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BY DEBBIE WEINSTEIN
Special to the Jewish News

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Above: Participants bonded at the New
Leaders Project retreat last summer.
Program directors say the retreat
cements the group into a cohesive unit.

The Jewish Community Council and Federation
try to groom young adults to become active
in Detroit and in the Jewish community.

ixth, seventh and eighth
graders at Detroit's Butzel
School recently got a first-
hand exposure to professions
they otherwise knew little about,
thanks to a communal project spon-
sored by Detroit's Jewish community.
"The kids and staff at Butzel
seemed genuinely interested and
appreciative," said Todd Mendel, 32,
who oversaw the presentation by 22
local professional people. "I think we
made a difference."
Mendel got to Butzel through the
New Leaders Project (NLP), an
intense, year-long program run by
the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and the Jewish
Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit.
Mendel, his wife and their chil-
dren moved back to Detroit from
Chicago almost two years ago, hop-
ing to settle down and become
involved in the Jewish community
He says he was lucky to have found
NLP.
NLP started in 1991 in Los
Angeles with a goal of involving
Jewish leaders in city-wide affairs
while simultaneously building
strong, committed future leaders in
the Jewish community. It now serves
four other cities, including Detroit,
where it also tries to strengthen city-
suburban ties.
Some young adults come to the
program with little Jewish involve-
ment but with heavy participation in
community affairs; others connect to
NLP through the Jewish community
despite little secular civic involve-
ment.
The project is for young adults
between 25 and 40 who are commit-
ted to making the connection
between Judaism and social justice.
Participants develop leadership skills
to work with others, find common
ground and serve as advocates for
Jewish communal concerns in the
greater civic arena.
"When I heard about the pro-
gram, I had done a lot of social
action work — but not in the Jewish
community," said Cheryl Sugerman,
a Royal Oak resident who worked in
NLP last year. "I was looking to get
involved. And the information came
at a perfect time."

Debbie Weinstein is a West
Bloomfield-basedfive-lance writer.

7/10
1998

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