Learning and Connection at Every Stage of Life

180
Before the COVID crisis restricted travel, 180 young couples travelled with us to Israel through Honeymoon Israel (HMI). They explored the country, made connections with other Boston couples, and developed a new understanding of the role Judaism might play in their lives.

$90,000
CJP supported Gateways with a $90,000 grant to build staff capacity to support students with mental health and/or social-emotional challenges. Our efforts included a comprehensive assessment of all 14 Greater Boston Jewish day schools, helping them begin to build a multi-tiered system of support for their teachers and students.

The Fred and Gilda Slifka Family Day School Inclusion Initiative, a program of CJP, sucessfully completed its second year at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston and a third year at the Metrowest Jewish Day School. This initiative welcomes diverse learners and models inclusion for the entire school community: students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

$205,000
Through the CJP Day School Transportation Pilot, we provided more than $200,000 to six schools operating or expanding bus routes in an effort to attract and retain students from diverse geographic areas.

$210,000
CJP’s Communal Security Initiative (CSI) offered $210,000 in physical security infrastructure grants to Jewish day schools in FY2019 and 2020. CSI also provided Automatic Electronic Defibrillators to all schools, provided Care Reopening Kits, conducted security assessments, and invested in site mapping, emergency operating procedures, conducted training, and provided additional consultation and support.

14
CJP supported the day schools through the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program loan process through a series of webinars and individual sessions. All 14 day schools in our network received loans through this program.

2,000
Greater Boston’s Jewish day schools are home to approximately 2,000 students. During the pandemic, CJP has convened the Heads of School each week to scenario plan, work collaboratively, and encourage relationship building.

9,363
CJP supported PJ Library's efforts to send free books and provide in-person and virtual programming that celebrates Jewish values and culture to 9,363 families in Greater Boston with children ages 6 months through 8 years.

230+
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens, as well as Grandparenting Through a Jewish Lens helps families navigate the changes that come with a growing family. These programs, supported by CJP and run by Hebrew College, help families explore how Jewish values, traditions, and community can enhance and support their lives. Last year, more than 230 families participated in 22 classes.

CJP worked with IDEO, a renowned data and design thinking firm, to conduct a landscape analysis of the families with young children across our community. Our investment in this research is helping us to answer and address one of the most fundamental issues in our community: How might we create pathways for young Jewish families in the Greater Boston area to find and engage with vibrant Jewish life?

224
families with new babies aged 0–6 months were welcomed to the Jewish community through CJP’s Welcome Baby! initiative, which includes an in-person or virtual visit, a free gift tote and community resources about family-friendly programs, events, and activities

$379,430
In summer 2019, CJP awarded $379,430 in scholarships for families who could not otherwise afford it — an increase of 14% from 2018.

of parents report that Jewish summer camp creates an ambiance and atmosphere where their child is proud to be Jewish.

88%
of parents say that camp positively impacted their child’s Jewish identity and/or participation in synagogue/their local Jewish community.

70,000

Last year, we launched JewishBostonTeens, a new site from JewishBoston.com. This site serves as a central online space for teens, their parents, and the organizations that support them with a variety of engagement opportunities and programming. The site has attracted nearly 70,000 views.

$155,000
61 teens became strategic grant makers through CJP’s partnership with the Jewish Teen Foundation of Greater Boston, a community program based at Hebrew College. Together, they strategically distributed $155,000.

$450,000
CJP invested more than $450,000 in support of teen travel to Israel during the summer of 2019.

406
Together with the Jewish Teen Initiative, CJP helped 406 teens actively engage in their communities via direct service, advocacy, and leadership development.

With CJP’s support, JTI’s Peer Leadership Fellows program — a national model for peer-to-peer relationship building — connected with 554 teens representing 83 cities and towns, 100 schools, 84 synagogues and minyans, and 20 Jewish youth organizations.

JTI's Peer Inclusion Fellows supported their peers with disabilities at 10 different community programs and events.

CJP’s Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Initiative provides professional development opportunities to help our partners better serve Jewish teens. We cover topics ranging from marketing and communications to teen mental health and youth development. Last year we awarded five professional development stipends totaling more than $6,000.

CJP has partnered with One Table to create a network of regular, community-based shabbat dinners across Greater Boston. Since June 2019, 3,600 young adults have participated in shabbat dinners that are helping build community and shape Jewish identity.

2,000
CJP's Community Connectors reached out to more than 2,000 people in their 20s and 30s to offer pathways of connection and support greater depth of Jewish experience.

180
Before the COVID crisis restricted travel, 180 young couples travelled with us to Israel through Honeymoon Israel (HMI). They explored the country, made connections with other Boston couples, and developed a new understanding of the role Judaism might play in their lives.

CJP's Dewey Stone Kadimah Leadership Development Program served 24 emerging Jewish leaders.

17,000
Before CJP's IACT (Inspired, Active, Committed, Transformed) program launched in 2007, many college students began — and ended — their Jewish journeys on Birthright. Since then, 17,000 young adults have engaged in IACT through Jewish learning, volunteerism, and return travel to Israel.

alumni have developed their skills at internships ranging from journalism to medicine in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem through CJP's professional internship program Onward Israel Boston (OIB). OIB is the largest community-based Onward Israel program in the country — a distinction it has held since the inception of Onward Israel in 2012.

3,000+
Thanks to The Lavine Family Leadership and Service Learning Fund at CJP, more than 165 students have participated in Alternative Spring Break (ASB) in Israel. Collectively, ASB students have contributed more than 3,000 hours of service at schools and public spaces since the program launched. Read more from a past ASB trip.

19
CJP's Israel Campus Roundtable partners with 19 organizations who help to ensure there is a variety of robust Israel programming offerings in Boston for young people

Since 2017, CJP has worked with Boston Cares to create two Campus Cares service days a year. More than 450 students have traveled to Dorchester and Roxbury schools and elder care sites to support marginalized groups. Each student automatically becomes a year-round Boston Cares member with access to hundreds of volunteer opportunities a month, helping us deepen service within the community.