Program will help Jewish professionals strengthen their leadership skills and networks
NEW YORK, NY, June 5, 2013 – AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps is proud to announce The AVODAH Fellowship, a new fellowship for early career Jewish professionals working to alleviate poverty in the United States. Based on a curriculum grounded in Jewish thought and learning, The AVODAH Fellowship will provide training and networking opportunities to support young Jewish professionals engaged in the antipoverty field.
“Given escalating poverty rates and the number of young Jews who are driven to combat poverty, AVODAH wanted to open more doors for people to do this work through a Jewish lens,” said AVODAH Executive Director Marilyn Sneiderman. “The AVODAH Fellowship is designed to strengthen Jewish professionals’ commitment to working for economic equality by connecting them more deeply to their work, their Jewish roots, and one another.”
AVODAH, a Hebrew word that encompasses spiritual, communal, and work-related “service,” will pilot its first Fellowship program for 25 – 35 fellows beginning in January 2014 in New York. The Fellowship curriculum will provide a Jewish context for understanding and approaching the growing problem of poverty in the United States.
In addition, fellows will have opportunities to network together, while mentors will provide guidance on navigating professional challenges, such as burnout. Ultimately, AVODAH seeks to provide participants with the communal and spiritual resources they need to sustain themselves in this important and difficult work for the long-run.
ABOUT AVODAH
Since its founding in 1998, AVODAH has been the gold standard for immersive, long-term Jewish service. The organization’s flagship immersion program places young Jews in a year of service, learning, and Jewish community building that prepares participants to move forward as influential lifelong leaders for social change. The organization has placed nearly 600 corps members in 135 antipoverty organizations in the four cities in which it operates, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., adding over $9.6 million in staffing capacity.
Major support for AVODAH is provided by the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, The Dorot Foundation, The Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation, The Goldring Family Foundation, The Irving B. Harris Foundation, The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Polk Bros Foundation, A Private Family Foundation, Repair the World, The Righteous Persons Foundation, The Samberg Family Foundation, The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and The Woldenberg Foundation.
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