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October 8th, 2012
Next Generation Advocacy: A Study of Young Israel Advocates

Summary: Next Generation Advocacy is the first and largest study of young people involved in Israel advocacy, surveying more than 4,000 Israel advocates between 17 and 30 years of age. The study finds that among those who demonstrate the highest levels of involvement in Israel advocacy over time—defined as leader advocates—the desire to support Israel is driven by a general sense of values and commitment to Israel rather than by a specific ideological or political worldview. The research also indicates key areas where investment can make a profound impact on identifying, recruiting and nurturing effective Israel advocates.

The study surveyed students and mentors involved in Israel advocacy, particularly through organizations that offer Israel-related programming for teens and/or young adults. The organizations that participated include: Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity (AEPi), American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), BBYO, The David Project, iCenter, Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), Hillel, Moishe House and Write On for Israel, as well as Hasbara Fellowships, MASA and Stand with Us. They were not meant to represent the entire field of Israel advocacy but rather a sampling of organizations that engage young people in Israel programs. The study surveyed 4,061 individuals, which was supplemented by nearly 50 focus groups and interviews with students and mentors.

Author: Ezra Kopelowitz and Dr. Daniel Chesir-Teran, of Research Success Technologies, Ltd.

Download: Next Generation Advocacy: A Study of Young Israel Advocates

Read More: The Truth About Israel Advocacy Times of Israel

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October 5th, 2012
The Truth About Israel Advocacy

This article first appeared in The Times of Israel.

When asked to describe the activities of young Israel advocates, people often conjure up a rather stereotyped image: right wing and religious, protesting on the quad, arguing with speakers and student activists.

The fact is, those depictions could not be further from the truth.

A new study examining 4,000 young Israel advocates—from teenagers to young adults—paints a very different picture. The first and largest study of its kind, “Next Generation Advocacy” is invaluable in explaining what until now has been mostly guesswork: what compels young people to engage in Israel advocacy? Why do they stay involved? What can we do to ensure that they are effectively trained and their commitment nurtured? (Download Next Generation Advocacy: A Study of Young Israel Advocates) Read More »

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June 4th, 2012
Record-breaking Number of Teens Volunteer through J-Serve 2012
Cross-posted from BBYO.org.

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The numbers are in: dozens of gardens groomed, meals served, books read, senior centers visited, walks and blood drives organized, rallies planned and 92 communities in eight countries changed for the better this April as part of J-Serve, the International Day of Jewish Youth Service.

J-Serve, an event that began in 2005 as one day in April has grown to now engage a generation of teens to make service a continued and regular part of their lives throughout the month of April and all year long.

“In 2011, I went to my first J-Serve event and that event changed my life,” said Shayna Shulman, 17, from Detroit, MI and an avid J-Serve participant “I was surprised to see that many Jewish teens have the same passion as I do—volunteering! I’ve come back to every J-Serve event after that. I loved learning about why we are volunteering. I knew I was in the right place and that it was going to be life changing for me. That first day I volunteered with J-Serve was the day I knew I had to do more.” Read More »

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June 4th, 2012
10,145 Jewish Teens From 8 Countries Serve their Community as Part of J-Serve
10,145 JEWISH TEENS FROM 8 COUNTRIES SERVE THEIR COMMUNITY AS PART OF J-SERVE
June 1, 2011 – The numbers are in: dozens of gardens groomed, meals served, books read, senior centers visited, walks and blood drives organized, rallies planned and 92 communities in eight countries changed for the better this April as part of J-Serve, the International Day of Jewish Youth Service.

J-Serve, an event that began in 2005 as one day in April has grown to now engage a generation of teens to make service a continued and regular part of their lives throughout the month of April and all year long.

“In 2011, I went to my first J-Serve event and that event changed my life,” said Shayna Shulman, 17, from Detroit, MI and an avid J-Serve participant “I was surprised to see that many Jewish teens have the same passion as I do—volunteering! I’ve come back to every J-Serve event after that. I loved learning about why we are volunteering. I knew I was in the right place and that it was going to be life changing for me. That first day I volunteered with J-Serve was the day I knew I had to do more.”

In its eighth year, J-Serve 2012 engaged more teens in 6th through 12th grade, reaching more communities in countries across the United States, Canada and Europe than ever before, in an effort to encourage community building and establish connections among youth across religious and societal lines.

“I’ve always felt that it was more meaningful to do service with other Jewish teens, and felt more connected that way. I also was exposed to ideas like tikkun olam—things that I’d heard before but had flown over my head. But learning about them more deeply interested me, and has drawn me in,” said Ryan Ladd, 17, from Austin, TX..

Washington, DC area teen, Talia Katz, first found out about J-Serve when a friend was planning their local project at a women’s shelter, “It was one of the best service projects I’d ever participated in because with J-Serve, when I came home the experience wasn’t over. One of the pitfalls of most service projects is that they are just one time things. But this wasn’t just a “hop off the metro” and go serve project. We talked a lot about Jewish values and got updates about women’s issues from around the world,” said Katz.

Teens served at 275 community project sites around the world. Over the years, J-Serve has evolved to mean more than just service, but also service learning. In addition to doing physical work, teens explore the Jewish values of gemilut chasidim (acts of loving kindness), tzedakah (just and charitable giving) and tikkum olam (the responsibility to repair the world) through staff and teen facilitated discussions and post-project follow up and education.

J-Serve is a collaboration of the BBYO Panim Institute and Repair the World, and is generously underwritten by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. J-Serve’s continued growth in new communities and countries can be accredited to the support of partner agencies including BBYO, Foundation for Jewish Camp, JCCA, Jewish Federations, Jewish Student Unions, Jewish Teen Funders Network, NCSY, NFTY, Rock the Vote, USY and Young Judea. As the Jewish service component of Youth Service America’s annual Global Youth Service Day, J-Serve was included in the recently approved US Senate Resolution officially designating April 20-22, 2012 as “Global Youth Service Day” (S. Res. 421).

“J-Serve is weaving a tapestry of stories into a moving narrative: thousands of teens united in answering the call to greatness by volunteering to repair their communities and our world. All of us who share a devotion and commitment to the Jewish future should be moved and inspired,” says Lynn Schusterman, chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

J-Serve 2013 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 28, 2013. To learn more about J-Serve visit, www.jserve.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JServeForTeens

About J-Serve

J-Serve is the International Day of Jewish Youth Service and is a part of Youth Service America’s Global Youth Service Day. J-Serve is endorsed throughout the world by BBYO, Bureau of Jewish Education of New York, Foundation for Jewish Camp, JCCA, Jewish Federations, Jewish Student Unions, Jewish Teen Funders Network, NCSY, NFTY, Rock the Vote, USY, and Young Judea. J-Serve is in partnership with Repair the World and YOUTH SERVICE AMERICA and is generously underwritten by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

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May 25th, 2012
Op-Ed: The Rebirth of BBYO: A Decade of Lessons Learned
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May 24th, 2012
The Rebirth of BBYO: A Decade of Lessons Learned

Lisa Eisen is the National Director of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

BBYO 10th Anniversary Celebration

This month, I had the pleasure of celebrating the tenth anniversary of a 90-year old organization. It was exactly 10 years ago that BBYO established itself as an independent organization, leaving its birthplace at B’nai B’rith International and starting a journey to reinvent itself into the thriving, energetic force that today is reaching and engaging more than 36,000 teens annually.

When our foundation got involved in 2000, BBYO had just over 12,000 teen members, and the numbers were dwindling precipitously. Morale was low, the organization had many staff vacancies, and it was in serious financial distress. The outlook was bleak, and many had written off BBYO as a failure of the organized Jewish community.

But where others saw failure, Charles and Lynn Schusterman recognized the potential that BBYO had to impact the lives of tens of thousands of Jewish teens. Read More »

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March 22nd, 2012
People of the Book, Community of Action: The Case for Jewish Service-Learning

What is Jewish service-learning? Why is it important? How can it help strengthen our community while also deepening our impact on the world?

This week, Repair the World and the Jewish Communal Service Association released People of the Book, Community of Action: Exploring Jewish Service-Learning to look at these questions and many more through the lens of experts from organizations like American Jewish World Service, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency for Israel and countless others who have been working to advance the field everyday.

Read More »

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September 8th, 2011
5 Questions with … Abby Strunk Saloma!

We are excited to welcome Abby Strunk Saloma to the Schusterman philanthropic family as a program officer in our national office! Abby will be helping us develop a suite of experiences supporting young Jews involved in secular service work as they explore and become creators of Jewish life, with a particular focus on expanding our work with Teach For America.

Abby honed her professional chops at BBYO before moving on to Street Sense and The Center for Mind-Body Medicine. Herewith, we talk to Abby about her return “home” to the Jewish professional world, her philosophy on coaching young leaders and where she draws her grounding in tikkun olam. Read More »

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September 8th, 2011
Former Executive Director of Street Sense Joins Schusterman Family Foundation

FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF STREET SENSE JOINS SCHUSTERMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION

Abby Strunk Saloma to head suite of training experiences and opportunities to enhance the skills of young Jewish service leaders and professionals

Washington, DC—September 8, 2011 – The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to helping the Jewish people flourish, announced today that Abby Strunk Saloma will join its national office in Washington, DC, as a Program Officer.

Strunk Saloma will develop and implement initiatives to engage and support young Jews involved in secular service work and otherwise as they explore and become creators of Jewish life. She will focus on broadening and deepening the Foundation’s work with Teach For America, particularly through its REALITY Israel Experience program, which brings corps members to Israel for 10 days to explore their commitment to leadership, education and social justice through a Jewish lens.

The success of the program, in tandem with the recent release of Volunteering + Values: A Repair the World Report on Jewish Young Adults, has highlighted a significant opportunity to help young Jews see their commitment to volunteerism through the lens of a Jewish framework and to strengthen the Jewish community’s social impact. The program offers a replicable model for engaging young Jewish volunteers across other secular service organizations.

“Imagine how powerful it would be if all young Jews understood their commitment to service as an authentically Jewish value,” said Lynn Schusterman, chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation (CLSFF). “By bringing Abby on board, we are able to expand and deepen our efforts to enrich the Jewish lives of young adults and to heighten the impact they are able to have on the Jewish community and the world at large.”

“Assuming this role with the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation is much like coming home,” said Strunk Saloma, who previously worked as the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for BBYO, the world’s leading pluralistic Jewish teen movement. “My five years working in the Jewish community were the most professionally fulfilling of my career, and this particular position allows me to draw from and build on my experience supporting people in their personal journeys. I am thrilled to bring a unique vantage point that bridges both the Jewish and secular worlds, so I can create the most innovative leadership development experiences.”

Strunk Saloma brings to the Foundation a breadth and depth of experience from the for-profit, non-profit, Jewish and secular sectors, as well as extensive experience managing and coaching young and emerging professionals. Following her tenure at BBYO, during which she helped to nearly double teen involvement in meaningful Jewish experiences, Strunk Saloma assumed the Executive Director role at Street Sense, a DC-based non-profit organization that works to empower the homeless. Most recently, she led the development efforts for The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, a non-profit organization that trains health and mental health professionals, educators and community leaders.

In addition to her work with young Jewish secular service leaders, Strunk Saloma will design, manage and evaluate initiatives to recruit, network and train the best and brightest young Jewish professionals.

Strunk Saloma’s role is a natural extension of the Foundation’s work over the past two decades to help as many young Jewish adults as possible connect with one another and work together to build vibrant, inclusive Jewish communities. She will work in close collaboration with the Foundation’s global staff to build on and support its continuing efforts to expand the reach and impact of our work; incubate, pilot and launch new programs and initiatives; and empower young Jewish innovators to create new avenues of Jewish experiences.

“Our work engaging and inspiring young Jewish service leaders and professionals is a key pillar of our effort to build a more dynamic, relevant and purposeful global Jewish people,” Lisa Eisen, CLSFF’s National Director. “Abby is the ideal steward for advancing a cutting-edge strategy to support young Jews in their personal exploration of Jewish life and leadership.”

For more information, please contact Roben Kantor at rkantor@schusterman.org or at 202-289-7000, ext 6.

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About the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation

The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation is dedicated  to ensuring vibrant Jewish life by empowering young Jews to embrace the joy of Judaism, build inclusive Jewish communities, support the State of Israel and repair the world. Established in 1987 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Foundation also provides assistance to non-sectarian charitable organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in our hometown, especially in the areas of education, child advocacy and youth development. www.schusterman.org

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June 24th, 2011
Teens Travel to Washington, DC, to Take on Human Rights and Genocide

On Sunday, 61 teens from across the United States, Canada and Bulgaria will come together in DC for a unique summit called “Human Rights and Genocide” (HRGS), focused on exploring the Jewish values related to  standing up for groups in need. The Summit, sponsored by the PANIM Institute of BBYO, asks participants to answer the following questions: What is Genocide? Where are Human Rights being challenged? What’s the Jewish response to genocide? And, what can I do?

Participants will arrive at their answers through meetings with experts, policy leaders and advocates over the three-day summit.  Highlights of the learning sessions include:

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