Teens at Temple Har Shalom in Warren take part in a Gesher L’Kesher peer leadership program. A grant from the Jewish Community Endowment Foundation will enable the temple to enhance its teen and family programming.
July 24, 2008
With an eye to enhancing people’s connection to it and its values, the Jewish Community Endowment Foundation of Central New Jersey has awarded significant grants to four local organizations. The disbursements will target various sectors of the community, including high school students and their parents, seniors, and families with young children.
Jessica Bennett Mehlman, assistant director for financial resource development at the foundation, said the foundation began disbursing grants for social and educational projects in 2001. This year the foundation, which is part of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, opted to make larger grants to a smaller number of programs, thereby maximizing the impact of each grant. “This also encourages our agencies and synagogues to propose programs that have a larger scope,” she said.
Mehlman explained that 11 organizations had applied for grants this year, requesting a total of $393,280. The four winning local programs account for a total disbursement of $116,570. They all reflect enhanced cooperation between federation beneficiary agencies and local synagogues, Mehlman said.
Two of the programs will benefit teenagers and their families.
One, at Temple Har Shalom in Warren, will receive $20,000 in first-year funding to help families identify parent-teenager issues, break down barriers, encourage communication, and build positive relationships. It will share second-year funding of $16,000 with the community Hebrew high school at Congregation B’nai Israel in Basking Ridge.
Four components are being added to Har Shalom’s high school curriculum:
A certified Jewish personal empowerment coach will teach teens the life skills they need to cope with the challenges posed by adolescence. Three parenting classes open to the wider community will focus on parent/teen issues and communication, and a clinical professional will lead a monthly parenting support group.
Last, an all-day College Fair — also open to the general community — will help college-bound teens and parents learn the ropes of the college admissions process. Admissions and guidance counselors and first-year college students will be on hand to advise attendees, who will also learn about college preparatory courses, Israel study options, Jewish life on campus, and Birthright Israel.
The other teen-directed program will be first-year funding of $5,000 to spearhead the establishment of “Ten-Mile Hebrew High,” a new community Hebrew high school at B’nai Israel. Funding of $16,000 for the second year is being shared with Har Shalom.
The school is designed to provide continuing Jewish education for post-b’nei mitzva students. Teenagers who reside within a 10-mile radius of Bernards Township may attend the school, whether or not they are affiliated with a congregation or Jewish center. Initially, the program will serve eighth-, ninth-, and 10th-graders and will be extended to 11th- and 12th-graders in its second year, at which time a teacher training corps will be developed.
Local congregants and health professionals will be trained in the curriculum before teaching in small group settings. The program, which stresses mitzvot and morality, will be designed to increase awareness of the students’ place and responsibility in the larger world, teach adult-level ritual and reasoning skills, and instill positive reasons for families to view themselves as part of a larger Jewish world.
Senior Funday
Another foundation grant will benefit seniors. Through the awarding of $18,860 over two years, the Senior Sunday Funday program at the YM-YWHA of Union County, Union, will be able to increase its offerings.
Seniors enjoy the first Sunday Funday at the Union Y last fall. With a grant from the foundation, the Y will increase the program’s offerings.
Susan Silberner, the Y’s director of senior services, said, “The new grant will enable us to increase the number of sessions from 16 to 20. This year, thanks to the grant, we also will be running at least two local trips.” The program, which serves an average of 25 people each session, helps seniors break up a weekend that they otherwise might spend entirely alone, she said.
Created in 2007 through a $6,000 foundation grant, the program meets two Sundays a month, from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., from September to June. Participating seniors socialize, engage in activities like sit-down Tai Chi, listen to speakers and musical entertainment, and eat a nutritious brunch.
The final grant — $56,710 over three years to the JCC of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains — will launch the Union-J Connection, an outreach program for unaffiliated Jewish families with young children. The funds will enable parents and children together to attend a family enrichment series of four to five major programs on a specific holiday or theme. These will include music, stories, interactive learning, and art projects. Enrollment will be limited to 20 families per session.
The program will also offer professionally facilitated adult discussions throughout the year to help families deepen their Jewish family practice. Local rabbis and educators will facilitate four to five sessions on such topics as mitzvot, God, Torah, holidays, rituals, and traditions.
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