Press
Repair The World: BYFI Alumni Venture Fund Announces Its Grantees
2010-08-12
By Leah Koenig, Repair the World
Last March, we announced that Repair the World was teaming up with the Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel by issuing matching grants to their Alumni Venture Fund.
5 months later (and many degrees warmer), we are excited to announce the twelve organizations selected to receive grants. Repair the World’s matching grant added a total of $7,500 in additional funds to five of the selected grantees. Each of these creative, innovative projects was pioneered by a BYFI alumni. The projects selected to receive extra matching grant support meet Repair the World’s criteria of encouraging Jews to take social action and contribute to the world through volunteering.
Without further ado, here are descriptions of the twelve recently-funded projects. Those with an asterisk* indicate a project matched by Repair the World:
* College Students for Enrichment in Secondary Schools will bring Harvard undergraduates interested in teaching careers to New York during their extended January term break to run an after-school educational enrichment programs for mixed groups of middle school students (some fee paying and some on scholarship). Funds from the Alumni Venture Fund will provide scholarships for high-needs middle school students. (Elisabeth Cohen ‘01)
Datilonim, the first project led by Amitei Bronfman alumni to receive an AVF grant, serves to give secular and religious youth in the Tel Aviv area the opportunity to meet one another in a social context, letting religious and secular teenagers in Tel Aviv move beyond stereotypes and pre-conceptions and become friends. (Nadav Wachs ‘09)
Growing Up Milwaukee: Camping, a comprehensive initiative including a photographic exhibit and educational and cultural programming that demonstrates the impact of the camp experience on Jewish identity and pride. (Ellie Gettinger ‘98)
*Home Front Hearts: Building Responsive Communities, founder and BYFI alumna Randi Cairns will establish a strategy and calendar of events to reach the NJ Jewish community at mitzvah fairs and through speaking engagements and volunteer programs, raising awareness and inspiring the Jewish community to reach out to military families. (Randi Cairns ‘87)
Jewish Education Workshop (J.E.W) pairs students who wish to learn to lead religious services with peer tutors at Barnard and Columbia. (Mitzi Steiner ‘06)
The Kavod Moishe House in Boston is expanding their successful Jewish Sex Ed for Adults program to Jewish organizations and synagogues in the Boston area. (Margie Klein ‘96 & Michelle Sternthal ‘95)
The Keshet Transgender Education and Organizing Initiative mobilizes the Jewish community to take action and become a visible force for transgender civil rights in the broader world. (Idit Klein ‘89)
*Kevah is a pluralistic Jewish learning initiative in the Bay Area. The funds will help launch a social action component for their learning groups. (Sara Heitler Bamberger, Yozma ‘97)
Ma(core): Source of Knowledge is a student-led program at UCLA that uses traditional torah study methods to explore secular topics like the environment and politics. (Ben Steiner ‘06)
The University of Maryland: Committee for Religious Life will use the support to help expand pluralistic Jewish programming on campus. (Eitan Lefkowitz ‘07)
*The Urban Defense Project’s, a Cleveland-based urban-greening project, brings 15 college interns together for the summer to develop skills and knowledge in the fields of home weatherization, urban agriculture, and urban policy development. The interns learn important skills while creating immediate economic benefits for Cleveland residents. (Eliana Golding ’07)
*Uri L’Tzedek will bring their ethical seal (Tav Hayosher) to the UPENN campus just as they successfully did at Princeton with support from the AVF last year. BYFI alumni and other Jewish students on campus will work with the Kosher dining hall to make sure that dining services abides by the highest standards of ethical treatment of workers and to monitor this on an ongoing basis. (Ariel Fisher ‘05)
