Newspapers / The Charlotte Jewish News … / Oct. 1, 2001, edition 1 / Page 11
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The Charlotte Jewish News - October 2001 - Page 11 CAJE CAJE Grants Expansion Increases Funding by 900% Cuts Red Tape, Grants More Funds, Brings Innovative Programs to the People CAJE (Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education) has announced a 900% increase in funding to individual members with new educational programming ideas. For over a quarter of a century, CAJE, the largest membership organization of Jewish educators in North America, has been responsible for inspiring and encouraging innova tive educational programs. This new, expanded grants program awards up to $10,000 dollars to worthy proposals, and replaces the mini-grant program that has been in place for the past 16 years. It reflects CAJE’s grassroots history in that it is meant to cut through the red tape that often accompa nies funding a program. This grant expansion was bom out of a desire to continue to stim ulate creative educators to gener ate new approaches and experi ments in Jewish education. CAJE felt that increased funds and an expedited process gave power to the educators on the front lines and would bring a faster return to the diverse constituencies they serve. Mark Charendoff, CAJE Board Member and Chair of the Grants Committee, says, “Without the aid of professional grant writers, many local Jewish educators and small communities were finding it diffi cult to access money for their pro jects because of very stmctured foundation requirements. CAJE is the only agency in a position to cut through the process and put the money directly into the hands of educators with creative ideas.” This year’s grant recipients echo those sentiments: William Berkson, of Reston, Virginia’s Jewish Institute for Youth, was awarded an $8,560 grant for the “Becoming a Mensch” program. “Becoming a Mensch” trains leaders nation wide for parent-teen workshops that bring together Jewish ethical values with contemporary issues and insights of modem psycholo gy. CAJE and the CAJE grant have been an open door to new ideas to strengthen Jewish education, according to Berkson. “I came from the outside, as a philosopher and former college professor with new ideas, to mak^ Jewish person al ethics relevant to teens and fam ilies. I found I faced difficult obstacles. Most doors were closed or very reluctant to open. The CAJE Grants Program had a short application and tum-around time and was judged by people who are teachers themselves. The grant to train teachers and social workers for ‘Becoming a Mensch’ is sub stantial enough to make a real dif ference in the lives of Jewish youth and families.” Cheryl Gordon, of El Paso, Texas Academy, submitted the “Horim Project” that helps parents increase their level of Jewish knowledge to support their chil dren’s religious education. She was awarded a $2,880 grant. Gordon says, ‘This is especially exciting for us, because it was awarded to a small community and may be a model for similar under served ones. Additionally, it will be supportive of our mission, because it will help us take Jewish involvement and learning beyond the school walls and into the stu dents’ homes.” “Machaneh JCH” is a visionary approach to informal Jewish edu cation. The program addresses the unique needs of the Russian emi gre community by using a year- round Jewish camping experience to nurture and intensify the devel opment of Jewish identity. It was submitted by Melanie Kohler Levav and Howard Wasserman of the Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and was awarded $8,560. Levav, Director of Jewish Education, explains, “My CAJE grant is a very wel come surprise for our agency. It will allow us to offer informal arts and music-focused Jewish educa tion for our Russian-emigre popu lation. The Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst serves a community of 45,000-!- Russian emigres who are hungry to learn about their Jewish culture and tra dition — learning that was denied them during three generations of Communist rule. The funding will enable us to increase the Jewish educational content of our year- round Jewish camping programs, by allowing us to hire more part- time Jewish educators.” In this first year of its expanded Grants Program, CAJE received 60 proposals from North America and as far away as Israel and Australia. Participation was from all denominations of synagogues and schools and targeted every age group. The most common type of proposal was in the area of cur riculum (57%). Programs included development of new curricula, educational resources, and distrib ution of curriculum. Informal edu cation was the second most com mon (23%), while adult and fami- (Continued on page 15} Resolution on the Current Personnel Crisis in Jewish Education Adopted by CAJE Membership - August 2001 Quality Jewish education is an investment in Jewish continuity. The trustees for this investment are the Jewish educators working in day schools or supplemental schools, irrespective of denomina tion or affiliation. Jewish parents have charged these men and women with transmitting to their children a love of Judaism and a love of Israel, as well as the knowledge to support these emo tional attachments. Theirs is no easy task. Recruiting the men and women to work on this undertaking, and retaining them long enough to build the skill set and knowledge base needed to reach the highest professional level, is not easy either. The current, and ongoing, shortage of personnel in both sup plemental and day schools attests to that fact. To attract and retain the best and the brightest, the con ditions in the field of Jewish edu cation must be improved. In order to help resolve the cur rent crisis in personnel recruit ment while also elevating the sta tus of the teacher in accordance with the words of our sages, the membership of the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) has adopted a resolution calling on the North ?’n?3 anDiT ddn D^n ■■ — ■" ■ ■ ■ Do You Remember When? Sukkot and Consecration at Temple Beth Ely ca. 1956. Rabbi Melvin Helfgott poses with the children of the Consecration class on the bimah at Temple Beth El. The bimah is festively decorated as if it were a sukkah, in celebration of the holiday and marking the start of the reli gious school experience of this class. Can you identify any of the chil dren in the class? Email your identifications to: lsstein@vnet.net. Temple Beth ETs original building was at 1727 Providence Road. When the Temple moved to its current home at Shalom Park in 1992, the Dore Academy acquired the building on the Briar Creek. The original Temple building, and its additions over the years, is still recognizable, with min imal changes made to its exterior, by the current owners. This photo is from the digital image archives of the Charlotte Jewish Historical Society, a project of the Carolina Agency for Jewish Education at Shalom Park. American Jewish community and its leadership to join in making teacher recruitment and retention, as well as the status of the teacher, priority issues. The statement, for mally adopted at the organiza tion’s recent 26th annual Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education, held in Fort Collins, CO, also outlines needed actions that would help attract and retain qualified people to the field of Jewish education. These steps include: Creating a climate in which the role and status of the Jewish educator is valued. Providing competitive salaries and appropriate benefits for both full-time and part-time work. ^Providing a work environment with reasonable expectations for time and task and sufficient sup port systems in place. Bringing Jewish career options to the attention of those who are about to choose a profession or to change professions. ^Encouraging the mentoring of new personnel entering the field by veteran and other techniques proven to aid in retaining, nur turing, and treasuring valued personnel. Teacher recruitment has been a priority agenda issue for CAJE for the past year, when its Hanukat CAJE Committee has advanced an advocacy agenda by initiating dis cussions on recruitment among CAJE members and others. The Committee has already published the first four of a projected ten short pamphlets on the topic; the pamphlets are used to initiate dia logue in nationwide discussion groups organized by the Committee. The Coalition also has dedicat ed the summer edition of its jour nal, Jewish Education News, to the topic of recruiting teachers for both the day school and the sup plemental school. A selection of articles from the summer issue focusing on teacher recruitment as well as the complete selection of Hanukat CAJE pamphlets and details of both local and on-line discussion groups on this topic, can be found on the CAJE web site, www.caje.org. 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The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 1, 2001, edition 1
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