Business

coming home

Hometown Draw

Federation work seals the deal in bringing

native Detroiter back here.

Robert A. Sklar
Editor

A

fter earning two degrees,
Detroiter Jason Charnas found
the perfect job in Buffalo. It
involved what he hoped to do: Jewish
communal work.
But after four years working for the
Jewish Community Center of Greater
Buffalo, his hometown beckoned. Many
relatives and friends still lived here. So
he decided to move back to Detroit if he
could land a good job.
That's when he heard about an oppor-
tunity with the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit: coordinating the
popular teen mission to Israel every other
summer. The timing was opportune. "I
was ready to leave Buffalo — enough of
the snow already!" says Charnas, 30, who
now lives in West Bloomfield.

Work and the weather weren't the only
incentives. "There's a strong sense of com-
munity here that made me want to again
be a part of it," says Charnas, who's also a
big MSU and Detroit sports fan.
Jason is the son of Bobbi and Dale
Charnas of Farmington Hills. He's a gradu-
ate of North Farmington High School.
After earning a bachelor's degree in social
work from Michigan State University in
2000 and a master's from the University of
Michigan the next year, he set out for the
Buffalo JCC. He worked as a camp director,
BBYO city director and youth programs
coordinator.
In August 2005, Charnas joined the Israel
& Overseas Department of the Detroit
Federation's Bloomfield Township office to
coordinate the 2006 teen mission. He hired
staff, recruited teens and managed the itin-
erary. He led 214 high school students on
that 2 1/2-week trip, made more memorable

Involving our teenagers in Jewish life is integral to Jason Charnas' workload at the Max M.
Fisher Federation Building in Bloomfield Township.

because it was cut short by Israel's war with
Hezbollah. Charnas already is at work on
the 2008 teen mission.
Charnas' Federation work also includes
coordinating the Diller Teen Fellows, a
national Jewish young leadership program
new to Detroit. A highlight of the yearlong
program is a three-week summer seminar
in Israel.
Coming home gave Charnas a chance to
reconnect with the synagogue he grew up

at and was involved at: Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township. He continues to be a
religious school teacher there.
Charnas cut his Jewish communal spurs
working at Michigan's Tamarack Camps
each summer from 1994 to 2001.
Amy Neistein is Charnas' supervisor at
Federation. She describes him as a team
player and a valued professional with great
organizational and interpersonal skills. He
excelled on the teen mission, especially

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TH E COMEBACK AWARDS.

1

CONGRATULATIONS JASON CHARNAS ON RECEIVING THE COMEBACK AWARD!

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October 11. 2007