and funding to increase Jewish teen
engagement.
The group met May 14.
"I am so excited chairing this
task force for one basic reason: This
is the first time our entire Jewish
community is coming out of our
silos to collaborate on a game plan
to better engage our Jewish teens:'
Curhan said.
"The first meeting involved in-
depth discussions centering on
building personal relationships
to increase teen engagement in
meaningful Jewish experiences.
Discussion included defining what
is a meaningful Jewish experience,
what is success, what do the teens
want, what services/programs are
currently provided:"
She expects they will have
concrete recommendations in
November to present to Federation.
Jeff Lasday, Alliance direc-
tor, already sees progress in teen
engagement on several local fronts.
Through the Congregational School
Innovation Initiative, several syna-
gogues are increasing opportunities
for experiential learning and family
education. A few have experiment-
ed with altering school days and
times, while others are focusing
on cultural arts. He also sees more
formal and informal collaboration
among organizations serving teens.
"A question is how to integrate
the different pieces into a whole to
engage more teens:' he said. "There
are endless opportunities and lots
of different avenues; the task force
will look at all and recommend
what makes sense for us:'
Recognizing the need is a first
step, Lasday said. "We need to ask
what can we be doing differently;
what can it look like for the 21st-
century teen?
"From the Federation and
Alliance perspectives, we want to
create Jewish opportunities from
birth to old age and create as many
touch points as possible he said.
"We need hand off from early
childhood education to day school
to high school without breaks.
We need strong connections with
strong learning opportunities:'
Lasday awaits task force results
and the chance to seek funding
to put recommendations in place.
He says he's been approached sev-
eral times by donors interested in
Jewish education.
"It's very exciting:' he said. "Most
Jewish communities don't have the
opportunity of looking at new and
growing dollars. This is a worth-
while investment for the future of
the Detroit Jewish community:'
OYSTER PERPETUAL DATEJUST II
ROLEX
GREENSTONE'S
FINE JEWELRY SINCE 1925
430 NORTH OLD WOODWARD • BIRMINGHAM, MI 48009
(248) 642-2650
❑
For more on teen engagement, see
ROLEX U, OYSTER PERPETUAL AND DATEJUST ARE TRADEMARKS
Robert Sklar's column on page 112.
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May 22 • 2014
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