2017 Discretionary Grants
2017 Fund for Jewish Philanthropy and Field of Interest Fund Grant Recipients
Click here for information on 2016 grants from the Fund for Jewish Philanthropy and Field of Interest Funds
For its 2017 discretionary grant cycle, the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix announced grants totaling $218,327 to benefit the Jewish community locally and in Israel, through the unrestricted Fund for Jewish Philanthropy, the Jewish Women’s Endowment Fund and field of interest funds.
Locally, the programs funded this year will reach a broad swath of the community, including Jewish preschoolers, teens, young adults and seniors, as well as the general public via a Holocaust education program. In Israel, the Foundation is funding projects that serve Jewish Israelis, Arab women, Ethiopian-Jewish women, the Haredi community, and those who have chosen to leave the Haredi community, among others.
2017 Jewish Community Foundation Grants: Local
Local Community Grants (66%)
Bureau of Jewish Education, $7,500
Wise Aging: Based on the book Wise Aging, this collaborative adult learning program will be offered in a variety of settings such as the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus; synagogues across the Valley, including Tempe, Paradise Valley, Phoenix and Sun City; senior facilities; and other organizations. With the guidance of a trained facilitator, groups of 10-12 seniors explore the many opportunities and challenges of aging.
Bureau of Jewish Education, $3,250
School Enrichment Project: To train Hebrew teachers from early childhood, day schools and religious schools in Hebrew through Movement, a language acquisition strategy in which students learn Hebrew by hearing and responding to Hebrew commands, an adaption of James J. Asher’s Total Physical Response.
East Valley Jewish Community Center, $10,000
Teen Leadership Program: This 10-month leadership training program encompasses specific aspects of leadership with a Jewish lens, and is facilitated by trained adults at the EVJCC. In partnership with Hillel at ASU, college students will serve as mentors to the teens.
Jewish Community Foundation, $25,075
Discretionary Reserve: Funding from the discretionary reserve may be used for requests that are cultivated or solicited by the Foundation outside of the annual grant cycle, or for responses to emergencies, man-made or natural disasters affecting the Jewish community.
Jewish Community Relations Council, $20,000
Infrastructure Support: Start up support to allow the JCRC to get the necessary systems up and running, including ramping up programs, database management, communications, web development and other tools that will be required for daily successful operations.
Jewish Family & Children’s Service, $20,000
Creative Aging: Creative Aging is a national initiative based on studies showing that older adults live longer and better if actively involved in the arts. Classes for adults age 60 and over will include: Readers Theatre, Dance, Vocal Music, Creative Writing, and Visual Arts, and will be offered at locations throughout the Valley.
Moishe House, $4,019 (includes $3,019 from the Max Schlissel Jewish Education Fund)
Cultivating Knowledgeable and Experienced Emerging Jewish Leaders: Funding for at least 12 young adults to attend Moishe House Learning and Leadership Retreats and the annual conference, which will provide them with specific ritual and programmatic skills that they can take back to our community to help engage young adults.
Phoenix Holocaust Survivors’ Association/Generations After, $15,000
Focus on the Holocaust: A dedicated day during SCC’s Genocide Awareness Week: This program features Holocaust education through classical music, book discussions and performance art. As part of Scottsdale Community College’s 2018 Genocide Awareness Week, Mona Golabek will perform her one-woman show, The Children of Willesden Lane, which originated as a book about her mother, a Holocaust survivor from Austria who was saved by the Kindertransport. Educators will be provided the tools to incorporate the book into their curriculum for middle school, high school and college levels; synagogues and community organizations will host book discussions across the Valley.
West Coast NCSY, $10,000
Jewish Student Union Culture Clubs: JSU clubs provide Jewish teens an educational experience focusing on issues of Jewish pride, identity, social justice, and connection to Israel. JSU Club meetings take place during the schools’ lunch breaks, and have the added draw of serving kosher lunch without charge. This grant will enable JSU to open one new club at a school in Greater Phoenix.
Yeshiva High School, $10,000
College Guidance and Counseling for High School: Funding to engage a college and guidance counselor to help students make informed educational choices and assist students in college readiness. Activities include arranging AP classes and tests, creating dual enrollment courses with community colleges, advising and arranging online college credit courses, informing students and parents of scholarship opportunities, and one-on-one appointments with students.
2017 Jewish Community Foundation Grants: Israel
Israel Grants – 34%
Adva Center, $6,750
Negev Forum of Women Business Leaders: To address the unique needs of women of the Negev and particularly their lack of economic power and limited potential for socio-economic advancement, this project involves training and mentoring a group of 60 local women who own and operate small businesses in 20 communities.
Arab Jewish Community Center, $9,000
Wages of Change: Wages of Change is a socio-economic community initiative that will increase Arab female employment rates and create a more inclusive, gender-equal and financially thriving Jaffa. The program will recruit 90 unemployed young Arab women, particularly those who do not hold a high school diploma, to participate in a ten-month professional training and certification course certified by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality.
Be-Atzmi, $6,750
Mifne for Haredi Families: A program tailored to the overlooked needs of the Haredi community that will provide an easily adaptable platform which addresses both male workforce integration and provides training to enable Haredi women to remain in the workforce following their husband’s integration. The program also provides counseling to help the couples understand their financial situation, and help deal with the emotional strain of vocational and financial changes on family life.
Hillel – the Right to Choose, $6,750
Support for Former Haredi Single Mothers in their New Beginning: Hillel provides support and resources designed to help these women triumph over integration challenges, effectively serve their families and achieve financial independence. Program components include housing assistance, mentorship, psychological counseling, empowerment workshops, cultural and educational activities.
IT Works, $6,750
Securing Israel’s Future Through Employment: Developed with the National Insurance Institute, this program enables young adults at risk from social and geographic peripheries to enter the high-tech industry. This new implementation in Karmiel will target 20-25 young adults from the region with a background of multi-generational poverty, new immigrants, single mothers and others from marginalized and low-income populations, unemployed or working at minimum wage “dead-end” jobs.
Job Katif, $13,673 (includes $1,734 from the Jewish Women’s Endowment Fund)
Achotenu, an Ethiopian Nurses Training Program: This program assists young adults from the Ethiopian community gain acceptance into nursing studies on the basis of culturally compatible criteria, so they can find stable employment, break out of poverty and integrate into Israeli society. Achotenu provides academic, emotional and financial assistance to empower students to succeed.
Turning the Tables, $6,750
Yotsrot Atid (Women Creating a Future) – Vocational Training for Women Exiting the Cycle of Prostitution: This year-long vocational training program, offered free of charge to women exiting prostitution, encompasses weekly sewing classes and psychological counseling. Most have never studied or succeeded in attaining a profession. Offered in collaboration with the Israeli Social Security office, the courses are formatted in an upward scale of complexity and skill, and participants receive a stipend for their participation.
Women’s Spirit, $9,000
Crossing the Street: This community-focused, long-term program provides women with tools, knowledge and support to help them break free from violence and build a safe and independent life. The program includes: employment skills workshops, mentoring and coaching by trained volunteers, small business training for independent business owners, professional skills training, computer and language courses, financial literacy, and job placement.
Field of Interest Grants
Mavoi Satum, $15,000
Justice for All PLUS: The project encompasses legal representation in civil and rabbinical courts for Jewish women trapped in unwanted marriages; legislative initiatives; and, appeals to the Supreme Court as tools to change the rabbinical court system, helping women attain their get, and protect their rights.
Physically Disadvantaged Children’s Fund
Council for Jews with Special Needs, $2,446
Summer Camp Inclusion Resources: To enable children with special needs to attend typical day camp programs.
Paul Vermes Endowment for Disabled Youth in Israel
Shekel Community Services for People with Special Needs, $10,614
Hettena Day Center: Medical supervision at a residential home for severely developmentally disabled children.
