.

Five ear
ter a mai
BBYO is making major s

Devon Francisco, Liz Rosner, Jenna Lopatin and Lotan Helfman shared a toboggan at the Teen Connection program at the Fridge in Waterford in February.

Jacob Berkman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York

T

here's a secret handshake used by
members of Aleph Zedek Aleph
(AZA), the teen fraternal order of
B'nai B'rith Youth Organization.
But, more importantly, "it's about
brotherhood and the heartbeat of AZA,"
explains Ian Schwartz, a New York high
school junior.
The pulse of BBYO, the parent organiza-
tion of AZA and its sister organization,
B'nai B'rith Girls (BBG), had become faint
nationally until an infusion of care and cash
from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman

Trickle Down

Michigan Region has
received a boost from
national changes.

Alan Hitsky
Associate Editor

W bile Michigan Region
BBYO's membership
remains among the high-
est in the country — 900 to 1,000
annually — Arnie Weiner says the

36

April 26 = 2007

Family Foundation five years ago.
At a time when philanthropic funds
are flowing into the Jewish community
at a record clip, BBYO illustrates what the
synergy between money and thoughtful
leadership can achieve.
"There's a triad: You need money; you
need good ideas, and you need good
professional leadership:' said Gary Tobin,
president of the Institute for Jewish &
Community Research in San Francisco.
"Without all three of those, you go
nowhere. You can have all the ideas and
great professionals you want; but if you
don't have the money, you can't execute. If
have great ideas and money and no lead-
ership, you can't execute"
At BBYO's height in the 1950s and

'60s, one in seven North American teens
belonged to the organization through AZA
and BBG, according to BBYO Executive
Director Matt Grossman. Among them
were many who went on to achieve promi-
nence, including Dallas Mavericks owner
Mark Cuban, Watergate reporter Carl
Bernstein, NBC Executive Vice President
Marc Graboff and U.S. Rep. Shelley
Berkley, D-Nev.
But BBYO membership dwindled from
about 50,000 at its height to about 13,000
in the 1990s. Teenagers had evolved; BBYO
had not.
BBYO in the past five years has refo-
cused, launching scores of new initiatives
to meet teens where they are now
The group's membership has risen to

region has benefited greatly from the
revitalization of the national organiza-
tion.
"The national staff is much more
able to support the regions now," says
Weiner, the longest-serving BBYO
regional director with more than 30
years at BBYO Michigan and the for-
mer acting director of national BBYO.
Last year, Michigan BBYO teamed
with Michigan State University and the
University of Michigan to take BBYO
members and non-members on cam-
pus tours. Based on BBYO's national
College Connection program, it will be

repeated in 2007-08.
Next week, Michigan Region is tak-
ing a busload of teens to New York
City for the annual Salute to Israel
Parade. While the trip is being support-
ed by the Alliance Agency for Jewish
Education, it also received a $1,000
grant from national BBYO.
Priority Choice is another national
BBYO program that has helped the
local organization. It allows pre-BBYO
youngsters in the organization's Teen
Connection (TC) program to join TC for
six months, and then the AZA or BBG
chapter of their choice, along with a

25,000; the organization has set its sights
on returning to its peak size by the end of
the decade.
The growth comes at the same time as
the geographic spreading of the Jewish
community has contributed to a steady
decline in youth-group involvement since
the 1960s and 1970s, according to sociolo-
gist Steven M. Cohen.

On Its Own
With a $1 million grant from the
Schustermans, BBYO cut its ties with B'nai
B'rith International on April 1, 2002. B'nai
B'rith International remains a major BBYO
funder, recently committing to give the
youth group $2.5 million over the next
five years, and still has five members on

friend. National BBYO funded a local
membership intern to monitor the pro-
gram. The result, says Weiner, was 52
new BBYO members and he is project-
ing 1,000-1,100 Michigan members by
June.
"We just can't sit back and say the
kids will come to us," he says.
Michigan Region is now exploring
collaborative efforts with synagogue
youth programs. With one of the high-
est retention rates in the country
— 83 percent — it also has received a
national BBYO grant to brainstorm new
membership programs. 7

