March 15, 2018 | eJewish Philanthropy
The Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties (the Federation) has launched its Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Initiative, a five-year, $7.6 million endeavor.
The Initiative was designed with 1:1 match funding by the Jim Joseph Foundation, in the context of the national Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative and will include five components:
- Innovation Accelerator to scale, expand, and diversify innovative programs for teens with grant funding to a cohort of nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurial training, and coaching;
- Professional Development to support well-trained, high caliber Jewish educators, widely recognized as the key to successfully engaging teens;
- Experimentation Micro-Grants to pilot and test new program ideas;
- Information Hub to provide a centralized resource for teens, parents, and the community; and
- Scholarships to create incentives for teen participation in immersive experiences and Israel travel.
- Additional support for and partnership in this work comes from The Jewish Federation and The Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay.
The Federation’s board of directors has approved $2 million in grants to community partners to be disbursed over three years. Of these grants, nearly $1.2 million were awarded as part of an Innovation Accelerator to organizations poised to scale, expand and diversify innovative program offerings. Programs in the Innovation Accelerator will participate in cohort-based learning on entrepreneurial methods and mindsets, guided by UpStart, a San Francisco-based incubator for Jewish community innovation.
The Teen Initiative’s first set of grants include:
- BBYO – San Francisco/Marin Expansion and Enrichment Initiative ($145,000)
- Camp Tawonga – Teen Year-Round Engagement & Leadership Development Program ($150,000)
- Congregation Emanu-El – The Gathering ($150,000)
- The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) – Museum Teen Council ($125,000)
- JCC of San Francisco – Teen Arts Immersion Program (TAIP) ($125,000)
- Jewish Youth for Community Action (JYCA) and Peninsula JCC – Peninsula-JYCA ($150,000)
- Oshman Family Jewish Community Center – FACST-Fun, Active, Community Service for Teens ($150,000)
- NCSY – Jewish Student Union (JSU) Culture Clubs ($150,000)
- Camp Ramah in Northern California/Ramah Galim ($25,000)
- Jewish LearningWorks ($745,000)
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