FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Roben Smolar / Senior Director, Communications / (404) 665-1803 / [email protected]

WASHINGTON, DC, April 8 – The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation announced it has selected 27 high-caliber Jewish professional and volunteer leaders from around the world to join the fifth cohort of the Schusterman Fellowship. The Schusterman Fellowship is an intensive, 18-month leadership development program that features personalized professional development experiences and provides Fellows with the leadership tools to address pressing needs and opportunities in their organizations, their communities and the wider world.

The 27 outstanding individuals selected for the Fellowship represent Jewish and secular organizations in the United States, Israel and around the world. The Fellows are working on the front lines of Jewish and civic engagement, advocacy, global Jewish service, social and racial justice, and more. A full list of the new Schusterman Fellows is available at www.schusterman.org/meet-the-fellows.

“The Fellowship is based upon the philosophy that strong leadership is the key to building strong organizations and ultimately a strong sector,” said Abby Saloma, Director of Leadership and Talent at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. “What makes the Fellowship unique is its highly customized approach focusing first on the development of the ‘inner leader’ in order to create organizational and sector change.”

Currently in its fifth year, the Fellowship’s innovative curriculum focuses around strengthening participants’ personal leadership capacity, as well as their ability to foster collaboration and drive sector-wide change. Each Fellow will participate in individualized and cohort-based learning; work closely with an executive coach to create a customized learning plan; receive a stipend to participate in leadership advancement opportunities; and pursue a plan to apply their new leadership skills to address a pressing challenge in their organization or field.

The Fellowship reflects the Foundation’s belief that exceptional professionals and volunteers are key to building a strong ecosystem capable of growing the number of people actively engaging in Jewish life and drawing on Jewish values to create a positive impact. Evaluations of the Fellowship program show that 90 percent of Fellows report greater confidence in their leadership as a result of the program, 72 percent of Fellows saw a noted increase in job responsibilities and 43 percent of professional Fellows have advanced to Senior Executive roles.

“We are investing in these Fellows to build their capacity to help the Jewish community address emerging challenges and opportunities in the US, Israel and beyond,” said Lisa Eisen, President, U.S. Jewish Portfolio at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. “As our world continues to change and grow more complex, we urgently need talented leaders ready to lead us in shaping a more equitable and just future.”

The Fellowship is part of Schusterman’s broader efforts to work collaboratively to transform how the Jewish communal sector invests in professional and volunteer leadership, as well as to strengthen the field of leadership and talent development. As part of this work, the Fellowship recently partnered with Rockwood Institute to create The Leadership Development Guide, which shares findings from in-depth evaluations of both programs and pinpoints the essential building blocks of what makes the programs effective.

For more details and to see the fill list of Schusterman Fellows, visit www.schusterman.org/schusterman-fellowship.

###

About the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation (Schusterman) is a global organization that seeks to improve lives, strengthen communities and reduce inequality. Our philanthropic vision is grounded in a commitment to pursue justice, repair the world and treat all people with dignity and civility. We invest in efforts to improve public education in the United States, strengthen the Jewish people and Israel, and address the needs of marginalized individuals and communities.