Orlando, Fla: Hillel International today announced a major new partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation to promote inclusion for students with disabilities at 550 college campuses across the country and around the world. The $750,000 grant will help Hillel International address practical barriers to participation in its student programs, as well as launch the spiritual, cultural and communal reflection and action necessary to ensure all Hillel communities can be inclusive of all students. Over the next three years, Hillel International will use these funds to develop a series of professional and student trainings, place inclusion-focused interns on college campuses, and use Hillel’s communications channels to highlight best practices and stories about inclusion.

Discussions of inclusion, disability and mental health are playing a prominent role at Hillel’s Global Assembly, now underway in Orlando.

In addition to the program at the Hillel International Global Assembly, the Ruderman partnership will include the development of several training resources and programs, including an “Ask Big Questions” curriculum on inclusion. Hillel International will also launch the Ruderman Engagement Internship, an expansion of Hillel’s successful engagement model that will hire students to focus on disability and inclusion in their campus Jewish communities. Hillel will also begin a campaign to use its publications and social media to disseminate information about inclusion on Hillel programs and campuses, share stories and spread tools and techniques for inclusion from campus to campus.