Jim Joseph Foundation Awards Nearly $24 million in Grants at Winter Board Meetings

Grants Reflect Wide Range of Jewish Learning Experiences for Varied Age Groups

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation announced grant awards from its two winter board meetings totaling nearly $24 million to organizations and institutions engaged in Jewish education. The Foundation focuses on creating effective and compelling Jewish learning experiences for youth and young adults in the United States.

“These two rounds of grant awards reflect an especially exciting moment for Jewish education and the grantees with which we partner,” says Al Levitt, President of the Jim Joseph Foundation. “Whether in Israel education, teacher preparation, Jewish camping, service-learning, or other well-conceived efforts to engage youth and young adults, there are many new opportunities to both deepen and create more dynamic Jewish learning experiences.”

A full breakdown of the Foundation’s grants is included in its Portfolio Analysis. More information can be viewed in the Foundation’s recent biennial report.

Major Grants Awarded

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee: JDC Entwine (2015-2017)
Total Awarded: Up to $3,000,000
Purpose: To support the expansion of Entwine, JDC’s young adult service division, including to increase the number of young adults participating in immersive Jewish service experiences on an annual basis and to enhance and professionalize the educational content and training for Entwine participants, staff, peer leaders and alumni.

Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore Inc.: CEO Onboarding (2015-2017)
Total Awarded: Up to $971,620
Purpose: To create a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on-boarding pilot program to operate during 2015-2017, involving three cohorts of CEOs. It is envisioned that this program will be conducted in partnership with the recently established Leadership Pipelines Alliance (of which the Jim Joseph Foundation is one of several founding founders).

Brandeis University: Summer Institute for Israel Studies (2015-2018)
Total Awarded: Up to $600,000 over three years
Purpose: For renewal funding for the Summer Institute for Israel Studies (SIIS), an institute to train college professors to develop and teach courses in Israel studies at their campuses.

Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR): DeLeT (2015-2018)
Total Awarded: Up to $400,000 to Brandeis and up to $412,868 to HUC-JIR
Purpose: To support up to 12 DeLeT/MAT students each year and related program research activities.  To support up to 10 core DeLeT fellows, plus 4 fellows in a new Hebrew language teacher preparation track, at HUC-JIR.

Hazon Inc.: Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education (JOFEE) (2015-2019)
Total Awarded: Up to $7,507,213 over four years
Purpose: For the development of the JOFEE Educator Fellowship, and to provide matching funds for business planning and capacity support to Hazon, Pearlstone Center, Urban Adamah, and Wilderness Torah to significantly increase the number of immersive JOFEE experiences offered and to strengthen the organizations.

Jewish Community Center in Manhattan: Expansion of the Jewish Journey Project (JJP) (2014-2016)
Total Awarded: Up to $250,000
Purpose: To support the continuation and expansion of the JJP, a demonstration project showing how inter-institutional collaboration in the New York Jewish community provides a more customized approach to pre-b’nei mitzvah supplementary Jewish education—better serving the needs of Jewish families and deepening their connections to their synagogues and JCCs.

Reboot, Inc.: General Operating Support (2015-2018)
Total Awarded: Up to $2,650,000 over four years; each year, half will be paid as a 1:1 match
Purpose: To provide general operating support for the continued growth and cultivation of the Reboot network and to sustain, strengthen and amplify Reboot’s creative approaches to Jewish traditions through experiential programs for young adult Jews in their 20s and 30s.

Awards for Community-Based Jewish Teen Education Initiatives:

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago: Jewish Spring Break Experiences for Teens (2015-2020)
Total Awarded: Up to $3,196,469 as a 1:1 match
Purpose: To support a new multi-faceted Jewish teen education initiative in Chicago designed to measurably increase the number of Chicago-based teens engaged in high quality Jewish learning experiences during their high school years. The grant focuses on immersive spring break experiences and related year-round activities.

Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles: Community-Based Jewish Teen Education Initiative (2015-2019)
Total Awarded: Up to $4,217,824 as a 1:1 match
Purpose: To deepen the quality of learning experiences provided to L.A. Jewish teens and to double the number of L.A. Jewish teens engaged in Jewish life. The grant will 1) develop the Jewish Teen Program Accelerator to support dramatic scaling of up to twenty-four of the region’s best and most innovative teen education programs; 2) provide customized training and support to every Jewish teen educator in the region; and 3) create region-wide shared infrastructure to address accessibility and affordability through new marketing and scholarship programs, and ensure community-wide collaboration through regular networking and learning opportunities for professionals and teens.

Expedited Grants

Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore Inc.: General Operating Support of the Leadership Pipelines Alliance
Up to $250,000 for general operating support of the Jewish Leadership Pipelines Alliance’s inaugural year of activities

Board of Jewish Education, Inc.: Development of Learning and Growth Outcomes, Indicators and Measurement Tools for Jewish Teen Education and Engagement
Up to $106,851 for the development of learning and growth outcomes, indicators and measurement tools to be used for the evaluation of community-based teen education initiatives

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life: Jewish Agency Israel Fellows
Up to $200,000 to support experienced Israel Campus Fellows working on 23 “hot spot” United States college campuses

National Yiddish Book Center, Inc.: Great Jewish Books Teacher Workshop
Up to $196,025 to support Great Jewish Books Teacher Workshops in the summers of 2015 and 2016, complemented by follow-up programming

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