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Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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7/23
1999

12 Detroit Jewish News

New York .
Zionist youth group with-
out local meeting places
and a network of facilities
looking to step up teen
and Israel-related programming have
embarked on a new partnership.
The Jewish Community Centers
Association, the umbrella for some
275 community centers and camps in
North America, and Young Judaea, a
12;000-member youth movement
sponsored by the Zionist women's
organization Hadassah, recently
announced plans to join forces on a
trial basis in 25 communities.
Under the agreement, JCCs will
offer free meeting and office space for
Young Judaea chapters while providing
training, supervision and educational
resources for their professional staff.
The partnership comes at a time
when teens are seen as a vital — and
at risk — piece in the larger Jewish
continuity picture. A 1997 study by
the Jewish Education Service of
North America predicted that "unless
the Jewish community acts quickly
and decisively, there is a distinct pos-
sibility that the current cohort of
Jewish adolescents will be far less con-
nected to Jewish life as adults than -
the previous cohort."
Youth groups, which offer informal
Jewish education and the chance to
socialize with other Jewish teens,
claim less than 25 percent of
America's estimated 350,000 Jewish
adolescents as members, according to
Rabbi Art Vernon, JESNA's director
of educational development.
And the number of teens who are
active in the groups is much smaller,
he added.
The JCCA's best-known teen pro-
gram is its annual Maccabi Games,
which bring together more than
5,000 teen athletes from the United
States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain
and Israel.
The JCCA and Young Judaea,
both nondenominational organiza-
tions, will continue to maintain sepa-
rate budgets and operate independent
summer camps and Israel programs,
but the JCCs will help promote
Young Judaea's post-high school year-
long program in Israel. E