Immersive Jewish Service-Learning
Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village 
The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) is a residential community in rural Rwanda. Its 144 acres are home to youth who were orphaned during and after the genocide in 1994. The Village is designed to care for, protect and nurture these young people.
Agahozo-Shalom organizes 10-day service learning trips for various groups and institutions. Designed for 15-20 people, program participants learn about the development of Agahozo-Shalom and the history of Rwanda while taking part in a volunteer project at the Village. Alternately, a select group of volunteers are sent to the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village each December to spend one year as part of the Village staff. Volunteers serve the Village in a professional role, dictated by current needs.
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 
For 96 years, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)—also referred to as “the Joint”—has exemplified globally the principle that all Jewish people are responsible for one another.
Active today in more than 70 countries, JDC and its partners work to rescue Jewish lives at risk, bring relief to Jews in need, renew lost bonds to Jewish identity and Jewish culture, and help Israel overcome the social challenges of its most vulnerable citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish. JDC reach extends beyond the global Jewish community by providing non-sectarian disaster relief and long-term development assistance worldwide.
JDC’s Jewish Service programs offer young Jews the opportunity to directly engage with the work of the largest Jewish humanitarian aid organization in the world. Through meaningful volunteer projects directly connected to JDC’s global programs, participants meet real needs and gain an understanding of pressing Jewish and humanitarian challenges worldwide.
JDC offers different service opportunities-from yearlong placements and 8-10 week opportunities to weeklong trips for undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals.
American Jewish World Service
American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.
AJWS provides unique opportunities to learn, work, serve and travel in Africa, Asia and the Americas. By partnering with grassroots community-based organizations, volunteers experience firsthand the power of local people effecting change.
AJWS volunteer service programs focus on building collaborative relationships between Jewish volunteers and NGOs in developing countries, either through individual or group service experiences. All AJWS service programs draw on Judaism’s religious and cultural traditions to provide guidance regarding the responsibility to pursue global justice. By integrating service with text study and dialogue about the Jewish values that inform this work, participants return committed and passionate about their role as global citizens in creating a more just world.
