Category: Culturally Based Programs, Israel Education Programs, Online Programs, Teen Programs
What are the goals of the program?
Jewish Student Connection exists to help high school students explore what [Jewish] means to them, inspiring proud personal connections with our culture, with our People, with Israel — with each other.
What is the structure of the program?
Forming Jewish clubs in public and private secular high schools to strengthen Jewish identity and education.
What was the genesis of the program and what need was it meant to serve?
Over 70% of Jewish teens attend public or private non-Jewish high schools. Rather than wait for them to become engaged on their own, we bring programming to them.
What are the key elements and underlying principles of this model/initiative?
Teen-centric, non-denominational, focused on education.
Category: Culturally Based Programs, Hebrew Language Programs, Israel Education Programs, Online Programs, Teen Programs
What are the goals of the program
Connecting Jewish youth to Judaism, Israel and each other using web-based conferencing software enabling easy student access from anywhere in the world.
What is the structure of the program?
Weekly Online Jewish Learning. Sundays, 10-10:45 CST and 11-11:45 CST. Students are required to have headsets with microphones, laptops and high speed internet. Students log in from anywhere, usually at home. Learners are youth in grades 6-12 that do not access formal Jewish education and/or are looking for high quality Jewish learning interaction with like-minded peers. Students do not need to have a background in Jewish subjects. JconnecT has educated students come from all backgrounds.
What was the genesis of the program and what need was it meant to serve?
The program was designed to provide an opportunity for Jewish youth in small communities that lack formal educational opportunities after the age of Bar and Bat Mitzvah to study together on Sunday mornings in an active virtual classroom. The goals of the program were to enhance their Jewish knowledge, to strengthen their Jewish identity, and to enlarge their Jewish social network.
What are the key elements and underlying principles of this model/initiative?
The Jewish people have always maintained a "global community" called 'Klal Yisrael". The technology provided by the internet enables us to make that global community more concrete for our young people at a time when sociological studies indicate that the connections seem to be weakening.
What (other) factors made this model/initiative successful?
An important factor has been the innovative curriculum that has been employed. The focus on relevant topics such as contemporary Jewish issues, leadership, and the like has enabled us to engage the students while communicating to them that Judaism has something important to say about issues that are significant to them.
The mission of the Jewish Teen Funders Network (JTFN) is to provide teens with multiple Jewish values-driven opportunities to engage in collective philanthropic giving with their peers.
What is the structure of the program?
JTFN has compiled a publication titled, "Build Your Own Program. It offers resources and sample documents for teachers, community professionals, and teen advisors interested in creating and establishing their own Jewish youth philanthropy programs. It also has published "JFTN Best Practices," a report broken down into 12 "Best Practice" sections. Each section provides a concept introduction and 3-5 strategies/concepts for consideration. Under each strategy you can find examples and resources, and in some cases, technical how-to steps.
What was the genesis of the program? What need was it meant to serve?
Over the last decade, more than 60 Jewish youth philanthropy programs have emerged throughout North America. From the East Coast to the West Coast, in large metropolitan areas and small communities, these programs engage teens ages 13-18 in hands-on collective philanthropic giving. They are housed in day schools, religious schools, synagogues, social service agencies, local Jewish Federations, and endowment foundations. There are roughly four programmatic models for Jewish youth philanthropy programs:
youth foundations, in which teens contribute money to a collective philanthropic pool that is matched by a local donor, or a pool of funds provided through a community endowment, and then give the money away
seventh grade funds, which allow B’nai Mitzvah students to give money they otherwise would have spent on B’nai Mitzvah gifts to tzedakah
youth boards, in which teens do not contribute their own money; rather, they are responsible for decisions on a portion of a foundation’s grant making corpus
individual endowment funds, in which teens donate the interest from individual accounts to organizations of their choice.
Some programs meet over the course of an academic year, while others meet over one semester. Some programs are structured as one-time experiences, while others engage teens for several cycles. Programs meet 4-8 times, and some include weekend retreats and/or site visits to potential grantees.
City: White Plains, NY Auspice/Sponsorship: UJA-Federation of NY Contact Information: Abbe Marcus, Director- abbe@jteenleadership.org, info@jteenleadership.org, (914) 328-8788 Website: http://jteenleadership.org Year Established: 2005 Category: Jewish Values Programs, Experiential Education Programs, Teen Programs, Tikkun Olam Programs
What is the goal of the program?
J-Teen Leadership is dedicated to empowering and inspiring Jewish teens from all backgrounds with leadership training, core Jewish values and community service, so they can start contributing to the Jewish community and the world today.
How does the program work?
J-Teen Leadership is a community service leadership development initiative for Jewish high school students who want to make a difference in the world today. What makes us unique is that teens plan and lead projects. Based in Westchester, we welcome teens from New York and beyond, of all backgrounds and affiliations. Through local service projects and hands-on service trips, with skill building in leadership, advocacy and philanthropy, teens gain firsthand experience of tikkun olam with a heavy emphasis on collaboration.
What was the genesis of the project and what need was it meant to serve?
J-Teen Leadership grew out of a pilot project launched in 2005, by then high school sophomores Amanda Bilski (Washington University in St. Louis 2012) and Aaron Marcus (Wesleyan University 2012) from Northern Westchester, NY. With the support of UJA-Federation of New York, Amanda and Aaron organized a service trip to Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. They worked with displaced hurricane victims living in FEMA trailer villages and returned home determined to continue to serve in their communities on an ongoing basis.
