Announcing the 2012 North Peninsula Regional Impact Grant Recipient

In 2011, the Federation’s Board implemented a new approach to grantmaking as part of our strategic plan. Modeled on venture philanthropy, the Impact Grants Initiative (IGI) invites deep involvement by donors and grantees in the grant making process, while providing financial resources to organizations that can achieve significant impact and bring about positive change in an area of considerable challenge to the region through a robust, multi-year grant.

2012 North Peninsula Regional Impact Grant

For its 2012 grant round, the North Peninsula Regional Impact Grant Committee focused on programs working to engage families with young children (ages 0-12) and teens in Jewish life. After reviewing ten original proposals in these areas, the committee made a grant to the PJCC and Kevah to support their joint project, “Do Justice: Fight Hunger.”

Peninsula Jewish Community Center (PJCC) and Kevah
Do Justice: Fighting Hunger

This project will combine the strengths of the PJCC and Kevah, augmented by family experiences provided by Wilderness Torah and Urban Adamah, to provide an attractive, highly visible model program that demonstrably builds Jewish knowledge, relationships, engagement and leadership.

Methods will include:  1) Jewish education and service learning for parents and children, integrated with hands-on organic gardening, social action to feed the hungry, and memorable, hands-on “Family Day Away” Jewish learning experiences; 2) Continuing Kevah learning groups that enable parents to take their initial experience to a deeper level via further engagement in joint Jewish study, discussion and relationship-building; and 3) Jewish leadership training.

Over three years, this project aims to reach 216 participants on a deep level, 414 participants with moderate engagement, and an additional 850 people in low-engagement, low-touch ways.

This is a joint project of the PJCC and Kevah, a relatively new nonprofit that supports a pluralistic network of dozens of Jewish text study groups in the Bay Area and beyond.  The grant will formally be made to PJCC.

For more information on the North Peninsula Regional IGI, contact Adina Danzig Epelman, Program Officer, Regional Grantmaking at 415.512.6216.

Haas/Koshland Award Winner Oren Kroll-Zeldin

Thanks to the Haas Koshland Award, I’m Gaining a New Understanding of Life in Israel
An update from 2012 recipient of the Haas Koshland Award Oren Kroll-Zeldin, currently spending a year of study in Israel

Since arriving in Jerusalem I have had the opportunity to begin fulfilling many of the goals I set out for myself for this year,  meeting with Palestinian and Israeli scholars and activists and speaking with them about their work as well as their everyday lives.  In our conversations I’m learning about the challenges and strategies of working towards justice, and learning what it means to live in Jerusalem as an Israeli and as a Palestinian.

The Haas/Koshland Award is enabling me to study Jerusalem-dialect Arabic and continue to improve my Hebrew speaking skills.  I’m having conversations with people in three languages (English, Hebrew, and Arabic), and often find myself struggling not to mix up the three languages in my head and in conversation with people.  I sometimes speak sentences with words in all three languages!

The opportunities that I have this year to live in Jerusalem are changing the way I understand life in the modern Middle East and the way I relate to the State of Israel as a Jew who lives in the Diaspora.  I am learning to appreciate the life I live in California in new ways, and am coming to respect the privileges and responsibilities that I possess as a Jew living in the United States today. Thank you tremendously for this opportunity to spend time living in Israel.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 Haas Koshland Award, which provides up to $20,000 to a Bay Area college or graduate student to support a year of study and personal development in Israel.

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.

Nominate an exceptional Jewish Educator for a $10,000 award.

Deadline:
March 1, 2012

Read about the application guidelines.

Four awards will be presented this summer, recognizing an outstanding teacher of the Bay Area Community in each of the following areas:

• Early Childhood
• Day School
• Congregational
  or Community School
• Informal Education (outside of a school setting)

Each award will carry with it a prize of $10,000 for the educator and $2,500 for the educator’s institution.

Nominees must currently work in a program of pre-collegiate Jewish education in San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin or Sonoma counties, Greater East Bay or Greater San Jose.

Nominators must be a candidate’s current supervisor, school principal or institutional director.

If you know of an exceptional teacher, make sure they get nominated. Send a note to their principal or supervisor!

For more information, call 415.512.6226 or email carries@sfjcf.org

Nominate a teacher now!

Give a nomination this Hanukkah

Imagine someone gave you $36,000 for Hanukkah, and told you how much your leadership meant to the community and the world. That would feel pretty incredible, right? Well you can give a teen in your community a chance at that gift, and the honor of recognizing their own giving spirit.

You can download the nomination form here and submit it by SUNDAY, January 8, 2012.

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards honor Jewish teens who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and are actively engaged in projects which embody the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world). Up to five California teens are celebrated annually and each recipient is awarded $36,000 for their college education or to further their work to make our world a better place.

Nominate a teen today, and help us celebrate the power of teens to change the world. Watch this video for more info.

Nominations must be submitted by January 8, 2012 (and those submitted before December 31, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to win a $360 donation to a nonprofit of the nominator’s choice).

AWARD ELIGIBILITY: The award is open to Jewish teens who are residents of California and are ages 13-19 at the time of nomination. Teens’ projects can help either the Jewish community or the general community, so long as they have not been remunerated for their services. Teens may be nominated by any community member who knows the value of their project—except family members—or may also nominate themselves. For more information visit our website or contact the Project Coordinator for the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, Rachel Bloom, at (415) 512-6437 or rachelb@sfjcf.org.

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards are generously funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation.

SF Business Times features JCF on cover

The San Francisco Business Times cover story “Foundations: Who’s next? Strategies target young donors” highlights the innovative approaches Federation is taking to meet the interests of our donors, a new generation of Jewish philanthropists and a changing philanthropic environment. Read about how our new initiatives will impact the Jewish community for generations to come. Go to the article now.