Alternative Breaks – AJWS & Weinberg Tzedek Hillel

Program: Alternative Breaks
Organization: American Jewish World Service
Web site: www.ajws.org/service
Description:  Join AJWS for a week of service and learning. Key elements of the trip are: Service - working in a community development project that has been identified as a local priority; Study – learning about social justice within a Jewish framework through text study, reading and discussions; Cross-cultural exchange – living alongside the local people in one of AJWS’ project partner communities in Central America; Community–building and embracing a pluralistic Jewish community with fellow group members. Participants will also explore how to translate their intense experiences into action and activism.
Programs are organized by Hillel or other Jewish campus staff/faculty on individual campuses in cooperation with AJWS. A group consists of at least 10 students from one campus, one campus staff member who will work with students throughout the entire experience, and an AJWS representative. All trips are vegetarian and no group will work or travel on Shabbat. 

Contact: Rachel Profeta, AJWS or Michelle Lackie, Hillel
E-mail: volunteer@ajws.org with “Alternative Break Inquiry” in the subject line, mlackie@hillel.org
Phone: (800) 889-7146, Rachel Profeta or 202-449-6595 for Michelle Lackie
Application deadline: contact the program
Length of program: generally one week long, from Sunday to Sunday
Timeframe:  winter and spring college breaks
Age of applicants: college students
Location: Developing Countries, such as El Salvador, Mexico or Nicaragua

American Jewish World Service Volunteer Summer

Program: Volunteer Summer
Organization: American Jewish World Service
Website: www.ajws.org/volunteersummer

Description: AJWS Volunteer Summer is both a service learning and cultural immersion program that weaves together in-depth exploration of international development, study of social justice in a Jewish context, and humanitarian service through hands-on community development projects. Volunteers work alongside local communities to help build a home or a school, or dig trenches to bring potable water to a rural village.  Each day brings new experiences and challenges, profound discussions and meaningful interactions.  Following the summer, participants continue to develop their awareness and global justice work in the Domestic Yearlong Program that includes educational, skill-building retreats, public speaking engagements, article writing and volunteer service. AJWS Volunteer Summer is a pluralistic program that welcomes and accommodates young adults from every stream of Judaism.  We consider applications from inside and outside the United States, and we value diverse backgrounds and experiences.  All trips are vegetarian, and no group will work or travel on Shabbat.

Contact: Rachel Weinstein
E mail: volunteer@ajws.org with “Volunteer Summer Inquiry” in the subject line
Phone: 212.792.2919
Application deadline: February 1, 2008
Timeframe: 7 weeks, summer (international); + 10 months, academic year (domestic)
Age of participants: 16 to 24
Location: Central America, Africa, South Asia

AJWS Volunteer Corps

Break New Ground - Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center

Program: Tikun Olam Vacations
Organization: Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center
Website: www.sjjcc.org  

Description: Over December vacation, high school students from the Sid Jacobson JCC are going to New Orleans, Louisiana to help rebuild houses and communities that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. 

Over February vacation, high school students from the Sid Jacobson JCC will be traveling to Petersfield, Jamaica where they will learn about and experience the Jamaican culture while staying with host families and working in the community.  The intensive community service projects will directly benefit the community at large and also individuals.  Some community service projects include tutoring children, painting, landscaping and building. These programs are funded in part by UJA- Federation of New York.

Contact: Stuart Botwinick
E mail: sbotwinick@sjjcc.org
Application deadline: contact the organization
Timeframe: Sunday, December 23-30, 2007 and
Sunday, February 17-24, 2008
Age of participants: High School Students who are Membership to the JCC or one of our 11 Partners in Community Care (PICC) synagogues.
Location: New Orleans, Lousiana and Petersfield, Jamaica

Delegations – AJWS

Program: Delegations
Organization: American Jewish World Service
Web site: http://www.ajws.org/service

Description: Join AJWS for a week of service and learning. Key elements of the trip are: Service - working in a community development project that has been identified as a local priority; Study – learning about social justice within a Jewish framework through text study, reading and discussions; Cross-cultural exchange – living alongside the local people in one of AJWS’ project partner communities in Central America; Community–building and embracing a pluralistic Jewish community with fellow group members. Participants will also explore how to translate their intense experiences into action and activism.
AJWS Service Delegations run in partnership with Jewish organizations such as synagogues, day schools, JCCs and Jewish summer camps. Delegations may be specifically geared to adults, young adults, families or high school juniors and seniors. College students who are interested in AJWS service programs should look into our Alternative Breaks (AB) program. All trips are vegetarian and no group will work or travel on Shabbat. 

Contact: Rachel Profeta
E mail: volunteer@ajws.org with “Delegations Inquiry” in the subject line
Phone: (212) 792-2900 or (800) 889-7146, ext. 651
Application deadline: contact the program
Length of program: programs are generally one week long, from Sunday to Sunday
Timeframe: Delegations are run in two discrete seasons: January–April and May-September
Age of participants: 16 and over
Location: Developing Countries, such as El Salvador, Mexico or Nicaragua

JDC Jewish ServiceCorps 2009-2010- Georgia / Kiev / India / Odessa / Ethiopia / Russia / Rwanda / Turkey

JDC Jewish Service Corps Volunteer Program
Use your skills and commitment to Jewish life to help a Jewish community overseas. The JDC Jewish Service Corps sends self-starting, creative professionals and college graduates to work and live in Jewish communities and communities in which JDC is working on non-sectarian projects around the world for one year placements. The work includes Jewish education, community outreach and development, and welfare/relief projects. JDC provides housing, a monthly stipend, health insurance, and covers all work related expenses. Placements for 2008-2009 include Austria, Belarus, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine; 2009-2010 placements will be similar and may include additional countries not listed above.

How to Apply:
Click here for details and an application: http://www.jdc.org/how_vlntr_jsc.html or email volunteer@jdc.org for more information.

LIFE – Leadership and International Fellowship Experience

Program: LIFE Leadership and International Fellowship Experience
Organization: Olam: The International Israeli - Jewish Volunteer Movement
and B’Tzedek: a new generation of leadership
Website: www.btzedek.org.il

Description: A nine month long, Israel based service-learning program for University graduates with a four-month stay in India, LIFE will enable you to:       

~Live with, help and learn from people in India and Israel through two service-learning internships
~Develop your capacity to understand and lead social change
~Grow Jewishly and develop your relationship with Israel and Israelis through learning, touring, and connecting with top social activists, intellectuals and leaders   

LIFE begins with a seven-week group-building, training and learning period in Israel with renowned international experts. Participants then fly to India for an intensive 4-month posting doing development work with a world-class NGO in a big city and in an out of the way, tourist-less rural area. The program concludes with a 4-month period in Israel interning with select Israeli NGOs furthering social change and being immersed in Jewish learning, Israeli culture and social justice, public policy and civil society-government issues. While including hands-on contact with real people, the LIFE internships are not the usual, direct-service volunteering. They offer a rich involvement in program development and delivery.

LIFE is a Service-Learning program that weaves into and alongside the internships multiple learning opportunities: workshops, academic-level lectures, meetings with members of Knesset and other public figures, field studies, independent research and more. 

The exceptional individuals who become participants in LIFE will not only have gained a unique personal and professional development opportunity. In additional their new-found understanding and abilities, they will be poised to play a major role in their communities in bringing International Development, Jewish Social Justice and Israel-Diaspora partnership to the next level.

They will change the Jewish community and Israel in terms of the agenda, self-perception and way of living. That is the leadership role LIFE seeks to inspire and enable.  

The initial period in Israel: Learning about and training for the overseas mission. The periods overseas and back in Israel: During these two periods, participants will live together in apartments and volunteer with local non-profit organizations. They will address needs in health, education and poverty amongst needy groups such as women, children and the economically disadvantaged. LIFE also includes ongoing workshops around the core themes of social change and international development, leadership development and an engagement with Judaism and Israel. The program includes hikes and learning field trips, closed retreats for peer support, academic-level learning and meetings with policy-makers, activists, Members of Knesset and directors of leading non-profit organizations.

Who is behind this groundbreaking initiative? Two Israeli organizations have partnered to establish this exceptional initiative:   

~Brit Olam - one of Israel’s largest humanitarian volunteer organizations.
~B’Tzedek - leadership development experts with youth and young adults.

Our leadership team has decades of experience training young adults, supporting volunteers and implementing programs in developing nations. Working with our staff is LIFE’s international-standard Advisory Board. Our programmatic partners include:

~The Israel Experience
~The International Leadership Institute, Beit Berl
~The Machon L’Madrichei Chutz L’Aretz (Institute for Leadership Development of JAFI)
~Kibbutz Lotan

If LIFE could be right for your life, get complete details at www.btzedek.org.il. Consider applying soon, as places are limited.

Contact & Email: Yonatan Glaser, Project Manager, yonatan@btzedek.org.il

Age of applicant: 21-30, college/university graduated.

Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship — JDC

Program: Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship
Organization: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Website: www.jdc.org/who_awards_rig.html
 
Description: The Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship in International Jewish Communal Service (RIG Fellowship) provides for work-study in overseas locations.  One fellowship is warded annually.  Fellows are provided with an insider's perspective on JDC's global programs through a range of unique assignments that respond to the changing needs of Jewish communities around the world.
 
A Goldman Fellow may help a community deal with urgent political or economic crises, revitalize a special program, or evaluate and develop new programs.  Each fellowship is different, depending upon timely and critical situations identified by the JDC and the special talents and skills of the individual Fellow.
 
This fellowship was established in honor of Ralph I. Goldman, Executive Vice President Emeritus of the JDC, whose career in international Jewish communal service spans more than five decades in the United States and Israel.
 
Contact: Leba Grussgott
E mail: volunteer@jdcny.org
Phone: 212-885 0854
Timeframe: one year, beginning in September
Age of participants: college graduates
Location: around the world

Roslyn Z. Wolf Cleveland-JDC International Fellows Program - JDC and Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland

World Partners Fellowship - American Jewish World Service

Program: World Partners Fellowship (PAID)
Organization: American Jewish World Service
Website: www.ajws.org

Description:  The World Partners Fellowship is awarded to Jewish recent college graduates and emerging professionals who wish to volunteer in a developing country at a non-governmental organization (NGO); learn about human rights; explore the Jewish values that motivate their work; and develop professional skills for a career in social justice. Fellows are matched based on skills and interests for 9 to 12 month volunteer placements with an NGO. Supplemental programming prepares fellows to take on leadership roles as advocates for social change upon their return home.

American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.

Contact: Andrea Richardson
E mail: volunteer@ajws.org
Phone: 212.792.2857
Age of participants: recent college graduates
Location: Central America