The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Sharsheret a grant to develop survivorship programming and culturally-relevant resources for young Jewish breast cancer survivors. The CDC grant is a three-year cooperative agreement to support breast cancer awareness in young women. According to the CDC, "This new program will provide resources to organizations to establish or enhance existing support services for young (<45 years of age) breast cancer survivors and their families. Organizations also will be funded to develop tools and resources to increase patient and provider knowledge of health behaviors and other strategies for reducing disease risk ..." The CDC’s work with young breast cancer survivors falls under the Affordable Care Act and the funds made … Continue Reading
Helping Innovations Survive, Thrive, and Go to Scale
by Aliza Mazor Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas has been the proud home of 26 innovative start-ups over the past decade. We have served as a laboratory for new ideas, giving them physical space, start-up capital, skills training, coaching, consulting, a peer community, visibility, and more. Our goal has been to nurture the growth of these ideas, help them become effective organizations, and enable them to achieve lasting impact. This article highlights some of what we have learned in the “lab” over the past decade and our understanding of what enables innovators to gain credibility, attract investors, and bring projects to scale. Of the 26 organizations we have helped incubate since our founding, 5 have ceased operations, 9 have created high-quality small or local programs, and … Continue Reading
Post-Start-Ups Need Support, Too
by Nina Bruder The news that JDub Records - one of the largest, most successful, and heavily funded Jewish non-profit start-ups of the past decade - is closing due to lack of financial support is sending shock waves throughout the Jewish innovation world. JDub Records was an early entrant that helped shape the field of Jewish innovation and start-ups. From 2003-2008 they were part of Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas. While not every start-up organization - not every organization! - can or should last forever, some are, indeed, poised for genuine growth. In my opinion, post-start-up growth and sustainability are the next frontier for the Jewish innovation ecosystem. Many of us eagerly await JDub’s wind-down report detailing their circumstances and decisions; there is much to … Continue Reading
JDub Closing Up Shop
Venture is aging out of the cohort of Jewish “start-ups” JDub, an initiative touted as being at the forefront of a Jewish cultural renaissance, has announced it will be closing due to financial pressures. Founded in 2002 by two then NYU students, Ben Hesse and Aaron Bisman, JDub was one of the earliest projects incubated through both Joshua Venture and Bikkurim (2003-2008). In its start-up phase, the organization focused on developing a small group of artists, including Matisyahu, SoCalled and Balkan Beat Box. As time went on, JDub's artist roster grew to include Israeli hip hop, Biblical indie-rock, Yiddish Punk, Cantorial Afrobeat, Sephardic rock and Jewish Kids music. Among the reasons stated for closing are "aging out of the cohort of Jewish “start-ups,” a troubling thought to those … Continue Reading
Storah13 Gala: An Organization Comes of Age
by Eszter Margit Storahtelling, recognized nationally as a leader in transforming the contemporary Jewish experience, is turning 13 this summer and reinventing the B Mitzvah Celebration in honor of this milestone. This evening, hundreds will gather in Tribeca’s City Winery and raise a glass to 13 years of pioneering innovation and success. The gala, Storahtelling’s first, will honor Marina Pinto Kaufman, Storahtelling’s founding Board Chair, and salute Amichai Lau-Lavie, the organization’s visionary founder, who is stepping down this summer. The Storah13 Gala features a demonstration of Storahtelling’s unique approach to the B Mitzvah experience, starring actress and comic Jackie Hoffman, direct from Broadway’s “Addams Family”. Jackie has been trained through Storahtelling’s … Continue Reading
The Generation Gap
by Manny Waks In the article, Give Us the Tools to Define Our Involvement, Joshua Einstein cogently articulates the major challenges and obstacles inherent in the global predicament of Jewish continuity. The term “continuity” is ubiquitous in contemporary Jewish community discourse. Broadly, it defines the continuity of “Jewishness”, both as our collective identity and as a values framework. In his article, Mr Einstein rightly criticises the existing structures of the mainstream Jewish community. He states, “Rather than focusing on giving the younger generations the tools to define their involvement and their identity - empowerment and enfranchisement - the vast majority of the organized effort has been geared toward retention and replacement.” Mr Einstein refers to not only the … Continue Reading
Hold Jewish Leaders Accountable for Gender Equity
[eJP note] This post, originally published February 25, 2010, is part of the series 28 Days, 28 Ideas - a joint project of seven media partners, including eJewish Philanthropy, that ran during February 2010. Contributed by The Sisterhood Blog @ The Forward, it is republished today in recognition of International Women's Day. by Joanna Samuels The Jewish community rightly holds its leaders responsible for managing complex organizational tasks. Yet when it comes to creating workplaces that routinely hire, advance and retain women in positions of authority and visibility, many leaders throw up their hands. So here’s a thought: Let’s all of us, leaders and constituents, stop acting like the advancement of women in Jewish communal life is impossibly complicated. If communal leaders follow these … Continue Reading
Jewish Philanthropy in 2011: Some Thoughts
by Felicia Herman Jewish tradition warns us to stay away from prophesiers (Lev. 19:26; Dt. 18:10 and 18:14), which drove much of the collective Jewish skillset away from augury and into strategy. In that spirit, I offer not a list of predictions about what will happen in Jewish philanthropy in 2011, but rather some reflections on what I think needs to happen if the Jewish philanthropic world is going to expand and grow stronger in the coming years. Where you stand, of course, depends on where you sit. These reflections are the product of my having had the privilege to be involved with The Natan Fund for the past seven years, working together with the exceptional young philanthropists who make up Natan’s membership, with the groundbreaking emerging organizations around the Jewish world that … Continue Reading
Bikkurim Taps “Rabba” for Incubator Support
from The Jewish Week: Yeshivat Maharat Gets ‘Seal Of Approval’ As the controversy surrounding Sara Hurwitz’s designation as “rabba” continues to swirl in the wake of her being named to Newsweek’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis in America” list, news that the yeshiva she runs to train Orthodox women as spiritual and halachic leaders has been chosen to get financial and nonprofit development support from the incubator Bikkurim was undoubtedly comforting. ... In addition to Yeshivat Maharat, Bikkurim also announced that it would support the Jewish Meditation Center, a Brooklyn-based meditation center that offers weekly programming, such as walking meditations across the Brooklyn Bridge. Both Yeshivat Maharat and the Brooklyn Meditation Center are women-run start-ups that are … Continue Reading
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