Abby Cortrin is a proud alum of Macalester College who migrated to Chicago in 2011 to participate in Avodah as an Asset Building Program Aide for Heartland Human Care Services. After completing her Service Corps year, Abby began working at … Continue reading
11th Sep, 2016
“On that first day, I got ready to walk into the bayit (house) in Chicago, so I checked the weather and saw that it was raining. Being from California, I thought it made sense to put on my winter boots … Continue reading
19th Jul, 2016
In 2006, we placed Ilana Zafran Walden at Umoja Student Development Corporation in Chicago, where she continued to work for over a decade. Umoja works with under-resourced high schools to help students succeed, and Ilana instantly fell in love with everything … Continue reading
19th Jul, 2016
Rosellen Brown has published ten books – novels, short stories, poetry, essays – and has lived in almost as many places – New York, Boston, San Francisco, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Texas and, currently, Chicago. After many years on the faculty of … Continue reading
15th Jul, 2016
Marv Hoffman graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D in clinical psychology. His long career in education has included teaching at all grade levels from pre-school to graduate school, serving as the Founding Director of a charter school on Chicago’s South … Continue reading
15th Jul, 2016
Benetta Mansfield is the former Chair of the Avodah Board of Directors. She chairs the Service Corps Expansion Planning Task Force and sits on the Governance and Nominating Committee. She was introduced to Avodah while seeking new opportunities to continue … Continue reading
15th Jul, 2016
Jessica Schaffer has worked with vulnerable communities throughout Chicago for the last 10 years, and she views that work as an extension of her Jewish identity. But that wasn’t the case when she joined the Jewish Service Corps. Before Avodah, … Continue reading
8th Jul, 2016