URJ Camp Newman is the beneficiary of a $1 million grant from the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties (JCF) to support the redevelopment of the 65-year old camp located in Sonoma County, CA. As its first capital grant in 2013, the JCF’s $1 million contribution to Camp Newman represents the largest amount the Federation’s Endowment Fund grants to any single capital project.

This is the second $1 million grant given in short succession by the JCF, which has made reducing barriers to Jewish education and experiences a core focus area. In October 2012, the JCF awarded a $1 million capital grant to the North Peninsula Jewish Campus to purchase the property that houses the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School and the Peninsula Jewish Community Center among others.

Sitting in the Santa Rosa mountains of Sonoma County, URJ Camp Newman annually serves 3,500 adults and children for off-season retreats and 1,500 Jewish youth through its summer camp program. With the new retreat center that the JCF’s investment will help build, Camp Newman will be able to serve upwards of 13,000 individuals each year.

JCF’s contribution is seen as key to leveraging other major donors to invest in Camp Newman’s comprehensive $30 million campaign to conduct critical improvements to its infrastructure, plus new housing and program space. With the $12 million Camp Newman has already raised, infrastructure improvements and construction of the first set of new cabins has begun.