Search results for: Jim Joseph Foundation

Phase One of the New York Teen Initiative (NYTI) has been a four-year, nine-million-dollar endeavor to redefine the New York City area’s Jewish teen engagement through the incubation of new and innovative models for summer engagement, a robust online marketing platform (FindYourSummer.org), and the provision of scholarships to participating teens and their families. The Initiative is part of a national effort—spearheaded by the Jim Joseph Foundation—in which 14 foundations and federations are working together as a Funder Collaborative to expand and deepen Jewish teen education and engagement in 10 communities across the United States.

The Jim Joseph Foundation today announced a $23.7 million cumulative investment in 21 organizations following a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to address two critical areas in Jewish education: Educator Professional Development and Leadership Development. The Foundation, which fosters compelling, effective Jewish learning experiences for young Jews in the United States, received 154 Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) following the RFP’s release in April. The grant periods begin now and will continue into 2020 and 2021.

The Jim Joseph Foundation created the Education Initiative to increase the number of educators and educational leaders who are prepared to design and implement high-quality Jewish education programs. The Foundation granted $45 million to three premier Jewish higher education institutions--Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and Yeshiva University (YU)--(each institution received $15 million) and challenged them to plan and implement programs that used new content and teaching approaches to increase the number of highly qualified Jewish educators serving the field. As with nearly every major Foundation grant, independent evaluation was built into the grant from the outset. Annually, American Institutes for Research (AIR) provided the Foundation with a comprehensive evaluation of nearly every aspect of the Initiative – number of program enrollees and their experience in the workplace; how the institutions were working together; progress on programs achieving sustainability; and more. Now, with the final evaluation, recently completed, we believe the field has much to learn from the Foundation’s and grant partners’ experience with this investment.

One of Birthright NEXT’s newest endeavors is a pilot initiative with the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund of San Francisco (the Federation). Known as the JCF-NEXT Birthright Experience Pilot, the initiative is designed to maximize the Taglit-Birthright Israel experience through pre- and post-trip Jewish engagement in the Bay Area.