Vibrant pockets of Jewish life are sprouting up around the world. We are committed to helping these clusters of relationships grow and connect to each other in service of our larger collective vision: building inspired, enduring Jewish communities.

CLSFF believes that by facilitating stronger connections and relationships between the individuals, organizations and networks that comprise Jewish life today, we can ultimately achieve our greater common aspirations. In doing so, we hope to inspire and empower large numbers of young Jewish adults to take ownership of their Jewish identities and live rich Jewish lives in the 21st century.

We are exploring how to help connect and strengthen networks of Jewish life together in ways that match the dynamic and evolving nature of today’s world—fast paced, rapidly changing, hyper connected. Currently we are focused on:

Identifying, animating and linking existing and emerging networks of young Jewish adults and their leadership to resources that will enable them to create personally meaningful Jewish experiences for themselves and their peers;
Supporting a complementary mix of programs and partnerships designed to help as many young Jewish adults as possible connect with one another and work together to build vibrant Jewish communities; and
Engaging with individuals who are personally and collectively weaving the tapestry of Jewish life in ways that will enable our communities to respond to the ideas, interests and experiences that will inspire even larger numbers of young Jewish adults.

Networks Blog

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Adam Simon

March 29th, 2012

The Jewish New Media Innovation Fund: One Year Later

Cross-posted from eJewishPhilanthropy. This article is co-authored by Rachel Levin of the Righteous Persons Foundation and Josh Miller of the Jim Joseph Foundation.

Back in 2010, when Facebook had but a meager 300 million users and the concepts of Google Plus and Pinterest were not yet on the horizon, there was a desire bubbling up within the Jewish community to capitalize on the new media and technological innovations happening across so many facets of our lives.

How could we channel all of these new platforms to strengthen innovation within the Jewish community? How could these tools enable Jewish communities spread all over the world to reach, teach, learn, create and affiliate in unprecedented ways? Read More »

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CLSFF National

March 8th, 2012

Opportunity: UJA-Federation of New York Offering Micro Grants

Have a great idea for how to engage Jewish young adults in the New York area?

The UJA-Federation of New York’s Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal wants to hear about it. The commission is seeking applications for micro grants from emerging Jewish organizations that are developing innovative Jewish identity-building experiences for post-college, pre-family young adults in their 20s and 30s in the New York area.

The funding is meant to support organizations that are looking to test new program models, attract wider audiences and/or pursue strategies for strengthening organizational effectiveness. Applications are due Monday April 2!

To find out more information about the grants, and to apply visit the UJA-Federation of New York website. For more information, email Ariella Goldfein at goldfeina@ujafedny.org.

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Seth Cohen

February 24th, 2012

#jnets: Social Media Junkies

My take on the What People Think I Do / What I Really Do meme … Share your thoughts—did I get it right?

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Seth Cohen

February 21st, 2012

Jewish South African Innovation: From the Goldmines to the Garden Patch

This post first appeared on eJewishPhilanthropy.

The South African Jewish community, like all Jewish communities, is filled with knowledge, creativity, chesed and, of course, complexity. It is one that has a rich and proud history, bringing its unique Jewish spirit to a continent that is rife with challenges and ripe with opportunity.

Within the community, there is an array of individuals as vibrant and varied as the African fauna that surrounds them. From the exceptional community of Johannesburg, a city of commerce and insight near the great goldmines of South Africa, to the community of Cape Town, which started out as a Dutch veggie patch and now is known worldwide as an amazing center of creativity, and every point in between—innovators, activists and entrepreneurs are reshaping the South African landscape to reflect the Jewish and universal values that drive their work. Read More »

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CLSFF National

February 21st, 2012

Recap: South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering

Check out the reflections and recorded LiveStreaming from the South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering, held Feb. 11-12 in Johannesburg! You can find photos from the gathering on our Flickr page.

Reflections

Following the gathering, eJewishPhilanthropy ran a series of reflections from gathering participants.

Jewish South African Innovation: From the Goldmines to the Garden Patch By Seth Cohen

Boldly Going Where No Jew Has Gone Before By David Jacobson

Perhaps the greatest innovation of the South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering was in actually gathering young South African Jews together. After all, 10 Jews make a minyan; 50 Jews from different spaces and different places make a “Metzuyan”—a space of excellence. Read more Read More »

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Seth Cohen

February 7th, 2012

Network Lessons from the Pink Ribbon Rebellion

This post first appeared on Working Wikily, a blog devoted to exploring how network tools and approaches are creating new opportunities for powerful social impact.

Watching the unfolding events related to the Susan B. Komen for the Cure’s decision (and subsequent reversal) to stop funding Planned Parenthood, one couldn’t help but realize that we were watching our own revolution of the masses.

Unlike Tahrir Square and the Occupy movement, however, this latest chapter in our era of mass mobilization never really moved from cyberspace to the streets. It didn’t have to. As the nation of pink ribbons turned into a sea of red faces, Komen realized the rebellion in its midst and decided to change course.

There is no question that there are many lessons to be learned from Komen’s unplanned Planned Parenthood experience. Politics aside, even while assessing all of the steps and missteps Komen has made (and, we hope, continues to learn from), the Pink Ribbon Rebellion demonstrated one thing Komen actually did right: it built a social network of activists bound together by a collective identity built on education, empowerment and interconnectedness. Read More »

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CLSFF National

February 6th, 2012

VIDEOS: Exploring the Power & Possibilities of Networks in the Jewish Community

Leaders and creators of Jewish life are embracing a networked mindset, and in an effort to help initiate a community-wide shift, we convened some of the best and brightest minds working in Jewish life today to discuss the implications of networks and network theory for the future of the Jewish community.

From Nov. 8-10, 2011, in Boulder, CO, our Foundation hosted NetWORKS: Exploring the Power & Possibilities of Networks in the Jewish Community, which brought together leading thinkers, experts, innovators and activists to discuss how we can harness the power of networks to empower Jewish young adults to strengthen both the Jewish community and the broader world.

We partnered with Leadel.net, a Jewish media hub showcasing the rich variety of contemporary Jewish voices and expressions, to create a series of videos that we hope will our community continue to expand the networks conversation. Read More »

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Seth Cohen

February 1st, 2012

TextWORKS: A Clay Shirky Webinar

Thank you to everyone who could join us for the first-ever TextWORKS: A Clay Shirky Webinar! Your overwhelmingly positive feedback suggests it was extremely well received. For those who want to revisit the insights Clay shared, and/or could not make, we have posted the webinar here for your viewing pleasure.

Before you dig in, I wanted to take the opportunity to share five key thoughts and takeaways from his presentation, many of which found their way on to the Twittersphere, under the #jnets hashtag, thanks to our collective efforts.

1) The capacity of people to use their social capital to achieve social transformation is innate and can, when properly engaged, be activated by various means. (Check out the Clay Shirky/Malcolm Gladwell debate on this topic in Foreign Affairs.) Read More »

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Seth Cohen

December 21st, 2011

Toward the Miraculous Future: A Chanukiya of Predictions for 2012

Cross-posted from eJewishPhilanthropy.

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein

“Daddy, how do we know it REALLY was a miracle, not just that somebody counted the oil the wrong way?”
Morgan Cohen, age 9

For the serious adult student, Chanukah presents interesting questions about Jewish history, the challenge of heroic narrative and the complexities of a Jewish authority. But for a nine year old, a simple question belies its profound impact: was it really a miracle that the oil burned for eight nights? This question, asked last week by my daughter Morgan, has been burning in my head ever since, especially as I prepared my annual list of predictions for the coming year. Read More »

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Leah Meir

December 2nd, 2011

Catalyzing Jewish Networks: How Can Jewish Schools and Camps Join In?

Cross-posted from AviChai.org blog and eJewishPhilanthropy. Leah Nadich Meir is a Program Officer at The AVI CHAI Foundation.

“Jewish geography” is a favorite game among Jews who meet up anywhere—conferences, social gatherings, work meetings, street corners. You know the game questions: “So where are you from?” “No kidding, New Jersey! Do you know my brother (son, daughter, sister), who went to school (camp, college) there?” “Sure, I know your brother (son, daughter etc.) We were really friendly at school (camp, college etc.)! I actually just connected with him (her) again through Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn).”

Jews have been master networkers since the Babylonian exile 3,000 years ago—our survival as a people has depended on the ability to stay connected with fellow Jews wherever they were scattered across the globe. Our networking helped us hold fast to our shared values, texts, behaviors and religious traditions.

Jewish geography was just the jumping-off point at the recent “NetWORKS” conference in Boulder: “Exploring the Power and Possibilities of Networks in the Jewish Community.” Read More »

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Networks Blog

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Check out the reflections and recorded LiveStreaming from the South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering, held Feb. 11-12 in Johannesburg! You can find photos from the gathering on our Flickr page.

Reflections

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