Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) is looking to invest in ideas that will energize the field, increasing the reach and impact of Jewish camp.
As we look to 2021 and beyond, what will position Jewish camp(s) to be better prepared to thrive and bring the best of camp to our rapidly changing world? For the answer, FJC seeks ideas from our camp community – and beyond – with the Jewish Camp Innovation Challenge!
The Jewish Camp Innovation Challenge welcomes initiatives that address one of the following areas: expanding access and engagement in Jewish camp; enhancing or extending immersive Jewish learning/life; and addressing the pipeline of Jewish camp leadership. Teams will design, test, and launch a project or initiative with tools and support from FJC. Ideas could address a recasting of summer camp for 2021, expanding reach from summer to year round, extending engagement from youth to lifelong, or examining systemic changes. After two stages of competition and innovation workshops, the winning team(s) will be eligible for a grant of up to $10,000 to pilot their creation.
The Jewish Camp Innovation Challenge is open to anyone with an idea to develop in response to the prompt. Teams must be at least two people and recommend no more than five. Teams must have representation from at least two camps in the FJC network; representatives may include camp professionals or lay leaders. Applications are open now and will be accepted through July 19th.
To learn more, check out the challenge timeline, and apply, visit the Innovation Challenge webpage. If you’re interested in hearing more about the application process, register here to join us for an information webinar on July 9 from 2:00 – 2:45 PM ET.
We hope you apply and can’t wait to experience your innovative ideas for Jewish camp!
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I love the Foundation for Jewish Camp and this is just another great thing they are doing.
Here are a few ideas I wanted to share that I hope others will pick up on (I live in Jerusalem so you can forgive me for “passing the buck”…)
1. Camps should try to do more programming during the school year (more than just an annual reunion) to keep their campers traveling in a Jewish social circle doing fun/meaningful activities during the long academic year.
2. Camps should run more Family Weekend Retreats possibly on Thanksgiving and Memorial Day Weekends where families come for a weekend and enjoy activities and promote the idea of families celebrating Friday night Shabbat dinners. Instead of having bunks- each family sits at a table in the Dining Hall- anywhere from 15 to 25 families would be great, run a whole Family Jewish Educational Weekend retreat with a great Jewish-(or Israel) themed movie Sat night…Let the campers see their parents enjoying two days of camp! Example: Ask the campers to pick two camp songs (or Israeli dances) to teach their parents- and sing and dance as families.
3. In general- running Jewish Retreats for families and Jewish singles was emerging as “the next big Jewish idea”- (before Covid hit) and a camp setting is an ideal environment for Jewish retreats, although this idea might need to wait until this virus passes…
Weekend retreats are great for promoting Friday night Shabbat dinner celebrations- advocate families having traditional Friday night Shabbat meals together with all electronic devices turned of for an hour or more. Great for strengthening family connections.
Unlike Jewish camps, Jewish schools and Israel peer trips, the family Friday night Shabbat dinners, are the one mainstay of Jewish continuity that can continue even under lock-down, and without the “Jewish nourishment” of camps, Israel trips and Jewish schooling, it may be even more important than ever to promote Friday night family Shabbat dinners.
One of the main findings in a recent study (link below) done by the Jim Joseph Foundaton with the Jewish Education Project of NY (the BJE of NY) after interviewing 17,500 Jewish teens found that: 1. Jewish teenagers look to parents as role models to understand the Jewish world (which I understand to mean that they look to their parents to see how Jewishly involved they should be, taking after their parents) and 2. one of the most important aspects of their Jewish identity is meal times with their families. Those two facts being the case then it behooves the Jewish community to advocate for families celebrating a traditional family Shabbat dinner together every Friday night. Even in the non-Jewish world spending time as a family eating dinner together has been documented to help the social well being of teenagers and the family unit. See 2nd link below.
Jewish teenagers study:
https://www.jewishedproject.org/genznow
Family dinners helps the social well-beings of teenagers and families…
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Parenting/family-dinners-linked-risky-behavior-teens/story?id=14583590