points of view

Talking 2 Teens from page 21

when individuals begin exploring their
identity, defining their values and shaping
who they will become as adults."

Our Teens' Newspaper
Teens — the next generation of college
students, future communal leaders and
Israel activists. They're an age segment
we must think a lot about now if we're
going to have any chance of bringing
them back to Metro Detroit post-college.
There's a long history of the JN and
Federation working closely on engag-
ing young families via the IN monthly
supplement L'Chayim, which ran from
1987 to 1994. It focused on Jewish fam-
ily education under the stewardship
of Federation's Harlene Appleman and
JN Publisher Arthur Horwitz. During
that timeframe, the JN quietly invested
about $350,000 in helping Federation's
then-new department JEFF (Jewish
Experiences for Families) give flight to
L'Chayim and more than a dozen inno-
vative experiential programs, including
Apples & Honey and the Great Purim
Parcel Project. The JN received the
Council of Jewish Federations' presti-
gious Smolar Award for L'Chayim's origi-
nality and impact on family education.
During the past four years of
Teen2Teen, the Michigan Press
Association has honored the publication
as one of the state's best special supple-
ments. We have an array of testimonials
from educators, parents and teens extol-
ling the virtues of T2T both as a print
and online learning tool for aspiring
journalists and as a wide window into
the range of Jewish experiences for our
teens (view testimonials at
thejewishnews.corn). T2T alumna
Stephanie Steinberg attributes her high
school internship with the publication
as a key to her rising to the prestigious
editorship of the Michigan Daily at the
University of Michigan.

Cloudy Outlook
Despite the teen supplement's four suc-
cessful years, Federation's Stephen H.
Schulman Millennium Fund committee
recently informed the JN that it no longer
could help fund T2T. Reasons cited were
all legitimate: more requests for grants;
limited financial resources; the initial
allocations were supposed to be seed
money to kick off T2T, not sustain it.
The JN is indebted to the Schulman
committee's investment in T2T and its
expression of pride "in what the Jewish
News has accomplished with Teen2Teen
and the Schulman Fund's participa-
tion." The committee, led by Penny
Blumenstein and Rob Gordon, really
understands that embracing what it
means to be Jewish is pivotal if teens are
going to secure the timbers that make

22

June 30 2011

Commentary

Jewish Detroit such a vibrant commu-
nity despite a declining population.
However, Michigan's economic climate
has dampened our hope that advertising
would emerge to support T2T. Given the
proven success of T2T, a philanthro-
pist or a small group of benefactors is
needed to step up to help keep the T2T
presses humming. The annual matching
investment associated with planning,
writing, designing, printing and dis-
tributing T2T and supporting its digital
platform is about $25,000.

The Schusterman Effect
The Schusterman study captured the
importance of keeping the BBYO expe-
rience going strong. Embedded in the
study is a message that relates to all suc-
cessful teen programming.
"It is up to us:'
Schusterman wrote
in her essay, "to
ensure that the
programs that work
best with teens
have the resources
they need to grow
and deepen their
Lynn Schusterman
impact."
She added, "This is the best way we
can ensure that the post-bar mitzvah
years become an on-ramp to, rather
than an exit from, further and sus-
tained engagement in Jewish experi-
ences."
Jewish schools and camps are most
attractive to philanthropists, and that's
understandable certainly given their
popularity. Yet the Schusterman Family
Foundation has decided to boost its
BBYO support based on its resonant
study of that Jewish teen network.
By backing BBYO, Lynn Schusterman
envisions creating "pluralistic, inclusive
environments where even the least affili-
ated will feel safe exploring Jewish life."
Within the Detroit Jewish commu-
nity, Teen2Teen, a partnership between
the IN and the Schulman committee,
has helped change the trajectory of teen
interest in Jewish life.
In addition to continuing to seek
benefactors to sustain Teen2Teen, we
at the JN hope the Schulman Fund,
United Jewish Foundation and Alliance
for Jewish Education staffs can allot
the time to help us identify alternative
funding sources to keep T2T alive.
Even as we seek new T2T funding,
the JN has trimmed operational costs to
maintain a student internship program
as part of a continuing commitment to
our young people.
We're all striving to make Detroit
Jewry the best that it can be. It would
be a shame if Teen2Teen were no longer
part of the equation.

Believe That Hunger Can End

T

he amount and quality of food
that low-income families can
get through programs such as
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
dwarf what people can get from even
the best-funded charities.
If you added up the value
of all the money and food
that is donated to hunger-
fighting charities nation-
wide, it would add up to
about $6 billion. The federal
programs add up to more
than $70 billion; so you can
see how important they are.
We now have a unique
opportunity to act. Because
of the recession, the news
media and elected officials are now
more aware of domestic hunger than at
any time in decades. Each of us needs
to be educating members of Congress
of both parties about the need to take
bold actions to fight the problem.

Target D.C.

Most immediately, we need Washington
to not cut food-assistance programs as
we look to reduce the deficit. We need
each of you to speak to your member of
Congress and let them know that this
issue is important to you.
Don't assume that Reps. Gary
Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, Sander
Levin, D-Royal Oak, and Thaddeus

McCotter, R-Novi, can do this alone.
They need to know that you care.
When I meet with members of
Congress, I often ask them how many
from the Jewish community meet with
them to talk about the hun-
ger problem and the need
to strengthen our federal
nutrition programs. They tell
me, sadly, rarely anyone. We
in this great Detroit Jewish
community can change that;
we know how to be advocates
for good causes.

Jewish Backdrop

I'm consistently asked the
same question: "What's Jewish
about fighting hunger?"
As many of you know, tzedakah is
the Hebrew word commonly mistrans-
lated as charity. In reality, since it is
based on the Hebrew word tzedek, it
really means "righteousness," "fair-
ness" or "justice." The Jewish tradi-
tion thus isn't just about voluntary
charity to merely take care of injustice;
it is about the attacking the roots of
the injustice itself.
If we are able to get the government
to play the necessary leadership role
and then have charities and businesses
fill in the gaps, we can end this prob-
lem in a few years. And the even bet-
ter news is that the ways in which we
can do this are some of
the central tenets of our
Jewish tradition.
If we work together, we
really can end hunger in
our lifetime.
Some will say it is
impossible. But when
Americans have banded
together in the past,
we've solved major social
problems. We ended slav-
ery. We ended illegal child
labor. Now it's time to end
hunger in America. Our
Jewish tradition demands
no less.

Dry Bones Foam

Joel Jacob of West Bloomfield

is the 2011 Activist of the
Year as chosen by the Jewish

Community Relations Council

of Metropolitan Detroit. This

is abridged from his remarks

at the June 12 award program

at the Jewish Community

Center in West Bloomfield.

wwwAryboonosbiog.com