Empowering Our Schools to Make Inclusion Possible
This year, CJP was proud to announce a tremendous gift from the Alfred and Gilda Slifka Foundation. With a pledge of $5 million, the Foundation has created The Fred and Gilda Slifka Family Day School Inclusion Initiative.
This remarkable gift is an important step forward in building our day schools’ capabilities to serve a broader range of learners in their classrooms and to support their families. It will establish a new standard of inclusivity for children with disabilities, and we are grateful to the Slifka family, and to our partners in this initiative: MetroWest Jewish Day School, Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, and Gateways: Access to Jewish Education.
The initiative is established in memory of the late Alfred Slifka, who along with his wife Gilda, was a long-term supporter of Jewish day schools and equal access to day school education for students of all abilities.
“Nothing would have pleased Fred more than to see our Foundation work with CJP to jump start such an impactful program,” said Gilda. “He believed, as I do, that inclusion policies and practices benefit the entire school, not just the children with learning challenges, and that it is the responsibility of Jewish day schools to develop and provide programs that will help a broader array of student learners reach their full potential educationally.”
Jewish day schools are essential in creating a strong, vibrant Jewish future. They are communities of meaning and purpose for entire families, where students can strive for educational excellence grounded deeply in their Jewish values and identities. This initiative will help make Jewish education more accessible to as many families and children in our community as possible, and the Slifka family’s generosity, foresight, and vision will have a powerful impact for generations to come.