Overview
OUR GOAL:
Entering 2020, the Community Engagement (CE) Strategic Initiative aims to develop a new generation of lay leaders that can promote the interests of the Federation as we get more involved in critical civic issues with various partners throughout the city. For over 25 years, our Rautenberg New Leaders Project (NLP) has trained more than 350 Jewish young adults to become powerful Jewish voices in our city as Commissioners, School Board members, City Councilmembers, Assemblymembers, and State Senators. Now we want to reinvest in the NLP alumni and cultivate the next era of Community Engagement-focused lay leaders. These new lay leaders will help shape the future of CE programming and connect the Federation’s investments in civil society in Los Angeles and Israel civic portfolios.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
Community Engagement Executive Fellows will commit to and participate in a yearlong program that includes the following components:
- Attend FOUR orientation meetings in the winter/spring of 2020 to explore in depth the Federation’s CE work.
- Join a highly subsidized TRIP to Israel in July 2020. Travel through Israel alongside CE’s 2020 Community Leaders Israel Trip and get a close look at CE’s partnerships with Israeli civic organizations.
- Attend THREE post-Israel trip sessions in the late fall of 2020 that will help participants explore the nuanced and challenging landscape that makes up the work of Community Engagement.
- Attend any THREE Community Engagement events throughout 2020 (partial list of all events copied below).
- Attend ONE Community Engagement Executive Committee meeting in 2020.
- Pay a participation fee of $500 (which includes the highly subsidized Israel trip).
- In addition to the participation fee, there is a $1,000 minimum gift requirement to Federation’s Annual Campaign.
PARTICIPANT ELGIBILITY:
Participants must be an alum of the Rautenberg New Leaders Project. Participants must be able to attend all in-person sessions, prior to and following the July Israel trip. After the program, participants are expected to be active lay leaders in the Federation’s Community Engagement Strategic Initiative and work with CE staff to determine future role as CE lay leader.
TENTATIVE PRE-TRIP MEETING SCHEDULE:
- March 26, 2020 — Introductory Happy Hour
- April 13 OR 14, 2020 — Half-Day Mini-Mission around L.A. to get a firsthand look at all of CE’s work and our partners throughout the city
- May 20, 2020 — Israeli 101 Session at City Hall with Elected Staffers
- June 8, 2020 — Exploring CE’s Israel Partnerships & Community Leaders Orientation Dinner
ISRAEL TRIP:
The trip will take place July 19 – 28, 2020 and will occur parallel to the CE Community Leaders’ trip. The itinerary will include a tour of Jerusalem, The West Bank, Tel Aviv, the South of Israel, and the North of Israel. We will explore a wide range of topics including religion, history, archeology, geopolitics, conflict, land, peoplehood, resiliency, entrepreneurship, and more. Additionally, at least once every day, the Executive Fellows group will explore deeper topics about Israel and meet and collaborate with CE’s Israeli civic partners. There will also be a workshop planned in the middle of the trip for our Executive Fellows, Community Leaders, and Israel partners. The workshop will be a combination of professional and organizational development for its own sake (‘Torah Lishma’) as well as sessions aimed to help map out possible collaboration between the Israeli and L.A. organizations represented by our Community Leaders. As part of the workshop, Executive Fellows will be assigned roles to help encourage and manage any potential ongoing collaboration between the Israeli and L.A. nonprofit partners.
TENTATIVE POST-TRIP TRAINING SESSIONS:
- October 1, 2020 — Case Studies in Community Engagement Work
- November 8, 2020 — Open Conversation About Civic Issues with Federation Board Members
- December 1, 2020 — Leadership/Organizational Mapping & Graduation
APPLICATION DEADLINE:
Apply by Friday, February 28, 2020, to be considered.
YEARLY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EVENTS TO ATTEND (CHOOSE 3):
- Coffee & Conversation(s) (~6/year)
- Community Service Day(s) (~6/year)
- Community Leaders Seder
- JPAC Advocacy Day in Sacramento
- Jewish Heritage Month Celebration at City Hall
- Rosh Hashanah at City Hall
- Chanukah at City Hall
- NLP Graduation