February 6, 2012 - Boston, MA - Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) announced today that it is the recipient of a $1.89 million grant for serving Jewish day school students with a wide range of special learning needs. CJP will receive $1.69 million from the Jim Joseph Foundation (JJF) and $200,000 from the Ruderman Family Foundation. CJP, partnering with Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, based in Newton, MA, and Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership in New York, will work with six Boston-area Jewish day schools to create “whole school” models for serving students with a range of learning needs. The grant will establish professional development and training programs to build the capacity of teachers and school leaders so that they are well-equipped to better … Continue Reading
Jewish Family Educators Unite Online
by Robyn Faintich While teachers look to inject technology into classrooms and other learning settings, they must not overlook its power to build community among themselves to enhance skills, share and gain new ideas, and collaborate. Aiming to equip Jewish family educators with resources, creative ideas and connections to strengthen their work, passions and outcomes, Shevet: Jewish Family Education Exchange is utilizing digital technology to coalesce the field and empower it. In Digital Habitats: Stewarding Technology for Communities, authors Etienne Wenger, Nancy White and John Smith say that Web 2.0 and 3.0 tools “facilitate the convergence of content and networks of people, creating new possibilities for communities to develop and grow,” and that communities of practice “help us … Continue Reading
What Would Rambam Think About DonorsChoose.org?
In today’s world, the opportunity to engage in the work of social change is, literally, at our fingertips. But, does this newfound accessibility make us better donors? Adene Sacks and Dawne Bear Novicoff talk about our role as donors in an age of interconnectedness and independence: These days, it happens all the time. A 13-year old girl, preparing for her bat-mitzvah, sits down with her parents to talk about the mitzvah of giving tzedakah (charity or justice) for the occasion. The family turns to the internet and identifies a worthy project where they will ask friends and relatives to donate. With a few keyboard strokes, this family is able to express support for a project of their choice and provide funding for an individual who may live 10,000 miles away. In today’s world, the … Continue Reading
Retaining Day School Teachers Involves More than Networks and Workplace Happiness
by Dr. Ezra Kopelowitz Recently, Hal M. Lewis, posted on eJewish Philanthropy an article about the need to place the issue of workplace happiness at the top of the Jewish Community’s efforts to retain quality personnel. He argues that non-financial factors, having to do with the quality of the work experience are critical in retaining personnel in the non-profit world. In responding to Lewis’s article, Deborah Fishman argues that in the context of Day School education, networks are the way to retain quality teachers. In one area, namely day school teaching there is research that points to not one factor, such as work place happiness or networks, but a compilation of factors that lead to retention of quality personnel. Understanding how these factors come together enables concrete and … Continue Reading
YU Students Talk Tachlis about Social Justice
by Abigail Pickus Tucked away in an office in South Tel Aviv, a group of unlikely bedfellows engaged in some weighty conversation. Stav Shafir, one of the most prominent leaders of the social protest movement that shook up Israel this past summer, and a group of Stern College for Women students of Yeshiva University in New York, talked tachlis about social justice. “This wasn’t a protest just about housing - housing was the symbol for all of our social services,” explained the 26-year-old Shafir as she delved into the issues that prompted hundreds of thousands of Israelis of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities to demonstrate for a more just society. This encounter was just one stop on a multi-tiered, eight-day winter break Israel trip for Yeshiva University undergraduates run by the … Continue Reading
Foundation for Jewish Camp Nadiv Program Moves Forward
Last summer, Foundation for Jewish Camp announced a grant from the Jim Joseph and AVI CHAI Foundations for a pilot initiative to create senior experiential Jewish educator positions to be shared by nonprofit Jewish overnight camps and Jewish day or synagogue schools. The program, Nadiv, was designed with several goals: the first, to experiment with a new model that could enhance the quality of education at Jewish camps in a sustainable way. The second, to create a new model for year-round positions for trained and talented Jewish educators and the third, to model a new way to foster deeper collaboration between different kinds of institutions in the Jewish educational world. The selected camps, and schools, for pilot program partnerships have now been announced: Camp Mountain Chai (Angelus … Continue Reading
Framing the Training for Our Emerging Jewish Experiential Educators
by Mark S. Young As we begin 2012, I predict that experiential education in the Jewish world will continue to be a hot topic. Last month, I attended the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial where Jon Woocher, Chief Ideas Officer at JESNA (I love his title), continued to press the importance of creating “immersive and meaningful experiences” within Jewish education to be successful in transmitting Jewish knowledge and engaging the next generation in Jewish life. Given this, we must not only address the question of what makes for excellent Jewish experiential education. Perhaps more important, how do we know a great Jewish experiential educator when we see one and how do we train these future educators for success? To substantiate definitive answers is a daunting task, primarily since the … Continue Reading
Leveraging Networks: From Commitment to Action
by Andres Spokoiny and Jay Ruderman On December 6th, nearly 175 leaders - funders, academic experts, and program leaders - came together in New York to explore ways that our community can do more to be fully inclusive of people with disabilities. With the collaborative leadership of the Ruderman Family Foundation and the Jewish Funders Network, the conference showcased two important lessons for active philanthropy. The Jewish Federations of North America, its Boston affiliate Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee all played important supporting roles. First, and most obviously, disabilities is a critical issue: no community, let alone one the size of the Jewish community, can afford to exclude people on the basis of what Tim Shriver, CEO of the … Continue Reading
Middle Income Day School Affordability out on the Western Frontier
by Sandy Edwards and Miriam Prum Hess Day school affordability for middle income families is critical to the ability of day schools to grow their enrollment and to attain financial sustainability. Day schools and communities are beginning to develop donor-funded programs and tuition strategies as Dan Perla explored in Middle Income Affordability Programs: A Promising Frontier in Day School Affordability, (eJewish Philanthropy December 16, 2011). Another venture in this landscape is Los Angeles Day School Affordability Initiative, a demonstration model in five Jewish high schools (Milken, New Community Jewish High School, Shalhavet, and YULA Boys and Girls High Schools) that not only is designed to stabilize and to incrementally increase the enrollment of students from middle income families … Continue Reading
Catalyzing Jewish Networks: How Can Jewish Schools and Camps Join In?
by Leah Meir “Jewish geography” is a favorite game among Jews who meet up anywhere - conferences, social gatherings, work meetings, street corners. You know the game questions: “So where are you from?” “No kidding, New Jersey! Do you know my brother (son, daughter, sister), who went to school (camp, college) there?” “Sure, I know your brother (son, daughter etc.) - We were really friendly at school (camp, college etc.)! I actually just connected with him (her) again through Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn).” Jews have been master networkers since the Babylonian exile 3,000 years ago - our survival as a people has depended on the ability to stay connected with fellow Jews wherever they were scattered across the globe. Our networking helped us hold fast to our shared values, texts, … Continue Reading
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