Grants

In January 2002 the IJE awarded grants to four programs with the goal of stimulating and supporting the creation of the next generation of informal education programs for Jewish youth. Our hope was to enhance and expand the field with the ultimate goal of attracting, activating and retaining under-engaged youth. The four programs that received an IJE grant excelled in their innovative and creative approach to engaging teens, and we hope will have a meaningful and lasting Jewish impact on participants.

These are projects that were not currently being implemented in the field, which could serve as models in other communities. In addition they had new recruitment strategies for under-engaged youth, and emphasized teen involvement in planning. The agencies were well organized, enthusiastic about the program, and had experienced professionals committed to implementing the projects.

JCC Manhattan
Program: Teens Give Back
New York, NY

Teens Give Back recruited teens from throughout New York City and offered them a meaningful internship in area non-profit agencies with supervision and group activities at the JCC in Manhattan. Based at the JCC, it offered 30 high school students a year-long supervised community service experience for a minimum of two hours per week combined with monthly Jewish learning to inform and inspire their volunteer work. In particular, there was a strong partnership with Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps, a program for young adults that combines front-line anti-poverty work, Jewish study, and community building. By connecting social action projects with Jewish texts, relevant current events, and Jewish leaders, teens gained a sense of purpose and direction which they can carry with them well beyond their high school years.

Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst
Program: Madrich
Brooklyn, NY

The Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst has absorbed over 50,000 Jewish émigrés from the former Soviet Union since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Madrich program engaged Jewish émigré youth in 9th and 10th grade in a year-round, part-time employment opportunity infused with informal Jewish education. The program selected about 20 under-engaged teens to participate in this unique program during summer camp. The teens alternated between positions as madrichim for the younger campers and as participants in Jewish informal education experiences designed for their group. In the second year another 20 teens started the program, and the first group experienced a more advanced curriculum.

Camp Tawonga
Program: Rites of Passage and Wilderness in Training
San Francisco, CA

Camp Tawonga, located on the edge of Yosemite National Park, ran two separate programs for teens with the IJE grant. The first, Rites of Passage, was a series of weekend backpacking programs for small groups of pre-teens preparing for their bar or bat mitzvah. It focused on the rite of passage they were undergoing during the year and tied that passage into a nature-based Jewish spiritual weekend experience. The second, Wilderness-in-Training (WIT), was a three-week summer program for 10th-12th graders to be held at camp. It ran parallel to Tawonga’s existing CIT program, but attracted teens with a special interest in becoming wilderness guides.

Canada Israel Experience and York University
Program: Educating Educators
Toronto, Ontario

The Canada Israel Experience and York University collaborated in the Educating Educators program to provide a group of teacher candidates from York University’s Jewish Teacher Education Program with a broader notion of their roles as Jewish educators. For more than twenty years, the York University program has focused on developing the school-based roles of teacher candidates. By partnering with the Canada Israel Experience, York began to introduce seminars in informal Jewish education for its students that culminated in a ten day Israel experience during the university’s winter break. This initiative has deepened the teacher education curriculum and graduated a new generation of Jewish educators with multiple skills.

Evaluation of these projects is being completed. At this stage, there are some initial lessons learned:

1. To engage under-engaged we need to define under-engaged: each agency struggled with its own definition because they all worked with unique populations.
2. Evaluation proved to be the hardest part for the agencies to follow through with, and was also the most time-consuming aspect of the grant
3. In engaging youth, good incentives were one of the best recruitment tools -- e.g., Madrich used a stipend, Teens Give Back had school credits, Educating Educators had a free Israel trip, and Tawonga had provided a unique outdoor experience. Since teens are so overwhelmed with schoolwork and extra-curricular activities, we found that the programs needed a “hook” to attract them.
4. When recruiting, the programs that made the “Jewish” component too prominent intimidated teens and parents from participating. When one program changed the emphasis of their publicity, participation in the program immediately increased.
5. Even though our goal was to attract only under-engaged youth in these programs, we found that it was a difficult, if not impossible, task for the agencies. In order to reach their goal, most accepted one third to one half engaged students.
6. Although the long-term impact is still unclear, the impact of these programs was extremely impressive. All the programs reported tremendous success stories. Particularly the Teens Give Back and Madrich programs, which were hosted by Jewish community centers, were able to witness the transformation of under-engaged students after the conclusion of the programs. Many students have become involved in other aspects of the JCC and have become regular participants in JCC activities.
7. Under-engaged teens are not disinterested in Judaism--in fact many feel guilty that they are not involved in Jewish activities. However, teens are so overwhelmed by schoolwork, extra-curricular activities, and family obligations that involvement in traditional Jewish activities is not compelling to them or their parents. When the Jewish community creates dynamic programs in a Jewish contexts, including arts, theatre, leadership, community service, nature, and camp counseling, under-engaged teens will participate and connect to the Jewish components.