Two National Ramah Projects Named to Slingshot '13-'14 List of Most Innovative Jewish Initiatives
New York, NY (October 24, 2013)--The National Ramah Commission is proud to announce that two of its projects have been named to the ninth annual Slingshot Guide of North America's most innovative Jewish initiatives. For the second year in a row, Slingshot named the Ramah Service Corps among the top 50 most innovative organizations and initiatives. It also named the Ramah Tikvah Network as one of 18 leading Jewish organizations committed to fostering inclusion of people with disabilities in one of two new supplements to the Slingshot Guide. Ramah is the only organization to receive this double recognition.
The Slingshot Guide has become a go-to resource for volunteers, activists, and donors looking for new opportunities and projects that, through their innovative nature, will ensure the Jewish community remains relevant and thriving. Slingshot '13-'14 was released today.
"The exceptional young leaders of the Ramah global community are the ones who have made this extraordinary recognition possible," Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, Director of the National Ramah Commission, said. "In our year-round Ramah Service Corps program and the Ramah Tikvah Network, both integral parts of our new Reshet Ramah alumni initiative, we are privileged to work with outstanding young Jewish role models and educators whose Ramah experiences were formative in their life and career choices. Both programs recognized by Slingshot have the potential to be game changers in Jewish leadership development, and I believe they are already having significant impact on the Jewish community overall."
Ramah Service Corps
While Jewish institutions attempt to bring the impact of Jewish summer camp's experiential learning to their year-round activities, Ramah Service Corps takes the idea one step further by bringing not only the programs back from camp, but also the programmers. Camp Ramah staff alumni work as Service Corps Fellows in synagogues and schools in nearly 30 Jewish communities throughout North America, strengthening youth and family programming with camp-style activities and recruiting new campers to Ramah. This year, Ramah is piloting a full-time version of the fellowship in Detroit, where three fellows are reinvigorating multiple organizations through year-round service to the community.
"Ramah Service Corps gets the innovation nod for the simple reason that it recognizes its greatest asset-its young alumni-and [has] figured out a way to continue their engagement on behalf of Ramah and the overall Jewish community," said a Slingshot evaluator.
National Ramah Tikvah Network
The National Ramah Tikvah Network is a powerful incubator for young Jewish professionals who are motivated and trained to work with individuals with disabilities in the Jewish community. The network builds upon summer camp, which has proven to be an innovative and effective platform for disabilities initiatives in the Jewish community, and coordinates its disabilities-focused activities in year-round and professionally enriching ways. Staff alumni benefit from year-round professional development training and opportunities to sustain connections with their campers through weekly Shabbat-themed videoconferencing programs.
Slingshot evaluators called the National Ramah Tikvah Network "a trailblazer" and noted "only Ramah Tikvah Network is creating a cohort of young Jewish leaders committed to promoting inclusion in their future careers."
The Disabilities and Inclusion Guide was produced in partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation, one of the funders of the Ramah Tikvah Network.