metro

More Than An Internship

JOIN program can lead to career as local Jewish professional.

Alison Hacker
Special to the Jewish News

"Students benefit from
JOIN by gaining real-
world experience; its
also a great resume
- Debra Silver
builder"

S

ince 1973, with a brief hiatus
in the '80s, JVS has provided
young Jewish professionals of
Metropolitan Detroit with a unique
opportunity in the area. The Jeanette
and Oscar Cook Jewish Occupational
Intern Program (JOIN) gives students a
chance to become a valued member of
the team at various Jewish agencies in
this community.
Participants earn a salary while work-
ing closely with professionals at their
assigned agency in business administra-
tion, marketing and communications,
research and program planning, human
services or community relations.
One aspect of this internship is the
opportunity to explore the fundamentals
of other agencies outside of their intern-
ship.
Every Friday, JOIN interns gather for
seminar days where they travel to differ-
ent communal service organizations in
the area to learn about the role they play
in the community.
Such agencies include the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
JARC, Yad Ezra, Jewish Senior Life,
Jewish Family Services, Friendship
Circle, Kadima and JVS.
"This is the first opportunity for stu-
dents to start building their professional
network," says Leah Rosenbaum, presi-
dent and CEO of JVS.
Many of the students begin their
internship without a designated career
path. After completing JOIN, some real-
ize they have a passion for working in
the Jewish community. A few notable
JOIN alumni include Lea Luger, execu-
tive director of Yad Ezra, Rabbi Jennifer
Kaluzny of Temple Israel and Rochelle
Upfal, CEO of Jewish Senior Life.
Tracie Fienman, programming direc-
tor of Temple Israel, still uses the
knowledge she gained from JOIN in
2001 at the Jewish Community Relations
Council.
"The most memorable part of JOIN
was the Friday seminars where we got
to learn about other organizations,"
Fienman says. "This still helps me with
my job today because I have a better
understanding of how the community
works. JOIN reaffirmed that I wanted to
work in the Jewish community, and it
made me realize how unique the com-
munity is."

28 September 11 • 2014

Real-Life Experiences

2014 JOIN interns and supervisor Debra Silver spent their first seminar day touring
Tamarack camps and building trust on the low-ropes course: (top) Alison Hacker, Ari
Kirschner, Rachel Pleasant, Heather Rosenbaum, Jenna Silverstein, Megan Simmons

and Nicole Goodman; (middle) Julie Goldfaden, Stacey Kaplan, liana Woronoff, Ronit
Weinmann, Alana Karbal, Sierra Stone, Sarah Klein, Debra Silver and Sam Noveck;
(bottom) Micky Blumenfeld.

JOIN alum Miriam
Starkman, executive
director of Hillel of
Metro Detroit, interned
at United Hebrew
Schools in 1987 and
says the "camaraderie
among the interns" on
Miriam
the seminar days was a
Starkman
highlight of her sum-
mer in the JOIN program.
At the Friday seminars, JOIN interns
hear a variety of speakers from different
fields and agencies. Although the speak-
ers come from different backgrounds,
most share their thoughts about what
makes Detroit's Jewish community stand
out from others around the country.
JOIN interns get a behind-the-scenes
look at the community to see how agen-
cies of all sizes work together to benefit
Metropolitan Detroit.
Joseph Abrin, a JOIN
intern in 2009 at the
Jewish Community
Center in Oak Park,
took his passion for the
Jewish community to
Palm Beach, Fla., where
he works as the devel-
Joseph Abrin
opment associate for

its NextGen program through the Jewish
Federation of Palm Beach.
"JOIN helped shape the rest of my
life," he says. "In my mind, JOIN is one
of the best programs that the Jewish
community offers for college students.
Most other internship programs don't
give college students the chance to see
the bigger picture?'
Initial funding for the JOIN program
came from the Max Fisher Foundation
of United Jewish Charities. In 1992, the
Ben N. Teitel Charitable Trust pledged
$250,000 to JVS for the JOIN program
in honor of Jeanette and Oscar Cook.
JVS combined this gift with generous
support from JVS board members
and the community to establish an
endowment fund.
The JOIN program is now funded
partially by the interest from the JVS
Endowment Fund, a portion of JVS'
allocation from Federation and other
philanthropic gifts. Funding for the
JARC and Kadima positions comes
from the Tony Richman Internship
Scholarship Fund. Yad Ezra, the Jewish
Fund and the Holocaust Memorial
Center independently fund their
internships.

"Students benefit from JOIN by gain-
ing real-world work experience," says
JOIN coordinator Debra Silver. "It's also
a great resume builder, a way to expand
your network of job contacts and iden-
tify potential career paths."
Barbra Giles, associate director of
aging service at Jewish Senior Life, says
her internship at Jewish Family Services
in 1990 was her first experience working
with older adults and what initially led
her to a career in older adult services.
She says the knowledge about different
agencies she gained from JOIN is still
beneficial for her work within the Jewish
community.
"In today's society,
in order for agencies to
survive, we have to find
ways to collaborate and
work together in pro-
grams and meetings,"
Giles says.
In today's work-
Barbara Giles
force, internships are
becoming a necessity to
obtain a job out of college in any career.
"Now there is a much bigger emphasis
on real-life experiences ... you can't have
just book knowledge and consider your-
self experienced," Giles says. "You have
to have real-life, practical experience to
help you advance."
For students interested in pursuing a
career in business administration, mar-
keting and communications, research
and program planning, human services
or community relations, JOIN intern-
ships provide a chance to try out these
careers and introduce participants to
leadership roles within the community.
For more information about applying,
call (248) 233-4233 or email dsilver@
jvsdet.org.

❑

Alison Hacker of West Bloomfield was

a JOIN intern at JVS in marketing and

communications. She attends the University

of Michigan.

