Increased Youth Engagement Over this past year, the CYE has reached more young Jews than ever before, enriching the lives of thousands of youth and adults who work with youth:
• We added new programs that reflect teens’ interests and passions, such as URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Camp, JustAct NYC, and J.Adventures.
• We doubled Mitzvah Corps participation, and with new trip locations, such as Israel and El Salvador, we project a similar jump in 2015.
• We integrated our summer camp and NFTY teams at URJ Camp Newman and Greene Family Camp to create year-round centers of youth engagement, expanding the reach of our staff and the programs they offer.
Spotlight on Numbers 2014
12,000+
4x Mitzvah Corps participation increased in two years
Youth participated in our summer camps, Mitzvah Corps and Israel programs nearly
2,118
50%
over
75% URJ Congregations sent children to a summer or year-round youth program
6,000+
Campaign for Youth Engagement Update
Teens engaged in all of our year-round programming
up 42% Teens came to their first NFTY event between August and January of 2015
Registrants in URJ specialty camps were first-time Jewish campers
How to Get Involved
264 Campers participated in new URJ summer camps
As we look to 2015 and beyond, we will continue to embrace a spirit of collaboration and ingenuity to engage more youth in Jewish life than ever before. Join us!
Read Youth Engagement Now for CYE updates urj.org/cye/email
And we’re just getting started.
Union for Reform Judaism
Subscribe to the Journal of Youth Engagement urj.org/cye/journal
Register at NFTY75.org if you are an alumnus of NFTY, Mitzvah Corps, or any URJ Youth Program
Learn more at urjyouth.org or call 212.650.4070 © 2015. Union for Reform Judaism
The URJ’s Campaign for Youth Engagement (CYE) seeks to inspire more young Jews to embrace Jewish life as a path to meaning, purpose and joy. Central to our strategy is collaboration with Reform congregations, other Jewish organizations and people like you who are committed to youth engagement. Together, we are leveraging existing opportunities and launching new initiatives to engage many more youth.
Increased Youth Engagement Over this past year, the CYE has reached more young Jews than ever before, enriching the lives of thousands of youth and adults who work with youth:
• We added new programs that reflect teens’ interests and passions, such as URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Camp, JustAct NYC, and J.Adventures.
• We doubled Mitzvah Corps participation, and with new trip locations, such as Israel and El Salvador, we project a similar jump in 2015.
• We integrated our summer camp and NFTY teams at URJ Camp Newman and Greene Family Camp to create year-round centers of youth engagement, expanding the reach of our staff and the programs they offer.
And we’re just getting started.
A Snapshot of Our Successes From less involved post-B’nai Mitzvah youth to actively engaged teens, we are making great strides with our
1 Diversify Program, Schedule
and Year-Round Offerings
We boosted NFTY participation with over 6,000 teens engaged! In 2015, we plan to continue to grow by offering more options that will appeal to an even larger number of our youth. We introduced specialty programs, including social justice, media, and performing arts opportunities. With a generous grant from the Marcus Foundation, we held the first March on Austin in November and we are planning the Marcus Social Justice Fellowship focused on community organizing training, and “design thinking” in the San Francisco Bay Area this spring. Similarly, the Jewish Education Project and New York’s Jewish Federation are supporting a teen theater program in New York. Working with the Jewish Federations of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston, we formed regional partnerships to foster relationships among all local Jewish organizations. NFTY and BBYO partnered to offer shared learning tracks at this year’s NFTY and BBYO conventions. We are diversifying our summer options, including launching the 6 Points Science and Technology camp for youth in grades 5-10 as well as Just Act NYC, a summer theater experience for teens. For close to half of the youth enrolled in these options, it is their first time at any Jewish camp!
2 Engage Youth at Younger Ages
to Create More On-Ramps for Participation
We launched NFTY6 to more effectively connect 6th graders to our network of programs—with 30 programs all over North America planned for the 2014-15 year. We are developing J-Jolt: Jewish Journey of a Lifetime, a B’nai Mitzvah mentoring program for young teens. We offered more summer programs for younger kids, like the URJ’s first community-wide day camp for grades K-8 in the Philadelphia area. Over 700 youth registered for camp for the first time in 2014 after their experience with URJ Service Corps fellows—young camp staff and alumni who led innovative, camp-inspired programs within their congregations.
To leverage the expertise, collaboration and ingenuity of our camp and NFTY teams for the full year, we created year-round, integrated centers for youth engagement. Working with local Reform congregations, NFTY, and other Jewish community organizations, our first two centers at URJ Camp Newman in California and Greene Family in Texas are already innovating and attracting new participants. So far this school year, over 1000 teens participated at these two centers alone. Recently, other camp leadership teams are experimenting with this model. URJ’s Eisner and Crane Lakes Camps partnered to create the Northeast Teen Initiative (NTI). NTI will expand its summer Counselor in Training program and create year-round leadership internships to give teens the skills and mentorship to attract, connect and engage less-involved teens.
3 Develop and Support
Adults Working with Youth
With 50 years of experience in training 30,000 teen leaders, the URJ’s Kutz Camp is the center for creative program development for NFTY. In collaboration with HUC-JIR, affiliate organizations, and others, we are offering local, regional and North American professional development opportunities as well as training alumni and adult volunteers who work with youth. We launched NFTY@75 and connected with more than 3,000 alumni (and counting) to serve as mentors, leaders and funders! Over 1,000 people have subscribed to the Journal of Youth Engagement, a monthly online publication that highlights innovation in our congregations and allows youth practitioners to share ideas and best practices. We revamped and expanded our Youth Summit at NFTY Convention this year, and it is our largest conference ever for adults who work with youth. We are offering robust training and development opportunities for over 173 professionals this year.
“Being in NFTY had a huge impact. Not only did I mature as a leader and become more comfortable in my skin, but my Jewish identity became a defining part of who I am. Jewish activities, causes and education continue to be a central part of my life, and I am working to pass these passions on to my children.”
Shining a Spotlight Year-Round Centers for Youth Engagement
three principal strategies:
—Melanie Dernis Rosen, former NFTY President, 1983-84
Mitzvah Corps – New Destinations & New Experiences Mitzvah Corps invites teens to live and practice tikkun olam – repairing the world – by doing hands-on social action work for communities in need. Now, teens can choose from six international locations including Costa Rica, New Orleans, and for the first time, Israel. For most teens, it’s like no other Jewish summer camp they’ve attended. Liora, a recent participant from Seattle, Washington, reflected:
“For as long as I can remember, I have gone to camp. Day camp, overnight camp, Jewish camp, Girl Scouts camp, drama camp, smart kid camp, I’ve been to them all. But even with all of my experience, this summer with Mitzvah Corps was nothing like I had done before.”
B’nai Mitzvah Revolution What if we could actually increase teen participation after their B’nai Mitzvah? That’s the goal of this joint project between the URJ and over 125 congregations and HUC-JIR which aims to rethink the entire experience.
“The challenging reality is that post bar/bat mitzvah, huge percentages of teens don’t engage Jewishly in a significant way, and part of it is because we’re expecting them to come to us and fit into cookie-cutter programs… Teens are the Jewish future, and it is key that we engage them… we have to ask what teens are into and create programs that match their interests with Judaism.” —Rabbi Paul Kipnes, Congregation Or Ami, Calabasas, CA
Increased Youth Engagement Over this past year, the CYE has reached more young Jews than ever before, enriching the lives of thousands of youth and adults who work with youth:
• We added new programs that reflect teens’ interests and passions, such as URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Camp, JustAct NYC, and J.Adventures.
• We doubled Mitzvah Corps participation, and with new trip locations, such as Israel and El Salvador, we project a similar jump in 2015.
• We integrated our summer camp and NFTY teams at URJ Camp Newman and Greene Family Camp to create year-round centers of youth engagement, expanding the reach of our staff and the programs they offer.
Spotlight on Numbers 2014
12,000+
4x Mitzvah Corps participation increased in two years
Youth participated in our summer camps, Mitzvah Corps and Israel programs nearly
2,118
50%
over
75% URJ Congregations sent children to a summer or year-round youth program
6,000+
Campaign for Youth Engagement Update
Teens engaged in all of our year-round programming
up 42% Teens came to their first NFTY event between August and January of 2015
Registrants in URJ specialty camps were first-time Jewish campers
How to Get Involved
264 Campers participated in new URJ summer camps
As we look to 2015 and beyond, we will continue to embrace a spirit of collaboration and ingenuity to engage more youth in Jewish life than ever before. Join us!
Read Youth Engagement Now for CYE updates urj.org/cye/email
And we’re just getting started.
Union for Reform Judaism
Subscribe to the Journal of Youth Engagement urj.org/cye/journal
Register at NFTY75.org if you are an alumnus of NFTY, Mitzvah Corps, or any URJ Youth Program
Learn more at urjyouth.org or call 212.650.4070 © 2015. Union for Reform Judaism
The URJ’s Campaign for Youth Engagement (CYE) seeks to inspire more young Jews to embrace Jewish life as a path to meaning, purpose and joy. Central to our strategy is collaboration with Reform congregations, other Jewish organizations and people like you who are committed to youth engagement. Together, we are leveraging existing opportunities and launching new initiatives to engage many more youth.