Spring 2017 Newsletter

Dear friends of the JEEF (Jewish Early Engagement Forum),

Hag Aviv Sameach, Happy Festival of  Spring! חג אביב שמח

What’s different about this JEEF newsletter?

We are reminded during Passover that all are welcome and encouraged to sit at the table: the wise, the one who doesn't know how to ask, the young, the old, and the poor, to name a few. In this spirit, we would like to invite more participants to join our JEEF “table” and bring their perspectives, ideas and strengths to our conversation and work. Currently, “sitting” with us are over 200 representatives from federations and foundations, researchers, educators, clergy, and others who are involved in one way or another with the engagement of young children and their families. We are working on a webpage and developing a map of the Jewish community ecosystem that will help us all understand the richness of our community and the endless possibilities that it brings.  We will share this map with you soon, and look forward to your feedback.

Below please find news from around the country.  I would like to thank Cathy Rolland and Janet Harris for their contribution to this e-newsletter.  We invite you all to submit news from your community and/or organization that we will happily share with the national JEEF community.

Click here to see the latest news from the desk of the Early childhood Institute at Hebrew College. 

=============== Community News ================

From the Desk of Janet Harris:

Early Childhood and Family Engagement Initiative

Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties

We are happy to announce that we received a 1.9 million dollar grant (over three years) from the Jim Joseph Federation to support the continuation and expansion of our work in Early Childhood Jewish Education and Family Engagement. Read more

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From the Desk of Cathy Rolland:

Director of engaging families with young children at the Union for Reform Judaism

Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism (ECE-RJ) hosted their 17^th national gathering in Chicago, March 1-4, 2017. Over 250 directors, teachers, and leaders involved in early education and engagement from North America and Israel attended the conference, which focused on the theme, Advancing Early Childhood Education in the 21^st Century.

Read more

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In case you missed it, please read the article, “A Landmark Moment for the Field: Unveiling Standards of Excellence in Jewish ECE” written by Michael Ben-Avie and Lisa Farber Miller. Kol Hakavod to the Denver/Boulder Colorado community for their leadership, dedication and investment in this important field. Their work is a wonderful example of collaboration that I hope will encourage others to follow. By working together as an organic Jewish ecosystem we can transform the future of the Jewish community in the USA and around the world. May you go from strength to strength.

======= Please send us your community news to share ========

We want to express our sincere wishes for a Happy and meaningful Passover with your communities and loved ones.

Rachel

Rachel Raz

Director, Early Childhood Institute of the

Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education at Hebrew College

And founder of JEEF

rraz@hebrewcollege.edu

To read the article about the JEEF Symposium, click here.

To access a video of the JEEF Symposium, click here.

   

Rachel Raz

News from the Early Childhood Institute at Hebrew College: 

• In December 2016 we held the Annual Early Childhood Jewish Education Conference.
• Israel educational seminar - in February we took a group of educators on an Israel Educational Seminar. You can see our itinerary and reflections at the following blog: www.2017israelbhecec.blogspot.com
• In December 2016 I had the opportunity to attend the Jewish Early Childhood Conference in Washington DC. Please read my article about the conference and the work of The Washington DC Federation here.
• Last fall (2016) I attended the Israeli-American Council (IAC) Conference with 2100 other people. Please read my article about my time as a panelist here.

Coming up:

• The Network for Research in Jewish Education (NRJE) and Association for the Scientific Study of Jewry Conference. I was invited to serve on a spotlight session at the upcoming NRJE conference that will take place June 5-6, 2017 at Brandeis University, Waltham MA. The title of the session is: Research on Professional Development in Jewish Education: What do we have and what do we need?”
• In June 25-27, 2017 I will travel to Jackson, MS to join the conference of The Institute of Southern Jewish Life.
• In our academic work, we are in the final stages of advising our Master of Jewish Education students and getting ready for their presentations and graduation. We are also recruiting for our fall semester and looking forward to helping a new cohort of students develop into master Jewish educators.

Michael Ben-Avie and Lisa Farber Miller

A Landmark Moment for the Field: Unveiling Standards of Excellence in Jewish ECE

This article appears in ejewishphilanthropy.com and can be accessed here.

Cathy Rolland

Advancing Early Childhood Education in the 21st Century

Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism (ECE-RJ) hosted their 17th national gathering in Chicago March 1-4, 2017. Over 250 directors, teachers, and leaders involved in early education and engagement from North America and Israel attended the conference, which focused on the theme, Advancing Early Childhood Education in the 21st Century. 

Understanding national trends and best principles remains a high priority for early childhood professionals as they continue to provide broad offerings within their early education and engagement programs.   Attendees expanded their knowledge and strengthened their commitment to the key principles and the most current theories regarding the education of young children.  The conference setting provided a unique opportunity for a diverse group of Jewish professionals, including educators, specialists, lay leaders, clergy and other stakeholders in early childhood Jewish education to network and collaborate on designing family engagement opportunities that will translate into daily practice.  These professionals represented programs that are part of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), JCCA, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), and Jewish schools without affiliation.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke to attendees about the priority the Reform Movement places on early engagement, and provoked a ground-swell of inspiration in recognizing early educators as the experts in engaging families with young children. He said, “You are the ones who usher the next generation into our doors. You create the connections, and the future is bright because of your capable hands”.  Keynote speaker Diana Mendley Rauner, President of the Ounce of Prevention Fund (a public-private partnership that prepares children for success in school and in life), described the Fund’s efforts in early education, working to unlock the power of human potential and to advance program and policy efforts interactively to foster systemic change.

Workshops for administrators, educators, and engagement professionals provided hands on learning that was both current and varied; speakers shared their expertise on understanding gender identity, incorporating STREAM in early childhood classrooms, using research and best principles to achieve excellence in early education, supporting young children and their families in their spiritual journeys, and engaging families in our early childhood communities. 

ECE-RJ is a professional organization that was founded to represent all who work in the field of early childhood Jewish education.  It serves as a voice for educators, provides synagogue leadership with information on national trends, shares resources for best practices, and offers important platforms for collegial sharing and support.  For more information about ECE-RJ, visit the website at www.ecerj.org

Cathy Rolland is director of engaging families with young children at the Union for reform Judaism and the inaugural president of the Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism (ECE-RJ), an affiliate of the URJ.

Janet Harris

Early Childhood and Family Engagement Initiative

Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties

We are happy to announce that we received a 1.9 million dollar grant (over three years) from the Jim Joseph Federation to support the continuation and expansion of our work in Early Childhood Jewish Education and Family Engagement. The Jewish community federation is also generously supporting our work. Our new grant has three components:

1. Internship program
2. Jewish Resource Specialist program
3. “Reshet;” a program for professionals who engage with  families with young Jewish children

The purpose of the internship program is to bring in 24 educators that are new to our field and to create a protocol for onboarding new Jewish Educators in ECE. The internship is one year. We anticipate working with 8 interns each year, for three years. The interns will have an onsite mentor who will work three extra hours each week to guide the intern. The mentor will receive mentor training, as well. Both the intern and mentor will have their own Community of Practice and other learning opportunities.

The Jewish Resource Specialist (JRS) program will begin its third cohort late this summer. The JRS program provides ten extra hours per week to a promising classroom teacher to become a “teacher leader” for their site. The goal is to deepen Jewish learning at the school and engage families in Jewish life. The JRS program is three years. The JRS’ participate in regular community of practice meetings, retreats, Y’mei Iyun, and a symposium in Israel during their second year. They also have monthly coaching from the JRS. To date, we have worked with 15 Jewish ECE programs in our area, and anticipate a minimum of five in our final cohort.

Reshet is a new program for us. We will be working with Family Engagement professionals to deepen their work in Community Building and to create a Community of Learners who will benefit from their colleagues. In addition to a retreat and a Yom Iyun, each participant will work with a coach in order to deepen the experiences for the families they work with. There will be two 15 month cohorts, beginning in the fall of 2017.

Please feel to contact Janet Harris (janeth@sfjcf.org) or Denise Moyes-Schnur (denises@sfjcf.org)