Source: JData Revealed
JData recently published its inaugural issue of JData Revealed, a monthly newsletter with information and ideas from JData.com. Developed at Brandeis University with the generous support of the Jim Joseph Foundation, JData is a public repository of information about the organizations that comprise the Jewish education system in North America. This issue contains article about the 2010 data from the world of Jewish summer camp----enrollments, budgets, staffing, and other data that define the size, shape, and health of the field. These data were retrieved on August 15, 2011. Note that JData is a dynamic system and numbers may change as more data are entered.
The Jewish Camp issue articles:
- Dan Brown, founder of eJewishPhilanthropy.com discusses the value of the camp data from the perspective of the funder community and the wider world of Jewish education.
- Jeremy Fingerman, CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, explains how FJC is using JData for its annual camp census. The FJC-JData partnership has been a valuable one for all concerned, enabling us to gather data from 147 Jewish overnight camps and to make the information widely available.
- Paul Reichenbach, director of the URJ's camp programs, and Steven Weinberg, director of the Habonim Dror Camp Association describe how JData is contributing to their efforts to strengthen the camps within their respective systems.
JData Revealed: Jewish Camps Across America
Nonprofit Jewish summer camps are central institutions in the Jewish educational system in North America. Known for cultivating fun, friendships and creativity, summer camps are also settings in which children, teens, and young adults are immersed in Jewish life and Jewish learning. The JData Directory has contact information for 147 Jewish nonprofit overnight camps in North America---- independent and community camps, as well as those that operate under the aegis of a denominational or Zionist movement. These camps span the religious spectrum from secular through Modern Orthodox and Chabad. Included in the Directory are camps located throughout the United States and Canada.
The largest concentration of camps and campers is in the Northeast, especially in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania area. The emergence of new camps is particularly notable in the West, an area of the country previously described as lacking a "camp culture." In fact, seven of the 20 camps established most recently are sited in the Mountain or West Coast regions.