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Daily Kickoff | MacKenzie Scott donates to Repair the World and HIAS

By / June 17, 2021

This article originally appeared in the Jewish Insider on June 16th, 2021.

MacKenzie Scott, known for her record-setting charitable donations, has now become — with her husband, Dan Jewett — a supporter of two Jewish organizations: Repair the World, a service corps for young people, and HIAS, the immigrant support and advocacy group. Repair the World, whose annual budget was $5.9 million, will receive an unrestricted grant of $7 million from Scott and Jewett, CEO Cindy Greenberg told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Helen Chernikoff.  It was part of $2.74 billion in new gifts Scott and her husband announced yesterday.

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MacKenzie Scott donates to Jewish charities in US, South Africa

By / June 17, 2021

This article originally appeared in The Time Israel on June 16th, 2021.

Three Jewish nonprofit organizations will receive a slice of the latest $2.74 billion in grants handed out by MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The latest grants include Scott’s first to Jewish groups. The three Jewish grantees are Maryland-based HIAS, which advocates for and gives aid to immigrants and refugees; Repair the World, a community service and social justice organization based in New York; and Afrika Tikkun, an aid organization founded by the chief rabbi of South Africa after the end of apartheid there.

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Vaccine Volunteer Network Launched in Northeast Ohio

By / June 1, 2021

This article originally appeared in The Cleveland Jewish News on May 27th 2021. 

Repair the World Cleveland, a collaborative of local organizations and community members, launched a vaccine network April 3 to increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine in Northeast Ohio.

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Thousands of Jewish College Students Engaged in Pilot Project through Serve the Moment Volunteer Service Initiative

By / May 26, 2021

For Immediate Release
May 26, 2021

Contact: Jason Edelstein, 510-239-1102

Thousands of Jewish College Students Engaged in Pilot Project through Serve the Moment Volunteer Service Initiative
Repair the World and Hillel International Now Look to Engage More College Students in Service Infused with Jewish Learning

New York, NY — Repair the World and Hillel International’s efforts to mobilize thousands of college students in meaningful volunteer service and learning through the national Serve the Moment initiative resulted in successful mobilization and activation on almost 100 campuses worldwide. Both organizations are exploring expansion of the project following its initial pilot year.

“The success and overwhelming response to this program is proof positive that Jewish college students are eager to create change by living out their Jewish values,” says Cindy Greenberg, President and CEO of Repair the World. “We are excited to engage even more students to serve their communities and address urgent local needs and inequity.”

Specifically:

  • 78 Hillels participated across 95 different campuses.
  • 101 students were Serve the Moment Interns. Each intern completed ten acts of service and engaged 25 unique students, resulting in nearly 5,000 students engaged in more than 26,000 total hours of service.
  • Eight international Hillels participated in the program: Queen’s Hillel in Ontario, Hillel Kyiv, Ben Gurion U Hillel, Hillel Campus France, Hillel at Tel Aviv U, Hillel Warsaw, Hillel Rio, and Hillel Russia. 
  • The top three issue area focuses of the campuses were Food Justice/Insecurity (34 campuses), Racial Justice/Diversity (23 campuses), and Environmental Justice/Sustainability (23 campuses). 

“This program has provided countless examples of our students meeting the moment of an extremely challenging period with hope, service and support for their local and global communities,” said Adam Lehman, President and CEO of Hillel International. “Through our partnership with Repair the World, Hillel is actively and proudly empowering students to have a real and sustaining impact.”

Launched in June 2020, the Jewish Service Alliance (JSA) is a coalition of organizations powered by Repair the World and including Hillel International, which is mobilizing tens of thousands of young people to do 100,000 acts of needed and meaningful service for COVID-19 relief, grounded in Jewish wisdom.  As part of JSA’s Serve the Moment initiative, Hillel Campus Corps Members led service efforts addressing four key areas—hunger, education, employment, and mental health—and the program offered training, resources, and best practices so that they carry out this work in the most effective ways. The service work combined in-person and virtual volunteering, some episodic and some a part of time-bound national Serve the Moment campaigns. This is just the latest partnership between Repair and Hillel to strengthen and maximize service opportunities for young people. 

Applications are being accepted for the June 21-July 30 cohort of Serve the Moment Service Corps.

Below are specifics on how some of the programs engaged in this effort:  

Hillel Milwaukee

This semester, Hillel Milwaukee’s Serve the Moment intern chose to focus on partnering with local non-profit organizations doing important work on immigration justice, racial justice, food justice, and civic engagement. Some of the initiatives included a mishloach manot communal giving opportunity, making baked goods for unhoused community members, running a period product drive, and text banking for a statewide election.

Hillel at University of Virginia 

This semester, Hillel at University of Virginia focused on adding elements of service and advocacy into the programs and events already happening in their community. Their hope was that this would show students how values of tikkun olam are linked to so much of what we do as a community. Serve the Moment Fellows Jackie and Rose established a 15-person Jewish Service Corps group to help with events and initiatives. Members were responsible for completing acts of service throughout the semester and had the opportunity to learn and connect with one another. 

Hillel at The George Washington University 

This semester, Hillel at The George Washington University created an initiative to explore ideological nuances of race in DC, and do service with antiracist practice in mind. By highlighting local organizations, activists, educators, and organizers as learning partners on the subjects of white saviorism, medical racism, education systems, prison & police, and housing justice/gentrification, and using those lessons to inform service practices rooted in an antiracist framework, students at GW Hillel showed up and committed to antiracism through action and learning. 

Hillel JUC (Pittsburgh)

This semester, the University of Pittsburgh Hillel was excited to offer a wide range of service learning opportunities for their students. In March they focused on environmental justice and equity, hosting a Conscious Clothing Workshop in addition to the month-long drive they held to provide supplies for marginalized LGBTQIA folks in need. In April, their primary focus was mental health and racial justice, where they worked with local organizations on social media campaigns and a tour of the Black and Jewish history of Pittsburgh’s Hill District. They were also excited for their Annual Hillel Makes a Difference Day, which offered eight virtual, hybrid and in-person service opportunities for students ranging from food justice to support for senior adults in the Jewish community. 

University of Michigan Hillel

This semester, University of Michigan Hillel’s Serve the Moment fellow planned wonderful programming to engage the Michigan community in important social justice work.  Their areas of focus were on Racial justice and Food justice, and they split their efforts between educational programming and service work. They had a very successful MLK Shabbat where over 30 students hosted Shabbat dinner for their roommates with take out from local Black owned restaurants. Many others also utilized Turn the Tables discussion guides from their partners at Repair the World at their Shabbat dinners. They also hosted a fundraiser on Purim for the Maize and Blue Cupboard, the University of Michigan’s food pantry raising over $250 dollars to help fight food insecurity on campus. They look forward to future events including a speaker series and a Passover food drive. 

Brandeis University Hillel

This semester, Brandeis Hillel worked on ten acts of service centered around immigration justice. They also partnered with Ascentria Care Alliance to implement a tutoring program between migrants in foster care and current Brandeis students. 

Stanford University Hillel

The Serve the Moment fellow at Hillel at Stanford worked on myriad projects this quarter, with a specific focus on environment and wellness. She helped connect many Stanford students with various service projects, put out an educational social media series about sustainable farming, coordinated volunteers for Kids With Dreams, and hosted a racial justice film with her pod-mates, followed by group discussion and a call to action.  She also planned a group beach cleanup with her pod of Stanford students in San Diego, and continued to coordinate other volunteer opportunities for students.  She is also planning to donate her leftover funding to Syrian Youth Empowerment, an organization that helps Syrian students apply to college.  

University of Delaware Hillel

This semester, Hillel at the University of Delaware focused on sustainability through their Serve the Moment programming. Within their first month of the semester, their intern ran multiple successful programs engaging over 30 students. During Purim, they planted parsley that would grow in time to use for Passover and discussed methods of reducing waste in regards to grocery shopping. They helped students make their own cleaning spray during Shabbat to exhibit environmentally friendly alternatives to popular single-use cleaning products. In the future, they plan to host more engaging sustainability-focused events including constructing beeswax wraps, making paper, and highlighting sustainable study habits and tips. Students were excited to participate in these events and leave with tangible products to use in their daily lives.

Hillel at Brooklyn College 

This semester, Brooklyn College planned on continuing their afterschool programs for homeless children by transitioning onto an online platform. Volunteers worked one-on-one with kids who needed tutoring assistance as well as a friend to connect with as these children continued to tackle their reality of a Covid-world. The intern was also devoted to wellness and checked in weekly with student volunteers to see how they were doing, to offer assistance, and to be a listening ear. Every three weeks the volunteers also met as a cohort to do some group wellness activities and learn together. 

Kingsborough Community College 

This semester, Kingsborough Community College gave back to the community through volunteering at their local Masbia soup kitchen. The intern learned that the local Masbia is open 24 hours serving 500 families daily. They partnered with them to provide weekly ongoing volunteer opportunities for students to assist with distributing packages as well as aiding them with organizing and managing food shipments. Volunteers also set aside time each shift to learn together about social justice through a Jewish lens.

 

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Mental health during Covid: Be of service and get a ‘helper’s high’

By / May 25, 2021

This article originally appeared in The Jewish News of Northern California on May 21st 2021. 

It was for this reason that I felt lucky to be given an opportunity to give back to my community during this tough time. Through the Serve the Moment fellowship — a program of Repair the World, in partnership with the Jewish Service Alliance  — I was prescreened and able to partner with Hamilton Families, a nonprofit that for decades has provided resources to families in the Bay Area experiencing homelessness.

 

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The Masters in Development Practice within the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies at Emory University Launches New Partnership with Repair the World to Support Repair the World Fellows and Alumni

By / May 5, 2021

For Immediate Release
May 3, 2021

Contact: Zack Block, Senior Director of Communities, Repair the World,  [email protected] & Chan Williams, Academic and Student Affairs Coordinator, Master’s in Development Practice, [email protected]   

The Masters in Development Practice within the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies at Emory University Launches New Partnership with Repair the World to Support Repair the World Fellows and Alumni

Atlanta, GA — Repair the World, a National Jewish social justice service organization, and Emory University today announced a strategic partnership to support current fellows and alumni of Repair the World Communities fellowship who are accepted and enrolled full time to the Master’s in Development Practice (MDP) at The James T. Laney School of Graduate studies.

“This partnership between Repair the World and the MDP program is a match made in heaven!  We share the same vision of forming talented young people to be effective change-makers in the world. Given their community engagement experience and commitment to social justice, fellows are an ideal fit for the MDP program and will thrive at Emory University. They will gain a diverse set of skills and insights that will enable them to move on to impactful and rewarding careers in the development and humanitarian field“ said Dr. Carla Roncoli, Director of the Emory MDP program.

The two year-long fellowship program connects Jewish young adults with local opportunities to make a meaningful difference in their community. Atlanta is one of six cities where the program currently operates. As a result of this partnership, Repair fellows and alumni will receive:

  • Waived application fee for MDP applicants
  • At least one Strategic Partner scholarship equal to at least 30% of tuition per academic year
  • Consideration for additional merit-based tuition scholarships that may be offered during the admission cycle. 

“We are excited about the opportunities this partnership provides for our fellows and alumni. Because of this partnership Repair the World fellows and fellow alumni will have access to a stellar and rigorous program that will strengthen their field based knowledge and practice of sustainable development that will prepare them for a continued commitment to serving and uplifting their community in a dynamic and meaningful way,” said Cindy Greenberg, CEO of Repair the World.

Emory’s MDP program is a two year course of study and practice that builds on an organic fusion of core scientific disciplines, programmatic skills, and experiential learning through globally- and locally-focused internships and field practicums. The program capitalizes on its partnership with a vast network of  leading development and humanitarian institutions and community-based organizations. These partners’ global reach will provide students with invaluable exposure to the way development practitioners operate in the real world and with a perspective on the different institutional contexts in which they will serve after completion of their degrees.

The James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies at Emory University is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in advancing academic excellence through innovative scholarship, research, teaching, and programming that prepares a diverse and inclusive student body for success as leaders and in service to the global good. 

Repair the World mobilizes Jews and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, igniting a lifelong commitment to service. We believe service in support of social change is vital to a flourishing Jewish community and an inspired Jewish life. By 2030, Repair will inspire and catalyze one million acts of service towards repairing the world.

More information about Repair the World’s university partnerships can be found by visiting https://werepair.org/universitypartnerships/. If you’re looking to volunteer virtually, please check out our opportunities on our website – https://werepair.org/volunteer. 

More information about the Master’s in Development Practice can be found by visiting: https://www.emory.edu/mdp  You may also visit the James T. Laney Graduate School website: https://www.gs.emory.edu 

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Sunny’s Community Garden to Provide Fresh Food in the Hill

By / April 26, 2021

This article originally appeared in The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle on April 26th 2021. 

Sarah Schanwald is a fellow with the Pittsburgh chapter of Repair The World, whose mission embraces the Jewish concept of tikkun olam. She helped drum up some of the volunteers last week on Earth Day.

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Crown Heights Community Coming Together to #MakeCrownHeightsShine

By / April 21, 2021

This article originally appeared in Crown Heights News on April 19th 2021. 

This coming Sunday, April 25th, Repair the World Brooklyn, The Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, The Office of Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, One Crown Heights, Brooklyn Community Board 9, Neighbors in Action/SOS, The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, The UJA Federation of New York, and Clean Up Crown Heights are co-hosting a community-wide project named “#MakeCrownheightsShine – A Community Clean Up”. We are putting out the call to inspire all Crown Heights residents, organizations and businesses to participate in cleaning our neighborhood.

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Creating Meaningful Relationships and Spaces Through Service

By / April 19, 2021

For Ella Fies, her passion for prison abolition and social justice has always been a guiding principle behind her work volunteering in her community. “In college, I was heavily involved in work with incarcerated girls and women, running female empowerment programs in juvenile detention centers,” said Ella while reflecting on her early service experience. 

Ella came into the fellowship undecided about whether or not to pursue law or social work. But it was abundantly clear during Ella’s first year as a fellow that she realized service/social work would be the best way for her to focus on the emotional wellbeing of people. Ella is now in her second year of the fellowship and is working with Ladies Empowerment and Action Program (LEAP) in Miami, Florida. LEAP provides transformational education, entrepreneurial training, and mentorship to women during and after prison. 

As her work with Repair the World Miami shifted as a result of the pandemic, Ella has been able to deepen her connection and lean into her relationship with her service partner. “I’ve gotten to build meaningful rapport with many of the women who have been formerly incarcerated. For me that has been the most fulfilling thing in the world – getting to have deep and meaningful human connections,” said Ella. “The women and I support each other. Every single day I’m educated on issues that I don’t know about, in ways that I wouldn’t be without my connection to these women. There is also meaning in the different services I’m able to help provide as they re-enter their community from prison.”

Ella finds that building relationships is core to her well being and growth and being able to hold these relationships while impacting others has become a significant part of her life. “What I’ve really appreciated about the Repair the World fellowship is that creating meaningful relationships is so fundamental to our service work,” said Ella. “Curiosity and asking the hard and scary questions is so important to me. I feel like the fellowship has allowed me to do that in a lot of impactful ways.” Ella has also found ways to create spaces for women outside of the fellowship by hosting her own monthly share circles. “Every month we have vulnerable and emotional conversations around issues that matter to us, like body image and sexuality.”

When reflecting on service during the pandemic Ella says, “There is still so much care in getting to know the people in the communities we serve – I have always been concerned with really listening when they share what their needs are. When we saw inequality gaps widening, it was natural for us to pay closer attention.” Repair the World Miami hosts volunteer opportunities based on specific community needs. Ella says, “Miami has the lowest volunteer rate of any major US city, so Repair the World fills this essential need to connect volunteers to nonprofits here because the amount of people using their free time to volunteer is so low.”

Service will continue to play a significant role in Ella’s life beyond the fellowship. As Ella thinks about the future, she is determined to continue strengthening the relationships she’s built with her service partners and the communities they serve. “I plan on taking the connections I’ve made with the women at LEAP with me as I continue on to grad school. I’m still in touch with the women (from LEAP) who’ve moved out of Miami. Those relationships mean a lot to me.”

Ella graduated from Elon University with a major in Human Services, and minors in Psychology, Women/Gender/Sexuality Studies, and Criminal Justice Studies. Before Repair, Ella launched and facilitated a female empowerment group at a local juvenile detention center. Ella is really passionate about the need for more gender-responsive programming for justice involved women. Coming into the fellowship Ella was excited for a multidisciplinary experience that would expose her to a multitude of social change initiatives and looked forward to being part of a meaningful community post-college. Repair’s focus on connecting with a cohort, as well as the local community is something that excited her. Fun fact: Ella studied abroad in Indonesia for a semester and conducted research on the commodification of yoga in Bali!

 

 

Your Daily Phil: Start-Up Nation Central launches New Research and Policy Institute + National Volunteer Week

By / April 19, 2021

This article originally appeared in EJewish Philanthropy on April 19th 2021. 

Yesterday was the first day of National Volunteer Week and Repair the World, a Jewish organization that facilitates volunteer opportunities, is focused on a vaccination project that has helped about 9,000 people get immunized since the campaign started last month, Cindy Greenberg, the group’s CEO, told eJewishPhilanthropy.

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