Over the next eight to ten years, it is projected that these initiatives will collectively reach and engage tens of thousands of teens in meaningful Jewish learning experiences. Total investment by the Collaborative’s end date over that same time period may reach as much as $70 million.

Source: “$3 million granted for Jewish teen activities,” September 2, 2015, San Diego Jewish World

Reshet Ramah, Camp Ramah’s alumni and community engagement network, is poised to expand the role that camp plays in building Jewish community.

When Gabe Scott-Dicker, 30, lost his mother last year, he found him-self wondering where he was going to say Kaddish.

Like most in his generation, he does not belong to a synagogue. Raised in West Caldwell, New Jersey, and now living in Manhattan, he visited many and felt welcomed by all. But none of them felt quite right. “What I really wanted was that feeling you get at camp,” he realized. “I wanted that Friday night Camp Ramah experience again.” Out of that realization was born the Ramah Minyan, started by Gabe and fellow Camp Ramah in New England alumni Jenna Silverman and Allison Moser. They reached out to friends hailing from all the Ramah camps, and held their first service last February in a space provided by Park Avenue Synagogue. That Shabbat, 165 young adults in their 20s and 30s attended; on weeks when dinner is served, more than 200 come. While a core of regulars is emerging, the number of newcomers continues to climb as the Ramah Minyan meets every other Friday night.

“What’s amazing is that many of these are not people you’d ever see going to Shabbat services otherwise,” said Rabbi Ed Gelb, director of Camp Ramah in New England, looking at the list of his former campers on the Ramah Minyan roster.

Meanwhile, 23- year old Talia Spitzer moved to Dallas for a new job. She knew no one, but soon discovered that as she met new people, the ones she felt the most immediate connection to all had one thing in common: Ramah. An alumna of Camp Ramah in California, she organized an after work evening at a lounge for young adult Ramah alumni and their friends. “I hope that Ramah alumni know that now there is a community for them in Dallas,” she said. “And that if you ever end up in a city in which you have never stepped foot, as I did, chances are there will be a Ramah network there to support you.”

That is Reshet Ramah’s mission: to use the power and passion of the existing Ramah alumni network to increase adult Jewish engagement and create stronger, more vibrant Jewish communities. (Reshet in Hebrew means “network.”) Funded by a grant from The AVI CHAI Foundation and the Maimonides Fund, with additional sup-port from the Jim Joseph Foundation and a number of local funders in various cities, it is a grand experiment, one that stands to make a real impact on the fabric of the Conservative movement and the North American Jewish community as a whole.

More than 270 alumni of Ramah, USY, JTS and Schechter students filled a New York nightclub to celebrate Chanukah last December.

It is a bold step for the 68 -year-old Ramah system. Ramah, the camping arm of Conservative Judaism, boasts eight overnight camps, five day camps, the Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY) high school semester in Israel, the Ramah Seminar summer experience in Israel, and the Ramah Israel Institute travel program for schools, synagogues and family groups. Last summer more than 10,500 individuals (counting both campers and staff) participated in Ramah programs. This number is on the upswing: Camp Ramah in New England recently added two new bunks to accommodate increased demand, Camp Ramah in California will add a new edah (age division) next summer, Camp Ramah in the Rockies has grown to full capacity after only five years of operation, and the newest Ramah overnight camp is set to open next summer in northern California.

Clearly Ramah knows how to run great camps. But what does that have to do with stepping into the current trend of Jewish engagement work?

We estimate that there are approximately 250,000 “Ramahniks,” as alumni like to call themselves. When the 2013 Pew Survey of Jewish Americans was published and quantified what every rabbi and Jewish educator could have told you – that affiliation rates are plummeting, that millennials don’t want to belong to institutions built by previous generations, that only 33 percent of American Jews between the ages of 18 to 29 state that being Jewish is “very important” to them – the time seemed ripe for Ramah to leverage the positive emotional impact of its brand and augment the good work being done by synagogues and so many in the community.

To be sure, Reshet Ramah is still in the entrepreneurial, experimental stage, and its mission is not limited solely to millen-nials. As Joel Einleger, Director of Strat-egy, Camp Programs, at The AVI CHAI Foundation observed when the project was announced, “Reshet Ramah will seize the opportunity to build a stronger movement from the huge numbers of alumni of the Ramah camps across North America…that will in effect extend the experience begun in a Ramah camp years or even decades earlier.” In other words, the bonds built at camp really do last a lifetime, and the hope is that through Reshet Ramah those bonds will be nur-tured at various stages of life beyond the camper years.

The initial start-up phase was about building infrastructure, such as the creation of the Find Alumni Directory, and the Reshet Ramah website, www.reshetramah.org with stories of alumni marriages, reflections, accounts from olim, and news of upcoming events. The camps needed time to think through the impact of a national-level alumni initiative and how their own individual alumni associations would connect to that. And then there were people to galvanize, a board to establish, and programs to begin to imagine and build. Two years into the endeavor, we feel that Reshet Ramah is starting to see real traction.

What we are finding is that there is nothing cookie-cutter about this work. As we seed garinim, councils of alumni in cities across North America and Israel, each group is empowered to create its own programs with its own ideas. In San Francisco, the garin has leaned toward “boutique” events: Shabbat dinner at an art gallery, a kosher wine tour. In Washington, DC, the kick-off was a Chanukah party at someone’s home. In New York, the garin has created a mix of social and religious programming. For example, last Purim, 120 people attended a Reshet Ramah megillah reading and open mic night at a stand-up comedy club, and the following Saturday night 240 turned out for a Purim-themed costume party at a club downtown.

Other initiatives, like the launch last spring of RamahDate in partnership with JDate, Reshet Ramah trips to Poland for adults or the Israel Bike Ride and Hiking Trip to support special needs programs at Ramah, are staff-driven and marketed to the Ramah alumni community. Partnerships are crucial, especially with synagogues and other community organizations also involved in this work. Since its launch, Reshet Ramah has sponsored more than 70 events in 30 cities involving nearly 2,000 unique individuals.

“One of the real gems of the Conservative movement is our camps,” said Sheldon Disenhouse, president of the National Ramah Commission and a member of the Reshet Ramah board. “Ramah is well-poised to harness the Jewish joy and connection that comes from camp and can bring it back to people well after the camp years.”

“If we are successful,” added Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, National Ramah Director, “we will have changed the fabric of the community, offering another layer of options for Jews, young and old, looking for meaningful Jewish connection at various stages of their lives.”

Rabbi Abigail Treu is Director of Community Outreach and Young Adult Engagement at the National Ramah Commission. She previously served as a Rabbinic Fellow and National Director of the Women’s League Torah Fund Campaign at The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Source: CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism, September 1, 2015

Families in Colorado raising Jewish children have more opportunities to participate in Jewish life due to the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

The foundation created PJ Library, which offers Jewish themed books, music and programing to families around the globe.

JEWISHcolorado received a grant to expand PJ Library engagement in collaboration with its 22 partner agencies in the greater Denver metro area that serve children between the ages of 6 months and 8 years.

The winning initiatives emphasize building social connections among families as well as engaging them in Jewish life, programming or learning.

They range from creative holiday festivals, PJ Library stories in the park and neighborhood gatherings for families to enjoy PJ Library books and get to know one another.

“JEWISHcolorado is honored to receive this grant and thrilled to be part of the global PJ Library community reaching tens of thousands of families,” said Doug Seserman, president and CEO of JEWISHcolorado.

“PJ Library’s innovative strategy for engaging both interfaith and unaffiliated Jewish families is paramount in this community.”

The grant proposals were chosen through a competitive process open to local organizations implementing PJ Library across North America.

The 15 winners were selected from among 55 applicants after they were considered by both PJ Library staff and external reviewers.

“PJ Library’s impact goes well beyond the more than 144,000 books we send out each month,” said Judi Wisch, director of community engagement for PJ Library.

“We have worked closely with our local partners for years to help advance Jewish family engagement, and this is the first time we are able to add financial support to great initiatives to help ensure their success.”

These grants are the first stage in a five-year strategy to extend Jewish engagement in North America through the support of the newly formed PJ Library Alliance.

Partners in the alliance are the William Davidson Foundation; Jim Joseph Foundation; William and Audrey Farber Philanthropic Fund; Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation; Walter, Arnee, Sarah and Aaron Winshall; Susser Family Trust; and an anonymous partner.

Source: “PJ Library for Children Grows in Colorado,” Intermountain Jewish News, August 6, 2015

This summer, the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago launches a new initiative to increase the depth and quality of programming for Chicagoland Jewish teens – including the creation of an immersive Spring Break program to pilot next year.

The new initiative was made possible by a five-year, $3.19 million challenge grant from the San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation. The grant was awarded within the framework of the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder collaborative, comprised of national and local funders working together to expand and deepen community-based Jewish teen education and engagement.

“We are profoundly grateful to the Jim Joseph Foundation and our local funders for enabling us to delve deeper into this important aspect of Jewish learning,” said JUF President Steven B. Nasatir. “Providing meaningful Jewish learning experiences to the next generation is critical to ensure that our vibrant Jewish community will flourish for years to come, and we are proud to be partners in this effort.”

Funds from the Jim Joseph Foundation will be matched by a consortium of local funders, including Crown Family Philanthropies and JUF.

“This approach is the result of a community planning process that involved more than 100 clergy, professionals, parents and teens,” said Hallie Shapiro Devir, JUF’s Assistant Vice President of Israel Experience and Youth Initiatives. “This initiative will benefit the whole community by increasing opportunities for teen engagement, deepening our knowledge of Chicagoland Jewish teens and enabling organizations to provide enhanced programming to better meet their needs.”

To spearhead the new efforts, former consultant Sarina Gerson signed on last month as Director of JUF’s Teen Engagement Initiative. A graduate of Indiana University and The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Gerson brings over ten years of experience in the non-profit and commercial sectors to the position.

A lifelong supporter of immersive Jewish experiences, Gerson said she looks forward to working with community partners to create exciting programs that will provide Jewish teens with new entry points for Jewish education and engagement – particularly the all-new hallmark Spring Break experience.

“We believe that Spring Break represents a unique opportunity to create a new entry point for Jewish teen engagement,” said Gerson. “We are excited to provide teens with a low cost, fun, immersive experience where they can explore a new topic or develop new skills while connecting with other Jewish teens and mentors through a Jewish lens. In doing so, we will increase the number of teens engaged in Jewish activities who have a deep appreciation for Jewish values and tradition.”

JUF also plans to hire a new community educator to assist with capturing insights about programming and creating more continuity between current programmatic offerings.

The Funder Collaborative began two years ago following the release of the Jim Joseph Foundation’s report, “Effective Strategies for Educating and Engaging Jewish Teens.” Other grants within the Collaborative framework have been awarded to Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston; Rose Community Foundation in Denver/Boulder; UJA-Federation of New York; and the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, totaling nearly $32.8 million. Over the next 8-10 years, it is projected that these initiatives will collectively reach and engage tens of thousands of teens in meaningful Jewish experiences. Total investment by the Collaborative’s end date over that same period may reach as much as $70 million.

As part of the overarching mission to create more effective Jewish learning experiences, the Jim Joseph Foundation awarded a total of nearly $24 million to 13 organizations and institutions. The Foundation focuses on creating effective and compelling Jewish learning experiences for youth and young adults in the United States.

“JUF’s talented team identified Spring Break as an untapped opportunity to offer immersive Jewish learning experiences to Chicago area teens” said Al Levitt, President of the Jim Joseph Foundation, which seeks to create effective and compelling Jewish learning experiences for youth and young adults in the U.S. “We are excited to work closely with JUF as this initiative evolves and as more community partners lend their support and creative minds.”

For more information on JUF’s programming for Jewish teens, visit juf.org/teens.

Source: “JUF launches new initiative to improve and expand teen programming, beginning with immersive Spring Break,” JUF News, June 17, 2015

Five local day schools have collected more than 21 million ways to make Jewish education more affordable in Los Angeles.

A multiyear program to raise cash endowments and focus on tuition assistance called the Los Angeles High School Affordability Initiative finally met its goal last month. That’s when New Community Jewish High School, Milken Community Schools, Shalhevet High School, YULA Girls High School and YULA Boys High School announced they had collectively raised $17 million, a sum to which the Simha & Sara Lainer Day School Endowment Fund added $4.25 million.

The initiative was kick-started by the San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation in 2008, with help from Builders of Jewish Education (BJE) and The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, to help connect more youths with local schools and — it is hoped — Jewish futures.

“Research tells us that day school education, successive summers of residential summer camping and immersive Israel experience lead to a commitment to Jewish life individually and communally,” explained Chip Edelsberg, Jim Joseph executive director. “It was a natural fit for us.”

Bruce Powell, head of school of New Community Jewish High School, said the $4 million his school raised for its endowment is going to be matched by Lainer with $1 million. With the 5 percent interest it expects to make on the fund, the school will be able to award $250,000 in tuition assistance to the middle-income families who need it.

Shalhevet raised an equal amount, and received $1 million from the Lainer fund. Milken collected $5 million and got an additional $1.25 million from the Lainer fund, while each of the YULA schools raised $2 million, plus $500,000 from the Lainer fund.

To help middle-income families with this money, officials first had to define the group. Miriam Prum Hess, director of donor and community relations at BJE, said that she and her team found research from the California Budget & Policy Center indicating how much money it took to support two working parents and two children in Los Angeles (more than $70,000 at the time). Then they factored in the additional expenses of Jewish life.

These families were the ones who needed the most help in making the transition from Jewish middle schools to Jewish high schools, which can come with a 40 percent jump in cost. Higher-earning families could afford the tuition, and lower-earning families were already receiving assistance.

“The jump from middle to high school tuition was about 40 percent, and often families were not able to pay that extra amount,” Prum Hess said. “We wanted this to be a way to retain families that were in day school.”
Edelsberg said one of the reasons that the Jim Joseph Foundation supported the initiative was because “families in the middle get cut out. That’s what Los Angeles demonstrated to us. That’s not healthy, and it’s not the kind of student body you want.”

The initial program began in 2008, when Jim Joseph granted $12.7 million to BJE through Federation. That money was used mostly for tuition assistance for 600 families; the rest went toward funding the ability for schools to strengthen development staff, retrieve marketing materials, and train staff and school leaders about endowments and fundraising. BJE oversight was also factored into the grant.

Typically, Jewish day schools do not have significant endowments, according to Edelsberg. Through the Los Angeles High School Affordability Initiative, Jim Joseph hoped to modify that, as well as teach these schools about the importance of endowments and having funds for tuition assistance.

“For at least six years, those [$12.7 million in] funds can be used to continue to support the enrollment of high school-aged young men and women in middle-income families. All the schools are moving toward taking that term of six years and making it permanent.”

Now that the schools expect the funds to be there, Edelsberg said, they will continue to raise money on their own.

“The effort was one of changing the culture of the schools. We wanted to give them the support to secure endowment money within their own micro-communities at the schools.”

The official website for the initiative (lahighschoolaffordability.org) describes the whole process for the program, including how the funds from Jim Joseph were allocated, and how these five schools went from having zero dollars in endowment funds to millions. There are also links on how other communities can replicate the initiative and support Jewish schools.

“We appreciate opportunities where we can create a model and demonstrate that this kind of financial commitment would lead to a particular result,” Edelsberg said. “Now communities around the country have a tool to use.”
Prum Hess called the initiative a success, but it’s only the beginning.

“Six years ago there was no money in day school endowments, and now the schools are raising $17 million,” she said. “It’s not enough, but it’s a start.”

At least one educator, Powell, is committed to building his endowment fund as much as possible.

“We won’t stop here,” he said. “That’s the key to the whole thing. My goal is to get it at $30, $40 or $50 million, or as high as we can make it.”

Source: “Fundraising Program for Day Schools Meets Goal,” Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, June 22, 2015

It’s a precarious world for Jewish girls — in addition to the angst of adolescence, they are at risk for depression, eating disorders and risky behavior. And Jewish girls, post-bat mitzvah, also often drop out of Jewish life.

But, for 3,500 Jewish girls across North America, a program called “Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!” is helping. An experiential program developed during the past decade, it uses Jewish teachings and practices and offers 11- to 18-year-old girls a place to feel safe, articulate concerns and consider the impact of gender on their daily lives, as well as have fun and be “real” with their peers.

According to a newly released report, celebrated at a panel at The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Rosh Hodesh is demonstrably impacting how these emerging teens see themselves, through both the lens of gender and Jewish identity.

“We knew there were problems that girls had to deal with,” said Deborah Meyer, executive director of Moving Traditions, the nonprofit that created and oversees the program. “We shouldn’t wait for girls to be in crisis and drop out; we should use Jewish teaching and values to help them develop into healthy young adults and give them a reason to stay connected.”

Currently, Rosh Hodesh groups are running in 26 states; Moving Traditions has regional directors operating in six cities (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles). Groups meet monthly in age cohorts that can last through the end of high school; leaders explore with the girls issues such as body image, friendship, relationships, family, competition and stress.

At the L.A. Federation program, California Director Beth Tigay and Chief of Education and Program Rabbi Daniel Brenner presented the data, gathered from participants, group leaders and community partners, to determine long-term impact. “We were looking for proof of concept, but also to improve the concept, to think about how we might work more effectively,” Meyer said.

“Every group is different,” said Rabbi Yechiel Hoffman, who supervises Moving Tradition programs at Temple Beth Am. “Sometimes it’s ritual-based, sometimes it’s a processing space.” Bette Alkazian, group leader at Temple Adat Elohim, said her aim was to create an environment that was “the antithesis of school.” Shira Landau, speaking as leader of groups for Temple Beth Am and IKAR, noted that the “key component is the space and time to share, to feel like you’re not alone.”

Lyla Birnbaum, a past participant who has just finished her first year of college, credited Rosh Hodesh for developing her leadership skills. And high school junior Frankie Alchanati confessed that her mom had originally forced her to go, but the program was life changing. “I’ve made lifelong friends. It’s my own little ‘Dr. Phil’ show — whatever I need, they’re there for me.”

A group of 450 former Rosh Hodesh participants, with a median age of 18, responded to the survey administered by researchers Tobin Belzer in Los Angeles and Pearl Beck in New York City. Also surveyed were 160 group leaders and 50 professionals from partner organizations, and interviews were conducted with select alumni and professionals. The researchers learned that the program significantly strengthened girls’ self-esteem; empowered them to believe they can become agents of change for themselves, other women and other communities; and encouraged retention post-bat mitzvah.

“This project really crystallized for me how Jewish identity happens,” said Belzer, an applied sociologist of American Jews. “It happens in the articulation of what being Jewish means, so when you provide an opportunity for girls to think together about their Jewishness in the context of their lives and in contrast with their peers, you provide a powerful space for the cultivation of Jewish identity. Rosh Hodesh does this beautifully.”

Additionally, they found that most local participants weren’t aware that they were part of a national network. “The research gives Moving Traditions the opportunity to create a more vibrant national network of Rosh Hodesh participants and alumni,” Belzer said.

Rosh Hodesh has traditionally operated through community partnerships with synagogues, schools and community centers. But, in the fall, Moving Traditions is piloting a community group model in Los Angeles and Denver, aimed at the under-affiliated.

Since Tigay was hired last year, she said, she has “met everyone I can possibly meet in the Jewish community working with teens outside of institutions” to build the community group model. “I’m finding excited parents who may not want institutionalized Judaism or connection to a synagogue, but they do care about their children’s well-being, self-esteem and self-confidence.”

Tigay, an educator, teacher and administrator for 18 years, reported that, as of this year, L.A. proper has 58 Moving Traditions groups — 39 Rosh Hodesh groups and 19 groups of Shevet Achim: The Brotherhood, the Moving Traditions program that engages Jewish boys.

“L.A. is such a rich and robust community,” Tigay said, noting that one of her roles is to see “how we could fit our mission and goals into the needs of the city.”

Moving Traditions is part of the Jewish Teen Program Accelerator, supported through Federation’s Community-Based Jewish Teen Education Initiative, funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation and meant to support dramatic scaling of the region’s most innovative teen education programs. “The accelerator will open opportunities to collaborate with other organizations that we haven’t thought of yet,” said Tigay. “It’s a blast of innovative, creative people looking forward to exploring how to collaborate.”

Sixty percent of group leaders were in active contact with participants even five years after the program had ended, the research showed. “Choosing someone to create a safe space [and] have authentic conversations with teen issues often relating to gender is a critical component,” Meyer said, indicating that future research will explore the group leader’s role as mentor.

Although group leaders often are educators and teachers, Tigay said, social workers, lawyers, chefs, doctors, artists and actors also serve in this role. “Even though they’re not ‘in the business of teens,’ they want to help reach the teens. And it’s the adult in the room who can make or break it.

“I wish I had this as a teen,” said Tigay, who has two daughters. “It’s a gift to know that I’m doing something in an organization I love that’s making a difference.”

Download of report is here.

Source: “‘It’s a Girl Thing!’ helping to develop Jewish pride, identity,” June 3, 2015, Jewish Journal of Los Angeles

Last month, a group of 15 different organizations (15!) released a case study—Finding New Paths for Teen Engagement and Learning: A Funder Collaborative Leads the Way—detailing the two-years they’ve spent working together, learning about and investing in Jewish teen education and engagement initiatives. There are a litany of insights and interesting lessons to pull from the study, which we believe are beneficial to organizations well beyond the Jewish teen education and engagement arena (and even beyond the Jewish education arena). In fact, funders in all philanthropic sectors are increasingly pooling or coordinating funding for greater impact, or to address particularly challenging social and environmental problems. Because of this trend in collaborative efforts, we—one of us the evaluator who wrote the case study, and the other a member of the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative—want to highlight key items that have been integral to the development and initial successes of this funder collaborative.

First, let’s start from the beginning. This funder collaborative—different from many others—formed early connections around research, specifically a report, Effective Strategies for Educating and Engaging Jewish Teens. There was a mutual desire of all involved to make sense of the research learnings and to determine strategic ways to move forward, fund, and implement the best practices identified in teen education and engagement.

While other collaboratives often come together on a wave of dissatisfaction or frustration, or when one funder has a single idea and wants to build support for that alone, in this instance the research created a shared learning environment. Open discussion and creative ideas were, and are, encouraged. As a result, the various local funders “around the table” have access to many voices all focused on teen education and engagement—a rarity and a real value-added for these individuals given that their organizations focus on many areas of Jewish engagement. Now, the Collaborative is their unique space for delving deeply into this specific area.

Second, the Collaborative benefited from members’ shared beliefs, knowledge of the issue, and particularly shared experiences. The first two points admittedly are not entirely unique. Many collaboratives might bring individuals and organizations together around an issue about which all care deeply and are knowledgeable—be it homelessness, the environment, hunger, or other societal challenges. But this collaborative brought talented, passionate people together who live their work and have common experiences—Jewish life cycle events, trips to Israel, and other formidable moments—that are unique to this group. These common experiences, the close linkage between work and personal life, and the now multiple years of working together for a common goal have led to very genuine, strong relationships between Collaborative members. There is a true sense of a “team” because everyonewants to be a part of the Collaborative.

With this relationship-based environment, the Collaborative is positioned to do much more than just try to fix the problem by merely aggregating funds or aligning grants. Instead, Collaborative members aggressively tackle large challenges and problems where solutions have been frustratingly elusive. Participants say that learning and problem-solving together has been one of the reasons they stay in the group, participate actively, and take on the local initiative work. They appreciate that the Collaborative is a space beyond their home communities. It offers different voices, and similar to traditional chavrutastudy, members interact with each other in ways that push their thinking and creativity.

Third, the dynamic of national-local partnerships has many benefits. From a funding standpoint, the challenge that the Jim Joseph Foundation offered has been a catalyst for change in the five local communities that already have implemented initiatives. Beyond the funding, collaborative members from local communities take conversations that start within the Collaborative framework—i.e. measurement of Jewish growth outcomes, developing sustainable programs, and the like—and bring them back to colleagues working in areas outside of the specific Jewish teen education arena. In other words, local foundations and federations who commit staff time to the Collaborative are seeing benefits across their organizations.

A final key ingredient for the Collaborative’s success was clear-eyed and generous leadership. As discussed previously, the Jim Joseph Foundation committed money and time of Foundation staff, and did it looking to create something positive for all involved. The Foundation had clarity about its own objectives and hoped-for outcomes, but also a realistic appreciation that the Collaborative would have to both challenge and meet the individual needs of the funders in the group.

Now entering its third formal year, the Collaborative has an impressive number of accomplishments, which not all funder collaboratives can claim within such a short time: active participation by a consistent group; funding commitments for new initiatives in more than half of the participating communities; common measures of success adopted by all; and a cross-community evaluation that will aggregate data across multiple initiatives.

Collaborative members continue to address the common challenges that all communities face, regardless of unique characteristics or size, regarding Jewish teen education and engagement: how to increase it, how to sustain it when you get it, how to assess whether teens are gaining any lasting benefits. There is an excitement around being a part of something that is new, challenging, and, at least initially, effective all at the same time. And while we understand that no two funder collaboratives are alike, we believe that these insights can help other organizations who strive for deeper collaborations that simultaneously increase learning and strategic grantmaking.

Ellen Irie is President and CEO of Informing Change. Reuben Posner is Director of Youth Engagement at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. Read the full case study here about the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative, comprised of four national funders and funder representatives from ten communities.

Source: “Helpful Insights from a Working Funder Collaborative,” Ellen Irie and Reuben Posner, GMNsight, June 1, 2015

With new focus on ‘21st century skill-set,’ camp is fast becoming another data point on a teen’s resume.

When Barbara Rose Welford was looking to enroll her teenage daughter in summer camp, color war and cookouts weren’t enough to catch her eye.

“I’m not a helicopter mom, but I wanted an environment that will position Sarah to achieve her future goals,” said Welford, whose 14-year-old daughter is especially fond of science. “My kid will want to go to MIT one day. I want to make that possible.”

Hyper aware of the competition that will likely face her daughter when college applications roll around in a couple of years, Welford, who is Jewish, opted for theUnion For Reform Judaism’s (URJ) Six Points Sci-Tech Academy, a specialty camp in the Boston suburbs that focuses on high-tech education.

“A parent with an ear to the ground won’t treat summer like time off,” she warned.

Digital marketing, video game design and robot programming might very well be the new lanyard making and bug juice. As competition for high school and college heightens, Jewish camps are shifting focus to equip campers with a “21st century skill-set,” according to Jeremy Fingerman, CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC).

For parents’ eager to ensure their child a spot in a top school, specialty camps that focus exclusively on one skill are becoming increasingly appealing, according to Fingerman.

“Campers are looking for a way to differentiate themselves in the market,” said Fingerman, who said the trend toward specialty camps has been growing steadily in recent years. “Skill building programs give campers that necessary edge in high school or college applications. Parents, who are investing significant monetary discretion in camp, want kids to do more than just have fun.”

“These kids want to challenge themselves with more than the traditional overnight camp has to offer,” said Camp Inc. director Josh Pierce, a successful entrepreneur who has built and sold several companies. “We definitely deliver.”

Since its 2014 launch as part of FJC’s Specialty Camps Incubator Program, the camp has more than doubled in size, according to Pierce. Attracting nearly 200 campers from Israel, Canada, France, Uruguay and 15 states for the 2015 summer sessions, the camp offers an intensive two weeks culminating in a business pitch to a panel of real investors.

“They’re not just going to camp to have fun — these kids are learning real-world skills from top-notch professionals,” said Pierce, explaining how the campers meet with CEOs and working entrepreneurs. “Aside from the networking opportunities, we pitch camp to campers and staff as a great college resume builder.” The 15 counselors are all business undergraduates or MBA-candidates, he said.

The one glitch in Camp Inc.’s business model: campers are not coming back to camp if they succeed in their business ventures, Pierce said.

“It’s a catch-22,” he said, laughing. “If you create great entrepreneurs, you can’t expect them to come back.”

Though the accomplishments of specialty campers stack up, the question persists: is something lost from the camp experience when the goal of fun is ousted?

Rabbi Isaac Saposnik, executive director of Camp JRF, a traditional Jewish overnight camp in the Pocono Mountains, thinks so.

“There are such heavy expectations placed on kids growing up today — getting ready for high school, for college, for grad school, for that first job,” said Rabbi Saposnik, a member of the Reconstructionist movement. “We, as a summer camp program, entice kids to stay kids a little bit longer, to buck that trend of ‘what’s next?’” he said.

Camp JRF makes an effort to pull campers away from the “rat race” of every day life, he said.

“We teach skills, just not resume skills,” he said.

But Sandy Edwards, associate director of the Jim Joseph Foundation, the grant making foundation behind the specialty camps incubator, thinks specialty camps are the future.

“The trend in the field is clear: camps are embracing specialties,” said Edwards, who helped launch the incubator program in 2009 with five experimental new camps. “Families are attracted by specialties, because it gives their children a defined area of expertise.”

Greg Kellner, director of URJ Six Points Sci-Tech Academy, one of four camps chosen to be in the second incubator cohort, said the new demand is to provide campers with “advanced skills.”

Beginning each morning with the Boker Big Bang, a science experiment to kick off the day, days are filled with video game design, robotics, digital film production, software programming and coding.

“We don’t tell our campers that going here will get you to a particular spot, but it has in the past,” said Kellner, who reports that campers have used what they learn at camp to bolster their middle-school or high-school resumes.

Last year, 159 campers enrolled. This year, Sci-Tech Academy is juggling over 300 applicants.

“The high level of instruction campers receive is unique,” he said, describing one young woman who came to camp knowing nothing about robotics, and now heads the robotics club at her middle school. “They’re gaining tangible skills. It’s an investment in the future.”

While camp is steadily becoming a more high-stakes endeavor for campers, the same is true for counselors. While working at a camp during high school and even college used to be a respectable summer job, the pressure today to list impressive internships and real-world experience is tremendous, said Efrat Levy, board member of Camp Shomria, a progressive Zionist youth camp in the Catskills.

Levy, a deep believer in the value of camp for both campers and staff, is currently working to create a program where Camp Shomria staff members will be able to receive college credit for their work. The initiative is the first of its kind.

“We’re losing staff because of the pressure young adults feel to gain resume-building experience or tangible credit for their time,” said Levy, a one-time camper at Shomria herself. “We’re fighting to add quantifiable value to the camp experience so we can retain more competitive counselors.”

Levy, a professor of education at SUNY Empire State College in upstate New York, is developing a syllabus of six courses relevant to what counselors accomplish at camp. Child development, experimental education, and curriculum development are all part of the curriculum.

“Camp can be the new internship,” she said. “Counselors learn just as much, if not more.”

Mark Gold, the director of JCamp180, a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundationthat aims to enhance the long-term effectiveness of nonprofit Jewish overnight camps, takes imparting “real-life” skills one step further — to camp directors and board members.

“Camp directors are not just blowing a whistle and swimming in a lake — they are running a multimillion-dollar organization,” said Gold. The need to “professionalize” camps is critical to long-lasting organizational success, he said.

“Camp needs to be run like a business, not a recreational part-time engagement,” he said. “That needs to start at the top. Trustees and professionals need to impart to first level management (counselors) that their job is more than playing softball.”

But according to Gold, professionalizing camp is not so much a change as a reboot.

“This is what camp was always supposed to do: impart real-world skills,” he said. “We just want to make sure that camp is doing its job.”

Source: “Camp, The New Internship,” The Jewish Week, May 27, 2015

The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati (JFC), is a member of the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative, a group, comprised of 15 national and local funders committed to investing in community–based Jewish teen education initiatives. Recently this organization released a commissioned case study detailing insights and lessons learned from their first two years working together. The case study, Finding New Paths for Teen Engagement and Learning: A Funder Collaborative, was prepared by Informing Change, and is designed to inform other co–funding and shared learning efforts both within and outside of the Jewish philanthropic community.

Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Executive Director Brian Jaffee has been representing the organization at Funder Collaborative meetings. On Tuesday, April 28th, a convening of local Jewish community stakeholders was held at the Mayerson JCC. Two experts from the Jewish Education Project, Dr. David Bryfman and Justin Rosen-Smolen, described the work of the Funder Collaborative, and presented research findings from focus groups conducted with Jewish teens in four communities across the country. Participating in the convening, which was organized by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, were volunteer and professional leaders and educators from ten congregations, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, the Mayerson JCC, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Kulanu, Mercaz, Hillels of Cincinnati, Miami University Hillel, Jewish Community Relations Council, Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, as well as several Jewish teen leaders. The objective going forward is to design a local Cincinnati community initiative to be funded by the end of 2015.

“There’s no single reason to explain this success,” adds Irie. “Many factors combine to create an environment that cultivates important organizational partnerships and grantmaking grounded in best practices for teen education and engagement. And while every collaborative or partnership has a unique structure or purpose, we believe lessons from this one certainly can help others in the philanthropic world.”

Specifically, the case study notes four distinctive Collaborative characteristics that have been keys to success: 1) a deep–rooted purpose, 2) commitment to evaluation and shared learning, 3) focus on national–local funding partnerships, and 4) clear–eyed and generous leadership. Within the Collaborative framework, five local communities already have received grants and begun implementing initiatives.

“Through this collaborative initiative, we are eager to leverage the investments our community is already making in Jewish Teen Education and Engagement through our internationally recognized Cincy Journeys Israel and Overnight Jewish Camping Grants, robust Hebrew High Schools and congregational youth groups, as well as BBYO and dynamic teen programming at the Mayerson JCC,” said Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati President Beth Guttman. “Over the next several months we will be partnering with local organizations to develop new ways of thinking about how they can strengthen each other’s efforts so that, collectively, we can engage even more Jewish teens in Cincinnati.”

From its inception in 2013, the Collaborative has grown from a loose collection of 10–15 organizations to a finite group of four national funders and funder representatives from ten communities that dedicate significant time and resources to the Collaborative.

“Participating in the Funder Collaborative has enabled us to deepen our understanding of Jewish teen education and engagement issues, outcomes and impact,” said Jewish Foundation Executive Director Brian Jaffee. “Learning from other communities, and from the model established by the Jim Joseph Foundation and other national funders, has been extraordinarily valuable, and will help ensure that we develop local initiatives that provide leadership platforms and other outlets for Jewish teens that address issues of relevance to them.”

While the Collaborative has evolved, a constant has been the Jim Joseph Foundation’s parameters for, and commitment to, co–funding local initiatives in ten communities. To date, initiatives have been funded in Boston, Denver/Boulder, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles totaling nearly $32.8 million. Over the next eight to ten years, these initiatives will collectively reach and engage tens of thousands of teens in meaningful Jewish learning experiences. Total investment by the Collaborative’s end date over that same time period may reach as much as $70 million.

The Jewish Teen Education and Engagement FunderCollaborative membership includes: The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore; Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston; Jewish Community Foundation, San Diego; Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund, San Francisco; Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta; Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati; Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles; Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago; Jewish Federation of San Diego County; Jim Joseph Foundation; Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah; The Marcus Foundation; Rose Community Foundation; Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; UJA-Federation of New York.

Source: “New Case Study Details Characteristics of Successful Teen Education Funder Collaborative,” American Israelite, May 7, 2015

In recognition of its success infusing Israel into a greater part of camp culture and overall experience, Camp Pembroke in Pembroke, was awarded the inaugural “Goodman Prize for Excellence in Israel Education at Camp” by the iCenter for Israel Education, Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC), and the Lillian and Larry Goodman Foundations.

Along with nine other camp semi-finalists for the $1,800 cash prize award, Camp Pembroke—an all-girls pluralist Jewish summer camp—is part of the Goodman Camping Initiative for Modern Israel History. The ongoing initiative enhances and expands the commitment of Jewish overnight camps to modern Israel history and dynamic Israel education within all parts of camp, and is designed to help campers build deep and meaningful connections with Israel.

“We are honored and excited to receive the Goodman Prize for Excellence in Israel Education at Camp,” says Ellen Felcher, Director of Camp Pembroke. “Israel has always been a focal point for us, but over the last few years, Israel has infused in all the spaces in camp—from the dining hall, to the cabins, to the sports fields, to arts and culture, Israel is all around our campers. The Goodman initiative has been a driving force behind this change, giving us exciting tools and ideas to bring Israel to life at camp.”

Compared to just a few years ago, Camp Pembroke today offers campers many more opportunities for Israel engagement, with twice-a-week “Jewish life and learning” classes and dynamic, fun experiences. Among numerous activities, Goodman Fellows decorate a golf cart as an “Israeli Cash Cab” at the beginning of each summer for counselors to drive around, stopping anywhere at camp to ask Israel trivia questions. Another activity involves campers dramatizing Israeli-related inventions like the pill-cam, special irrigation techniques, cell phone technology, and more, while other campers guess the invention. And campers have designed picnic tables and benches to showcase Israeli history, heroines, and culture.

“Everything we do at Camp Pembroke now builds to a 5 and a half week trip to Israel during the campers’ ‘Counselor-in-training,’ summer.” Felcher adds. “We showcase Israel as modern state, living and breathing with excitement. The girls develop their own personal and meaningful connection to the country and the people.

Now in its third year, the Goodman Camping Initiative is a partnership between the iCenter and Foundation for Jewish Camp with generous support from The Lillian and Larry Goodman Foundations, with contributions from the Marcus Foundation and the AVI CHAI Foundation. The Initiative has engaged 36 camps at workshops, at seminars for shlichim, and with online tools that offer strategies and resources to help camps infuse modern Israel history into their camp’s educational program. As an example, Goodman curriculum details how a camp can run its own program based on the TV show “Shark Tank,” that teaches campers about social justice programs started in Israel. Beyond specific programs, the Goodman Camping Initiative helps camps incorporate Israeli themes, images, or Hebrew language into their entire camp surroundings, including their gardens, their climbing walls, and their bunks.

“Camp fosters deep connections and creates lasting memories—and we have an incredible opportunity to make Israel a focal part of this positive experience,” says Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp. “We’ve seen camp staff embrace this initiative and combine their learnings with really creative ideas that bring Israel to life for their campers.  This year, as there are every year, so many camps were worthy of this prize. I am proud of the ways all of these camps have incorporated Israel into the Jewish camp experience in such effective and dynamic ways.”

As part of the prize selection, camps had to detail how they’ve utilized the resources and training provided by the Goodman Camping Initiative to offer new Israel experiences to both campers and staff, and how their participation in the initiative has an ongoing impact at camp.

“The Goodman Initiative already has created a very significant shift in culture at camps by integrating Israel into regular, everyday programming,” says Anne Lanski executive director of the iCenter. “Authentic Israel experiences can be incorporated into nearly any learning environment, and the physical, immersive space of camp presents so many great opportunities. The initiative and this prize are indicative of the continued, exciting evolution of Israel education that we see at camps, day schools, congregational schools, and other educational settings around the country.”

Source: “Camp Pembroke Wins Goodman Prize for Excellence in Israel Education at Camp,” Pembroke Mariner and Express, May 6, 2015