November 10, 2008

UJC has unveiled the results of a groundbreaking study on Jewish service program participants highlighting the growing field of Jewish service programs and their potential to deepen Jewish involvement while developing the next generation of leaders and donors to build community.

UJC presented the study, Young, Jewish and Working for Change: Jewish Service Learning - An Analysis of Participant Jewish Identity And Program Characteristics, to more than 50 representatives of service providers, foundations and Jewish institutions on Oct. 27 at its New York office. 

With the federal government increasingly focusing on volunteerism and a growing number of young Jews volunteering within a Jewish context, the UJC study found that service programs engage young adults and build Jewish Identity among those previously not engaged in Jewish activity.

Service programs also foster a commitment to social justice and the sense that volunteering is an important Jewish value; contribute to a sense of community and form new communal relationships and allow young Jews to create new forms of Jewish expression.

Service program participants also have the potential to become the future leaders of the Jewish community.

As a result of the study's findings, UJC recommends the federation system continue to build and grow service programs and develop their leadership dimension, while building community and connection among returning participants.

"This study highlights UJC's role as a convener of the continental Jewish community, using our planning and research function to provide information to the federation system as well as advance the entire field of Jewish service," said UJC President and CEO Howard Rieger.

"We are thankful to the service programs for their partnership in this endeavor over the past year."

The UJC research event included a presentation by the research team from University of Texas at Austin's RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, led by Dr. Sarah Jane Rehnborg, a panel discussion chaired by Steven Scheck, chair of UJC's Jewish Service Initiative from Miami and featuring Lisa Eisen, national director of the Charles and Lynn Shusterman Family Foundation, Fern Chertok, research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University and UJC's Eric Levine, senior vice-president of Development and the Center for Jewish Philanthropy.

“After a year of surveying hundreds of participants in various Jewish service programs, we were proud to share our findings regarding the positive impact of these programs on young Jewish adults," said Scheck.

Research for the study was made possible through a partnership with the American Jewish World Service, Avodah: the Jewish Service Corps, Jewish Funds for Justice, JNF, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, URJ-Kesher, JDC and OTZMA.

"We are excited to use the opportunity of the UJC Study Launch to bring together all the major players in the Jewish service learning arena to discuss how we can work together to more effectively increase the number of young Jewish adults who participate in these programs," Scheck added. "We hope to look back on this day as an important step in the creation of a multinational wide-ranging Jewish service program initiative.”

Two other related studies are available on UJC's Interoffice Web site.

• Jewish Service Learning: What is and What Could Be, by BTW: Informing Change
• Learning to Do Good: Evaluation of UJA-Federation of New York's Break New Ground Jewish Service Learning Initiative, by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies.

The 2008 UJC General Assembly in Jerusalem will also include session, “The Emerging Phenomenon of Jewish Service,” on Monday, Nov. 17, at 10:15 a.m.

Please contact UJC's Andrea Fram Plotkin, director, Jewish Peoplehood and Identity, for more details on the Jewish service study.