What Nachas is All About

by Caroline Poland
Director, North Peninsula Jewish Teen Foundation

I am grateful that the work I do every day is infused with inspiration and passion, reflecting my love for life and philanthropy. My name is Caroline Poland, and I’m the Director of the N. Peninsula Jewish Teen Foundation. In my work I have the privilege of seeing teens grow and evolve as young Jewish change-makers. Recently I’ve had cause for even more nachas – we’ve grown the scope of our work to continue our connection with our JTF alumni through our Alumni Councils or AC’s (presently there are two, Marin/SF and NPJTF AC’s respectively).

The beauty of this work

Our Alumni Councils engage teens beyond their JTF board service, and are largely focused on giving back to our local community through Jewish programing and hands-on projects. From teaching philanthropy workshops for 7th grade Hebrew School classes at local synagogues, to participating in our Federation’s Super Sunday fundraising event; these motivated youth are taking the leadership skills they learned with the Jewish Teen Foundations to a new level.

The story of Zoe and Max

Max, Caroline, and Zoe

Zoe and Max are in their first year of college. Zoe, an Engineering major attends Tufts University in Boston. Max, a Broadcast Journalism major attends Syracuse University in upstate New York. Zoe and Max found time during their winter break to come to a JTF meeting to share their experiences on how they connected to Jewish life on campus and the ways their JTF training has served them in this new chapter. Both are associated to their Hillel on campus where they heartily noted, “The food is so much better than the dining halls!”  Zoe was drawn to Hillel by a friend who invited her to attend a retreat about sustainable farming and food justice. Today she attends services weekly and remarked, “After I finish my week of work, there is something really special about getting ready for services, meeting friends, and walking together to Hillel for on Friday night.”

Max enjoys the diverse themes Hillel creates for services that encourage camaraderie and inclusion.  “I connect with friends I don’t often see during the week, and we really have fun at services and Shabbat dinner together.”

Calling on their JTF skills in their new chapter

Max’s connection to Hillel immediately called on his JTF experience and skills when he was asked to take part in a fundraising campaign. He said he quickly got back in the fundraising space, and used his experiences with elevator pitches with donors in his new role with Hillel.  He also mentioned using his leadership and advocacy experience to land the internship of a lifetime at a local news station.

For Zoe, her work as a young philanthropist has inspired her to participate in a number of groups on campus and she remarked on how her experience has fueled many conversations about creating change.

As the person who witnessed the growth of these two remarkable teens, and their unwavering commitment to doing so much good in the world, it’s an absolute gift that leaves me deeply humbled and hopeful that the next generations of Jewish philanthropists are indeed becoming ready to rise and lead us in our collective new chapter.

Learn more

In the past 10 years, the JTF’s have granted more than $1 million to nonprofits in the Bay Area, Israel and world-wide.  Learn more by watching a video, getting insight from participating teens, reading the JTF Impact Report or contacting Caroline at 415.512.8303.

Instilling Teens with the Skills Needed for Life-Long Activism and Philanthropy

An optimist and an activist

“If 22 Jewish teens can help at-risk youth on the streets of Tel Aviv, anything is possible.” – Ari Goldstein, JTF board member

I try to keep myself busy.  I run track & field. I’m a leader of my school’s Jew Crew, Model United Nations team, and Eco-Council.  I am also passionate about photography and love the outdoors. I first heard about the Jewish Teen Foundations at a program fair at my synagogue, and was immediately interested because it was a way for me to make a difference in my community. The more I read about it, the more interested I became, and so I decided to apply

JTF is a group of teens that raise money to work towards solving a certain issue in the world. We choose a cause – any problem that needs solving – and spend months writing letters and making phone calls to raise money. Then we review grant proposals and choose five or six great nonprofits to receive grants.

By learning about the issues that face us and the groups working to solve them, I see the world through the lens of an activist and an optimist. If 22 Jewish teens in San Francisco can help at-risk youth on the streets of Tel Aviv, anything is possible.

What I have been most surprised by is how many people are willing to support a worthy cause. It gives me hope that so many people, even in these economic conditions, want to help in any way they can.

Consensus, leadership, and outreach are some important life skills I will definitely take away from the Jewish Teen Foundation and will be able to apply in college and beyond. I know I will look back on this experience with pride, and view it as a reminder that a small group of dedicated people really can change the world!

Realizing I could make a difference

“Often adults will overlook your potential and might not always take you seriously. However, throughout this process, we have met with dozens of adults from various nonprofits who have taken us very seriously – and it feels good!” – Hallie Goldstein, JTF board member

I first heard about the JTF at my synagogue’s teen involvement fair. I remember hearing about the program, and knowing that it was something I could definitely envision myself being a part of.

This experience has taught me that, even as an individual in a world of close to seven billion, I can make a difference. From the time I was little, I have been taught that, but never really believed it until I became a part of JTF. I realized that it is totally possible to make an impact on the world, and as an active member of the Jewish community, I feel it is an obligation to continue this philanthropic work in any and every way possible.

The most interesting thing I discovered by participating is that adults will take you more seriously in the nonprofit world than I had previously expected. Often adults will overlook your potential and might not always take you seriously. However, throughout this process, we have met with dozens of adults from various nonprofits who have taken us very seriously – and it feels good!

I plan to use the knowledge I gained involving nonprofits, budgets, overhead, impact, and reliability throughout my life. I plan to be someone who stays involved and connected in my community and in the greater Jewish community as well, whether it is monetarily or through service. Despite feeling very satisfied about my fundraising, I am still a firm believer in practicing tikkun olam through service as well.

See the entire impact report and learn more about the Jewish Teen Foundations.

Jewish Teen Foundations Instill Lifelong Activism and Philanthropy

“Teens step up when they are entrusted with responsibility.”

by Rachel Levenson, JTF Alumnus

I do not know even where to begin or how to express the importance of the Jewish Teen Foundations on my life. Starting with the JTF board from 8th grade onwards, this experience has been one of, if not the most important thing in my life for helping me find my personal interest and think critically.

The Teen Foundations provided me a place to interact with adults as peers, and I owe a lot of my personal growth to the program. It made me step back and think about what my role – as a Jew and as a global citizen – was and is in the larger worldwide community. I had to think about ways to integrate my Jewish values into projects that are bigger than just the Jewish community.

The Teen Foundations helped me find what I am passionate about. This year, I am starting a job in Malawi where I will be running an evaluation of a project that reduced the barriers to accessing savings accounts. I could not be more excited to be part of an organization that is working to try to measure effectiveness. There is no doubt in my mind that I would not be where I am today without the Teen Foundation.

WHERE IS RACHEL TODAY?

Rachel focused her university studies on international development in Africa. She conducted research over the course of 4 months in Uganda which ultimately led to her thesis. She participated in American Jewish World Service learning in Nicaragua and Uganda, and studied in Senegal where she perfected her French.  Rachel spent a year at Oxford studying international development. Today, Rachel is a Wesleyan University graduate, who has opened a  donor advised fund at the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund and has pledged to give at least 10% of her income to charities until her retirement.

You can learn more about the Jewish Teen Foundations on their website. Applications for the 2012-2013 boards will open on August 22.

Beyond Freedom: A Journey with the Jewish Teen Foundations

By Sara Nesson, Director, Marin/San Francisco Jewish Teen Foundation

I am sitting in the Kurland Lounge at the Marin Jewish Community Center and our speaker, Sagie, is telling us about what it’s like to see young male teenagers gathered around sex shops on the dark streets of Tel Aviv in the middle of the night. “You know how they make a living,” he says, “and you know it involves sex and drugs, but you really just don’t want to think about it.”  Many of these boys are homeless, he explains, because their Orthodox families would not tolerate their homosexuality.

Sagie, who represents a nonprofit based in Israel, takes a breath and admits he is a little nervous, and everyone in the room takes a moment to smile and acknowledge the courage it takes to speak to a group of strangers about something so difficult. Some speakers get extra nervous about presenting to high school students, although I know you won’t find a friendlier or more caring group of people than the members of the Marin/San Francisco Jewish Teen Foundation, who are fundraising for programs that serve at-risk teens in the Bay Area and Israel and will soon be facing some very tough choices about exactly where to allocate their funds.

Marin/SF Board member Elizabeth Stern works with fellow board members to untangle from a “human knot.” (Photo by Ze’ev Klapow)

It’s right before Passover and later in the meeting I will say a few words about the holiday and how we all will be taking time at out Seder tables to remember people in the world who are still not free, like the young people we are learning about this year who are on the streets in San Francisco or Tel Aviv.

Recently, one of the teen leaders in our program, Ryan, spoke at our Parent Night. “You can look at a list of twenty Jewish values in Sunday school,” he said, “and it’s just that, a list of great Jewish values.  But doing this work has actually made those values a physical, tangible experience.”

This is one of those times that I think I know exactly what Ryan is talking about.

Sagie goes on to tell us how the kids come rolling out of the sex shops and alleys when they see the van his nonprofit sends out.  Inside the van, they hang out on the couch, talk to the staff, get something to eat or drink.  After a while, he explains, you can begin to see them relax, even act like teenage boys again, joking around, but then, eventually, they go back out to survive on the streets.

Sagie also tells us about the particular project we’re considering funding: a classy restaurant in downtown Tel Aviv that is largely operated by at-risk teens.  Staffing this restaurant offers these young adults a place to experience and express responsibility, commitment, and community.

As we are wrapping up, Hallie, another teen leader in our program, comes back to the youth on the street.  “Can they participate in the restaurant program?” she asks. “What happens to them?”

Sagie says that the boys at the sex shops are not called “at-risk,” but rather “high-risk” or “fatal-risk.”  Most of them are not ready for the restaurant project.  “You just can’t put a chef’s knife in the hands of a drug addict,” he explains. It will be up to those kids to take steps that bring them to the nonprofit’s center where they can benefit from other programs, such as working with a social worker, dealing with substance abuse issues, or earning a high school diploma.

We all know that many of the kids on the street do not make it.

Sara Nesson, Director of Marin/SF Jewish Teen Foundation

On the second day of Passover, Jews are commanded to begin counting the Omer, a ritual that was once about preparing sacrifices of grain to offer in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.  These days, many people turn to the Kabbalistic practice of using each of the seven weeks before the holiday of Shavuot (the revelation of Torah) to reflect on qualities such as love, power, compassion, wisdom, and discernment–emanations of God that we can also develop in ourselves.  It’s not enough to be free, the ancient mystics seem to be saying, but what are you going to do with that freedom?

In the next weeks, my students will take the final steps in the journey of their foundation year—working to bring qualities like love, compassion and wisdom to their final grant allocations and to serve others from a place of humility and respect.  They will not meet many of the teens that will benefit from the grants of our foundation, but those lives will be linked to theirs by an invisible partnership about freedom and possibility.

Today as I walked in the early morning rain by my favorite lake, I sang a simple Modah Ani, (“I give thanks”), and then went on to take in the many brilliant shades of green moss and new leaves all around, the carpet of damp Redwood needles beneath my feet, the newts plodding steadily back into the forest after laying their eggs by the shore.  I love those newts, and in a way, I think we are a little bit like them.  We must keep plodding along, shaking off one season to welcome another, remembering our hard-won freedoms, but never stopping there.

Be inspired by Jewish Teens who are changing the world.
See photos from the Marin/SF region’s  Grant Celebration Ceremony.

Notes on Parental Sacrifices

By Hillel Zand, South Peninsula Jewish Teen Foundation Board Member
This post originally appeared on Hillel’s blog, American Jewish Teen.

As a board member of the South Peninsula Jewish Teen Foundation, I am currently at the halfway point in a yearlong process to make a difference. Sounds tough, right? The SPJTF creates a mission statement at the beginning of the year, researches nonprofits that match the mission statement, fundraise, and finally allocate money to deserving organizations at the end of the year. This past Sunday, we took a little field trip to one of Shelter Network’s locations, First Step for Families, which assists homeless families on getting back on their feet by providing a safe shelter for parents and their children, as well as vocational services and therapy.

It wasn’t my first time volunteering for Shelter Network, but this time was, by far, the most moving. After we had served dinner to residents and played with some of the kids, a couple of families came and shared their stories with our board, but one family’s story stuck with me the most.

South Peninsula Jewish Teen Foundation Board Members pictured from left to right: Jaime Korman, Hillel Zand, Daniel Kahan, and Aliza Cohen

A middle-aged single mom with three kids who had gone through a rough divorce with a drug-addicted husband and was forced to choose between medical attention for her slipped disk or shelter for herself and her kids. When one of our board members asked what she would change or improve about the shelter, she replied with the humblest thing one could say. She said, “Absolutely nothing. Shelter Network has changed my life so much for the better and I couldn’t ask for anything more from the staff that go out of their way to help me and my kids.” I was shocked when I heard that, because honestly, I was expecting complaints about the food or maybe the fact that she had to share a floor with 11 other families, but no. The fact that she was totally content with her life at that moment was something that I tremendously applaud. It donned on me during that moment that what she did for her kids was maybe not the easiest choice, but it ended up being the right choice. Her 12-year-old daughter nearly brought me to tears as she herself was sobbing while expressing gratitude for everything that the shelter had provided for her. Battling her tears, she said, “I’ve been through a lot in my life, and the therapy that they’ve provided me here has helped… so much.” And she, too, reinforced what her mother said: going to Shelter Network was maybe a harder choice than her family choice being split up by staying with relatives, but it was ultimately the best thing that ever happened to them, as it kept them together as one family.

“I’m trying to show appreciation towards my parents more than I have before for the sacrifices they make each and every day for me and my brothers.”

Those 4 hours at Shelter Network, especially those 20 minutes talking with Shelter Network families, really opened my eyes to the sacrifices parents make every single day. Everything parents do, I learned, is done with their children in mind, and that is something I could not respect enough. That night, I returned home thinking, “Sorry Imma (Mom), sorry Abba (Dad) for doubting what you say and do, but you know what, you were probably right.” It’s tough at my age to realize that and admit defeat to those that brought you into this world, but now, I’m trying to show appreciation towards my parents more than I have before for the sacrifices they make each and every day for me and my brothers.

LEARN MORE: See how Jewish Teen Foundation board members are learning about philanthropy, social action, and helping change the world.

A unique ‘thanks’ for the Teen Foundations

The North Peninsula Jewish Community Teen Foundation just received a big personal thank-you for one of the grants they made last year. Charity: water, the grantee, sent us this unique video that they made. We think that’s a pretty cool way of saying thanks!

Become a teen philanthropist

Applications now being accepted for the Jewish Teen Foundations program until October 3, 2011. Apply now.

Tune in to the Teen Foundation

The Jewish Community Teen Foundation was featured on KQED’s Marketplace Money as part of a larger piece about youth philanthropy and the increasing number of youth getting involved.  The piece aired this week on KQED 88.5 FM.

Two San Francisco/Marin Jewish Community Teen Foundation board members were interviewed for this piece and can be heard as part of this feature. This is very exciting for our community and our teens who have invested so much in making the teen foundation program a model of excellence.

More youth become engaged in philanthropy

These days, young people are getting more involved in higher-end decisions that have traditionally been reserved for adults. They’re sitting on foundation boards and allocating grant money to nonprofits. April Dembosky reports.

LISTEN NOW

DOWNLOAD PODCAST (Start 25 minutes in)

Taking teens to the next level

“If you give them responsibility, they take it and run with it.”
- Sue Schwartzman

We’re offering teens in 9th-11th grades an opportunity to become strategic grantmakers.
Apply today

Remember the movie Big, in which a 12-year-old boy inhabits the adult body of Tom Hanks and, among other adventures in dramatic irony, wows the heads of a toy company with his insights? Well, for even longer than Big has been out on VHS, a Bay Area–based movement has known that teens are good at consulting on more than PlayStation 3. They’re also instinctively savvy about deciding which after-school program or malaria-prevention project is worthy of a $5,000 to $10,000 grant.

“We live in a one-touch society where as soon as kids turn on their computers, they’re seeing faces of children in need all around the world,” says Sue Schwartzman, Director of Youth Philanthropy of the Bay Area–based Jewish Community Teen Foundations, where grants are decided by teen-led boards.

What do teens get out of it? They get to connect with Jewish teens, enhance their leadership skills, develop their Jewish identity, debate about tough choices and engage in social justice issues and contribute to a fund being matched by the program’s funders. All this while learning how to become effective strategic grantmakers.

The Jewish Community Teen Foundations offers teens in 9th-11th grades an opportunity to engage in Philanthropy in a social setting. This program gives them a foundation that empowers them to move from empathy into action. Last year, 94 teens raised and granted over $177,000 and now they’re hooked!

Applications are now available to serve on the 2010-2011 board and are due October 4th. Please contact us to nominate any Jewish teens that you feel should be involved. More information can be found at www.JewishFed.org/Teens.

From a regular kid to a kid with a cause

As we enter our centennial year, the Federation is working to make Jewish life compelling for the next generation. According to recent studies, only 13% of 12-17 year-olds are enrolled in some form of formal Jewish education. We know that the lack of engagement now can lead to discontinuity and disconnection as adults. That’s why at Federation, we engage teenagers in order to instill the values of tzedakah (justice), tikkun olam (repair of the world), and gimilut Hasidim (acts of loving kindness) through a Jewish lens. I’d like to tell you about Anya, who transformed from a quiet ninth grade girl to a confident leader and mentor through her year as a Teen Foundation board member.  

After her Bat Mitzvah, Anya had little involvement with other Jewish teens. Anya’s parents served as inspirational role models to their sensitive and intelligent girl. Her father, who didn’t let his confinement to a wheelchair limit him, infused his daughter with a determination to overcome obstacles; and her mother, an education rights attorney, instilled Anya with a perceptive, yet confident passion for change.  

Anya, Teen Foundation Board Mentor. Photo © Aaron Breetwor

In searching for peers who could understand and relate to her sense of higher purpose, Anya’s interest peaked when she came across a flyer for the Teen Foundations.  

Last year Anya and like-minded students who participated in the Teen Foundation raised $52,000 to give out in grants. Anya and her fellow board members had to make tough decisions about where the dollars they raised would go. They struggled with how much should go to Jewish versus secular communities. Ultimately some of their grants went to support 5 young children at an Israeli orphanage. And, wanting to help others help themselves, they also dedicated grants to help Darfur Refugees reclaim shower water that would enable them to start a garden that would supplement their meager food rations and give them produce to sell at the market.  

Today, Anya is serving on the leadership council and has gone from a shy and quiet participator to a persuasive leader and mentor for first-year Teen Foundation board members.  

In 2009, the Federation invested more than $2.9 million in teen and young adult programs, including the Teen Foundations, which raised a combines total of $166,360 last year, to ensure that our community thrives in the future. These programs strengthen Jewish identity, secure a connection to Israel, teach about Judaism, and help create awareness of worldwide Jewish and broader communities in need of investment and change.  

Read more about how the generosity of our community changes lives in the 2009 Impact Report, an annual report that combines the philanthropic outcomes of Federation’s Annual Campaign and the endowed funds of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.  

Your support ensures that our community remains vibrant and strong, now and in the future.  

Sincerely,  

  

Jennifer Gorovitz
Acting CEO

Teen Foundations; Building Future Leaders

The cool sounds from Aaron Breetwor’s saxophone helped to bring in over $10,000 last spring. Aaron, a member of the Board of one of the Jewish Community Federation’s Teen Foundations, along with three of his classmates from Mountain View High School, held a fundraising concert/party at his parent’s home. Raising that much money in a single evening, Aaron says, “was pretty cool.”

The money raised by Aaron was pooled with funds raised by two dozen other teens who serve with him on the South Peninsula Jewish Community Teen Foundation. For the past five years the Teen Foundation program has offered groups of Bay Area Jewish teens the opportunity to learn about philanthropy by exploring Jewish values and ideas. One hundred teens serve on the four Boards: San Francisco/Marin, the South Peninsula, the North Peninsula and the East Bay.

Aaron Breetwor plays the saxaphone to raise money for the JCTF

Through a weekend retreat and seven Sunday afternoon meetings, the young foundation members discuss Jewish thought and ideas and participate in a series of exercises designed to teach them how to become philanthropic leaders informed by Jewish values. The teens define their own philanthropic priorities for each of the four Teen Foundations. They then invite charities that operate within their area of philanthropic focus to submit grant requests and make in-person presentations.

The teens also raise the majority of funds used to pay for the grants that they make. The money is raised through letter-writing campaigns aimed at relatives, friends, coworkers, teachers and synagogue members. Aaron’s unique fundraising approach came about because he felt, “it would be a fun and different way to connect with the donors I was asking for money from.”

The Teen Foundation program was initially made possible by one donor’s permanent gift. Other donations have helped to underwrite subsequent program costs and matching grants designed to supplement the funds raised by the teens have also been created. The JCEF’s unrestricted funds and a widening pool of donors have helped to insure that the tradition of Jewish philanthropy is passed on to younger generations.

Since the program’s inception more than $650,000 has been awarded to deserving organizations, including $162,000 that was given out last June. The teens’ diverse concerns were reflected in the grants awarded, including help for inner city American youth, the hungry in Africa, Jewish Coalition for Literacy, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, the preservation of the environment in Israel, and many other concerns.

And Aaron Breetwor, who is in the second year of his Board membership, recently held a second fundraising concert to further his vision of tikkun olam.

To find out how you can support the Jewish Community Teen Foundation program or to get information on applying to become a teen philanthropist, please contact Sue Schwartzman, Director of Youth Philanthropy, at 650.852.9020 x 8007, or sues@sfjcf.org.

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TESTIMONIALS
“Looking back now I realize my time at the Teen Foundation coincided with times that I was growing most as a person and learning who I was and what was important to me. The Teen Foundation showed me that community service is something I want to do for my whole life. I couldn’t have gotten this experience anywhere else and I know it helped shape me.” – Trevor, South Peninsula Teen Foundation Alumni

“It is probably one of the most worthwhile activities our daughter has participated in. It helped to accelerate the further development of not only a sense of empathy, but of how to turn empathy into positive action.” – Leslie, North Peninsula Teen Foundation Parent

“This program helped me shape my Jewish identity and how I personally am connected to the Jewish community. It also allows me to experience being a Jew without having to rely solely on religion and faith, but giving.” – Ilana, Marin/San Francisco Jewish Community Teen Foundation Participant.