Source: Campaign for Jewish Boys
In order to reverse the loss of Jewish boys after bar mitzvah, Moving Traditions has just released the comprehensive report, Engaging Jewish Teenage Boys: A Call to Action, offering Seven Lessons and Seven Principles to help Jewish educators, funders and parents more effectively reach teenage boys. The report is distilled from three years of research, 40 focus groups with Jewish boys, and program development, and grows out of the success of Moving Traditions' work with adolescent girls through Rosh Hodesh: It's a Girl Thing!
With the report, Engaging Jewish Teenage Boys: A Call to Action, Moving Traditions is launching a comprehensive initiative to help both formal and informal Jewish educators better serve Jewish teenage boys. The report includes:
- A Conceptual Framework. The seven lessons and seven principles for more effective Jewish education described in Parts I and II of the report outline in a concise, organized fashion all we have learned through a rigorous process of listening, action research, program experimentation, and evaluation.
- A Marketing Toolkit. Part III of the report includes a set of resources produced in concert with the marketing firm AMP, outlining best practices for more successfully reaching Jewish teenage boys.
- A Program Curriculum. Suitable for stand-alone use or for incorporation into any number of settings and programs, The Brotherhood is a new, boys-only program developed and tested by Moving Traditions with the input of 8th and 9th grade boys. A sample of this eight-session curriculum is included as Part IV.
- A Path to Implementation. Moving Traditions offers professional development and training to prepare Jewish educators to implement the seven principles in their work with Jewish teenage boys. The opportunities are described in the report’s conclusion, A Call to Partnership.
The findings of four research studies commissioned by Moving Traditions are incorporated into the Call to Action report:
- Offering Boys Lives of Possibility: An Evidence-based Framework for the Jewish Community
- Wishing for More: Jewish Boyhood, Identity and Community
- On Working with Boys: Intriguing Practices from Program Directors in the Field
- Promoting the Religious Development of Jewish Boys: A Literature Review and Environment Scan