There are a number of steps to the process – we like to think of it as an opportunity for you to get to know Avodah while we’re getting to know you. We’ll ask you to think about some of your goals and thinking about social justice, and you’ll have the chance to interview with Avodah staff and alumni.
The application for the 2021-2022 program year is open now! Apply by the final deadline before rolling admissions, March 30th, for the best chance of matching with a placement organization.
1. Apply Online
2. Interview
3. Learn Your Status
After interviews, you will be notified of your status. Possible statuses include:
4. Match with Your Work Placement
If you are invited to participate in the matching round, the process will occur as follows. You will:
See the next FAQ question “How does matching work?” for a more detailed overview.
5. Congratulations, You’ve Been Accepted!
Additionally, one of your three references MAY fit the following criteria, either:
It’s not too late! Get in touch with our Recruitment Director Emily Becker at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help you out with this.
After reviewing all applications submitted by the deadline, we contact qualified applicants for an interview. This is a very competitive process – not all applicants will be interviewed.
If you move to the interview stage, you’ll be considered for a place in only one of our program cities. Usually, this city is one of the cities you expressed preference for in your application. If you don’t have a preferred city, we’ll place you in the city we believe is a strong fit for you. You can change your city at anytime by contacting the Emily at[email protected].
Interviews for priority deadline applicants will take place in mid-February. Applicants who submit their application after the deadline will be interviewed in waves – reach out to Emily at [email protected] for an updated timeline if needed. If you submit your application prior to the priority deadline, you may be contacted earlier for an interview.
A typical interview lasts 30-60 minutes.
Applicants interview over video.
Placement agencies conduct all interviews by video. You do not need to travel, but you do need to be available throughout the interview week. If you are going to be away all or part of that week, please let us know right away.
If you applied by the priority deadline, you can expect us to be in touch with you in early to mid-March. After that, timing may varry.
The chances that you will be invited into a subsequent matching round changes from round to round, depending on how many matches were already completed. We will be in contact with you periodically to update you on your status.
We do not defer acceptance into the program for the following year. If you’re not sure about what you want to do next year, and think Avodah is a serious option, please do apply. However, if don’t want to do the program this coming year, please wait to apply until you are ready to participate. We’ll be happy to interview you then!
Let your interviewer know about any special circumstances that will affect your potential participation. These might include things such as being out of the country during the matching round, anything that would limit full participation during the year, specific needs or preferences that may pose challenges. If there’s something you’re concerned about as you apply, you can always contact Emily at [email protected] to discuss your circumstances.
Here’s a short summary of the process:
While we can’t guarantee a particular placement, we work hard to find you the right match. You are not accepted into the program until you have been selected by a placement site.
We invite candidates into the matching round if we believe they would be assets to the program. While no contracts are signed until after you match with a placement, we expect you to enter a matching round prepared to accept if offered a match. Interviewing is a time-consuming and thoughtful process, and we want to make sure our placement partners only interview applicants who are viable candidates. In addition, we’re only able to accommodate a limited number of candidates in each matching round, so we want to make sure that each spot is filled by someone who is fully committed to the process.
We strive to make our matching process transparent so that you can make your choice with as much information as possible. If you have any specific timing issues, please let us know during the interview process. However, if you do match with a placement organization and sign a contract, we expect you to discontinue any other job searches or applications.
We’ll provide access to placement position descriptions and links to organizations’ websites. You may also have an opportunity to speak with the Corps Member currently placed at organizations that you are considering, if applicable.
Each round takes about a week and a half.
You’ll have 24 hours to decide if you want to accept a position, so please be prepared to make a decision soon after you get an offer. We expect our applicants to use the time during the matching round to consider working at the various placements and participating in the program. If one candidate turns down a match, it is likely that another applicant will match with that placement, so it’s important to be able to make decisions quickly. We do understand that this is a big decision, and you may be weighing multiple factors as you decide. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to discuss them with us.
While it varies from year to year and city to city, there are usually 3-4 matching rounds.
We do our best to match our applicants with their top choices. Still, there are times when applicants are unable to match with a placement agency. You are not accepted until you match with a placement agency and sign a contract.
If you applied by the application deadline, you can expect us to be in touch with you in mid-March.
If you’re selected into a matching round, it means we believe that you are an excellent fit for the program. We accept applicants into matching rounds with the expectation that they will participate in the program if they make a match. We expect you to enter the matching round with a good faith commitment that if you are matched with a placement, you will join the program.
There are a lot of different pieces to this, so we’ve broken it up into a few different categories: Jewish Life, Working, Living, and Learning.
We try to put at least one house in each city within walking distance (1.5 miles) of a synagogue. Please be sure to discuss questions or concerns about access to a synagogue during your interview.
All kitchens in our houses are kosher at the time of move-in. As the year progresses, each household negotiates the standards of kashrut (Jewish dietary law) that the members of the community wish to maintain.
You and your fellow Corps Members will create a pluralistic “Community Shabbat” at least once a month. In many houses, Corps Members choose to celebrate together more frequently.
Being Jewish is not required, but it’s important to know that a large part of the experience is based on the interplay between Judaism and social justice, and creating a Jewish community. We do ask that you have the ability and interest to live and learn in an environment that is structured around a Jewish lifestyle, regardless of individual faith.
Definitely! Our pluralistic community is made up of people all different backgrounds and identities. Our Corps Members are Secular, “Just Jewish,” Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Modern Orthodox, and everything in between. We strongly encourage Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, Jews of Color, queer, trans, and gender non-conforming Jews, and Jews who come from poor or working-class backgrounds to apply.
In order to ensure your ability to focus on Avodah-related activities and still find time for downtime and other personal activities, you may not take classes, hold a part-time job, or do extensive volunteer work for the first four months of the program year. After that, we ask that you limit extra commitments to five hours per week so that you can participate fully in the Avodah community.
All kinds! In addition to having a fantastic position on their resume, alumni receive support in finding jobs through informational interviews and networking in our community, assistance with resumes and application materials, reference letters, career advice, and more. Our alumni are organizers, lawyers, health care professionals, activists, clergy, educators, non-profit staffers, and much more. Some even stay on at their placements! Read about some of our alumni stories here.
The 2021-2022 Service Corps year will begin in late August 2021.
Each of our program cities has it’s own unique culture, history, and feel. New York City and Washington, DC are our larger program cities, with bigger Jewish communities as well as cohort sizes. Program cities often have different placements available depending on some of the justice issues that are particularly present in those cities – for example, we work with many criminal justice organizations in New Orleans, housing organizations in DC, and immigration and refugee service organizations in San Diego. Both New York City and San Diego this year will feature inaugural cohorts – for NYC, this will include a Jews of Color Bayit, and for San Diego, the city’s first ever Corps Members. These groups will have the opportunity to self-define the culture of their cohorts even more than usual. It’s also worth noting that San Diego placements may require the use of a car. If you need help deciding between cities, or want to learn more about the types of applicants these cities normally attract, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] It’s also very much okay to preference multiple cities, or to not have a preference!
They sure are! And they have all the dishes, pots, pans, and everything else you’ll need to run a household, including a kosher kitchen.
We work to provide the safest living situations possible. You’ll be living in an urban environment where—like most city neighborhoods—crime can be an issue and levels of safety are unpredictable. Our staff will provide resources for dealing with crime prevention and safety, and you’ll be living in a concerned community where you and your housemates will help each other use caution and safety.
You should be prepared to share a room for all or part of the program year. Our houses may have some singles, but most rooms are doubles. We don’t assign rooms – each household decides together how to divide up the living space.
Living in community requires a commitment of time and spirit. Since you are working full-time and attending evening and weekend programs, you must make sure you are also able to commit time to living in community by participating in communal meals, celebrations of Shabbat, and house meetings. That might sound like a lot of effort (it is!), but you’ll find that putting in that time for community is one of the most meaningful parts of your Avodah experience. Many of our Corps Members choose to continue living together after the service year ends!
Our programs are a space for the kind of skill-building, leadership training, and consistent reflective practice that strengthen all effective activists and provide the foundation for a future in social change work. You’ll meet with local social change leaders, engage in personal and communal reflection on the year’s unfolding challenges and accomplishments, create space to debate ideas and methods of social change, and participate in trainings on the skills you need to successfully pursue justice work and sustain yourself in the long-term.
The programs are also a setting to engage with your Jewish identity as it relates to your activism, and with the ways that your political and social beliefs and struggles can inform your Jewish practice. You and your fellow Corps Members will meet with rabbis, teachers, and Jewish activists throughout the year to explore Jewish texts, history, and justice-oriented approaches to Jewish holidays and ritual.
There are anywhere from 4-6 evening programs in any given month. You’ll also participate in three weekend retreats and three day-long seminars, and visit other Corps Members’ work sites at least once a month. These opportunities will help you explore different approaches to social change and expose you to issues that you may not see in your own work.
Good question. Our staff team is composed of leaders with backgrounds in both social justice and Jewish education, and they’re guided by a curriculum that we’ve been perfecting for almost 20 years. But we believe deeply in participant leadership, so every Corps Member steps up throughout the year to help plan everything from site visits to Shabbat celebrations to leadership development programs.
Your housing and public transportation costs are covered during your service year, and health insurance will be provided by your placement organization. In addition, you will receive a modest monthly stipend based on the costs for basic necessities in the city you live in. The allowance is not designed to cover large expenses like air travel, school application fees, or out-of-pocket prescription medication costs that exceed $500 per year.
Most applicants are able to support themselves on the allowance. It may be a modest lifestyle, but living in a community helps to keep cost of living down and we provide subsidies for certain areas of life in the program. You’ll need to make smart decisions about budgeting and collaborate with your housemates to make good decisions for the needs of the house, like how to buy food together. It sounds like a challenge (and it is), but it’s the best way to gain real-life budgeting skills that will last a lifetime. And don’t forget: you’ll be living in a city that offers tons of free and cheap ways to have fun!
We are continuously striving to make the Jewish Service Corps more economically accessible to a wider variety of participants. We have an Economic Access Fund for our Corps Members to provide a safety net to Corps Members who don’t already have one. The Economic Access Fund can be requested for expenses such as medication copays, winter clothes, transportation for a visit home, etc.
The numbers are based on costs for basic necessities, which are a bit different depending on the city you live in:
Chicago
$450/month allowance
New Orleans
$450/month allowance
New York City
$505/month allowance
Washington, DC
$470/month allowance
San Diego
$505/month allowance
Many loans can be deferred during a year in Avodah, though you should check with their specific loan provider to confirm. You’ll have to initiate this process yourself, and we’re happy to provide instructions and help you sort things out.
Your placement organization will provide you with health insurance during the year, as well as a travel subsidy to pay for local public transportation costs.
It’s true! During the summer before the program starts, you’ll join us in increasing awareness of Avodah and raising money to support our work together. You’ll run your own campaign, setting a goal with a minimum expectation of $1,200.
We believe that this skill is invaluable for people who want to create change. Fundraising is essential to every nonprofit organization and knowing how to galvanize people behind a cause you believe in is a vital skill. This is a chance to increase awareness about Avodah among your friends and family who might not know about our
We’ve learned that everyone reaches different fundraising goals, and we’ll support you in your efforts so the whole process is a rich learning experience. The bottom line is that we won’t exclude anyone from the program for not meeting the fundraising goal. And we’re grateful for every minute of work you put in to fundraise before the program starts (high five!).
You’re going to be super busy during the year between working full-time and participating in the Avodah community. We like to be realistic and avoid asking you to try to fundraise on top of your other responsibilities. We have found that incoming Corps Members do a great job of expressing their enthusiasm even before the official start of the year.
You can totally do this, and you won’t be doing it on your own. Our all-star development team will provide you with fundraising training, tips, and work closely with you throughout the process.
We know that this year, programs like the Jewish Service Corps are more important than ever. We also know that they’re going to have to look different to support the safety and well-being of our participants. For the 2020-2021 program year, we worked with a team of medical consultants and staff to figure out the best way to mitigate risk of exposure to COVID-19 and meaningfully run the Service Corps. Right now, many of our Corps Members are working at their placement organizations virtually, while some Corps Members are going into work in person at least part of the time. We have kept our communal homes (baytim) open under a set of strict, adaptable protocols for those who wish to live communally, and have allowed Corps Members with remote positions to live elsewhere. To accommodate this, our programming model has adapted to take place through a combination of Zoom, outdoors programming, and asynchronous learning. Read below to learn about our changes this year more in depth, or check out our current Covid-19 protocol document here.
We are proud to support our placement partners in the essential work that they do, and know that the need for support has only increased due to the pandemic. Many of our Corps Members are currently working virtually from home, while some are continuing to go into work in person. All Corps Members were given details during the matching round of the selection process about which positions require in-person work. During a shelter in place period, Avodah requires that only essential workers go into work. We have developed a set of risk-mitigation protocols that we ask both placement organizations and Corps Members to follow in order to mitigate risk for both our work-in-person Corps Members, as well as those around them. Learn more in our protocol document here.
In consultation with our medical advisors, Avodah decided to open our residential Service Corps program to all Service Corps Members who wish to live in the Avodah bayit (home). The decision to open our baytim (homes) is possible only if all residents of the baytim are able to comply with stringent protocols designed to mitigate exposure risk. We have also allowed Corps Members with remote positions to secure alternative housing. We encourage all Corps Members to evaluate their own comfort levels with risk and consult with their primary care practitioners to determine what living arrangements make the most sense for their physical and mental health. Learn more in our protocol document here.
Those decisions are based on the COVID-19 rates in each program city and adapt as that information changes. You can see how we’re currently approaching these questions in our protocols document. If the pandemic continues into next year, Avodah will continue to have protocols that Corps Members living communally must follow. We try to be as flexible and responsive to Corps Members’ needs as we can be while also maintaining the best possible practices for health and risk-mitigation. For example, we have created a process for Corps Members to leave the bayit to visit family or friends, and then quarantine prior to reintegrating into the bayit.
This year, we made individual travel plans for Corps Members moving into the bayit that often required Covid-19 testing (i.e. if travel was higher-risk or if two weeks of quarantine were not possible). On an ongoing basis, we practice surveillance testing with our Corps Members who are serving as essential in-person workers, meaning that Corps Members are tested once a month in a staggered fashion. Some placements also require more frequent testing. Many of our program cities currently offer free Covid testing, but for those Corps Members in other cities, please note that placement organizations help cover a portion of out-of-pocket expenses, and that our Economic Access Fund is available to support Corps Members who cannot afford the additional medical expense of testing. Learn more in our protocols document.
We have developed a series of protocols to address potential situations in which a Corps Member is exposed to, has symptoms of, or is diagnosed with Covid-19. Our goals are twofold: to mitigate risk for Corps Members, and for anyone Corps Members interact with (clients, placement colleagues, grocery store cashiers, etc). You can read about the protocols for different scenarios beginning on page 38 of the protocols document.
Avodah has an Economic Access Fund to provide a safety net to Corps Members who don’t already have one. Corps Members can apply to the Economic Access Fund for a variety of unexpected expenses such medication, copays, transportation for a visit home, work clothes, winter supplies, etc. In addition, we are aware of the increased strain on mental health that many individuals are feeling right now. We have contracted with a mental health professional to fill the role of National Mentor Health Advisor to provide support and programming for Corps Members on a regular basis.
We have adapted our programming model to take place through a blend of Zoom, socially distant outdoors programming, and small group/individual asynchronous learning. Programming varies per city depending on house set-up and which cohorts have Corps Members participating remoting. On the bright side, this means we have been able to bring together our cohorts in national spaces, connect participants to out-of-town facilitators, and explore creative and experiential ways of learning together! On the other hand, we know online learning comes with its own unique challenges and that Zoom fatigue is very real. We are continuing to workshop the best ways to facilitate online learning through diverse modalities, in person opportunities, and adaptable programming schedules in partnership with our staff and Corps Members.
In order to be most responsive to new information and make the safest decisions possible, it’s important that we wait until closer to the start of the program year to make concrete decisions about what the year will look like. As we continue to adapt this year’s protocols to changing regulations and infection rates per city, we are also modeling different scenarios for the following year. There are versions of next year that look very similar to a usual program year (fingers crossed!), versions that look just like this year, and versions that look somewhere in the middle. We know it’s immensely difficult to plan for the future and apply to a program with so many unknowns. Please be in touch with our Recruitment Director at [email protected] if we can support you in thinking through what the next year might look like.
Nope! Our alumni interviews, program director interviews, and placement organization interviews already take place over phone or video, so the application process will run as usual. Interviews are a great opportunity to learn more about what the current year looks like, and to learn which positions for next year we anticipate will require in-person work.
That’s totally understandable – things are really confusing and stressful right now! We are here to support you every step of the way during your application process. Please reach out to our Recruitment Director Emily Becker with any questions or to set up some time to chat: [email protected].
The Avodah Service Corps New York JOC Bayit is an intentional communal living home specifically for self-identified Jews of Color.
JOC is an acronym for Jews of color. Jews of color may include individuals who are African, African American, Black, Asian, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Native American, Sephardi, Mizrahi, and/or Multi-Racial. Note: Some Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews do not identify as Jews of Color. If you’re not sure whether you qualify or not, or just want to talk through this piece, feel free to reach out to our Manager of Racial Justice Initiatives Nate Looney at [email protected].
We know that participation in the Avodah Service Corps is a life-changing experience. A JOC Bayit will provide the opportunity for JOC Corps Members to live as a majority, to foster a deeper connection with Judaism and grow as aspiring Jewish leaders in a culturally competent space, and to engage in deep learning with non-JOC Corps Members, while maintaining a space to disconnect when necessary. For Jews of Color, living communally with predominantly white Jews can be challenging and draining, and this space will enable JOCs to devote their energy to personal development, self-care, and community building that will only enhance and sustain their work for justice. Now more than ever, considering the pandemic and increased attention to racial injustice, we want to provide a space for JOC participants to be in community with one another.
JOCs are encouraged to rank the JOC Bayit, but are welcome to apply to any city (including the NYC non-JOC Bayit)!
The JOC Bayit is intended for Corps Members who identify as Jews of Color; if you do not identify as a JOC, please rank other options.
We sure hope so! In our Service Corps, approximately 50% of our participants identify as being a part of the LGBTQ community. We strongly encourage queer Jews of Color – as well as JOCs from poor or working-class backgrounds, JOCs with disabilities, and immigrant JOCs – to apply.
Applicants do not have to be Jewish to participate in the Service Corps, but the JOC Bayit will be geared towards supporting the unique needs of Jews of Color. We welcome all to apply, however, priority will be given to self-identified Jews of Color.
Absolutely not! For too long, Jews of Color have been forced to develop their leadership capacity while navigating the complexities of being in majority-white Jewish spaces. Often, this requires the individual to hide cultural aspects of their character if they want to be taken seriously. This is called code-switching. The task of code-switching can be extremely exhausting. In a majority-white communal living environment like the Avodah Service Corps, JOCs have to code-switch constantly. A JOC Bayit enables JOCs to devote their code-switching energy towards developing their individual leadership capacities instead. Additionally, using Historically Black Colleges and Universities as a model, the JOC Bayit will give Jews of Color an opportunity to foster kinship, build a stronger JOC professional network, and reclaim identities of excellence outside of the stereotypical mainstream narratives.
Yes and no! The JOC Bayit will follow the same curriculum as the rest of the cohort. However, there will be JOC specific programming for JOCs. This may include programming around: navigating the leadership challenges of being a JOC in a majority white organization, self-care, and personal ecology, developing an authentic JOC Jewish identity, and community building events in collaboration with regional JOC led organizations. Additionally, there will be programming throughout the cohorts around topics of intentional integration and allyship.
The application process is mostly the same; the main difference is that the applicant will need to choose the NYC JOC Bayit when ranking their city preferences. During the interview process, we will talk with the applicant about their interest in living in the JOC bayit.
That’s totally understandable! We are here to support you every step of the way during your application process. Please reach out to our Manager of Racial Justice Initiatives with any questions or to set up some time to chat: [email protected].
At Avodah, we are firmly committed to the value of Kehillah/Community. We believe that no one of us can make social change on our own and that every member of the Jewish community has a role to play in advancing social justice in the United States. Therefore, we strive to ensure that any member of the Jewish community who is qualified to participate in the Avodah Jewish Service Corps — whether neurotypical, neurodiverse, as well as those with depression, anxiety, PTSD, or ADHD — is able to do so. At the same time, it is important that every candidate for the program understand the unique challenges the program presents and decide whether the experience is right for them.
Every year, Avodah Corps Members who identify as neurodiverse participate in our year of service and thrive. For some, past experiences of marginalization uniquely prepare them to demonstrate empathy to clients. For others, communication skills developed through a lifetime of self-advocacy allow them to thrive in community living. Every participant has a different experience, but Avodah is committed to supporting you in having a positive and fulfilling year of service, learning and community building.
Avodah is a very rigorous program.
The candid feedback, intense communal living, and challenging service work are not for everyone. When determining whether the Avodah Service Corps is a good fit for you, consider these questions with a friend, family member or trusted mental health professional:
Avodah is not a therapeutic program, and we are not equipped to meet all needs.
In order to ensure a successful transition into and year with Avodah, we recommend taking the following steps (as applicable):
Avodah Corps Members add more than $2 million in capacity to local grassroots nonprofit organizations every year. Click here to apply to be an Avodah Partner Placement Organization. If you have been a partner placement organization in the past, please reach out to the Program Director in your Avodah Program City for information on updating your previous applications: