The Center for Leadership Initiatives (CLI) and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation plan to broaden the scope of Insight: The Schusterman Fellowship for Jewish Community in 2010 in order to reach hundreds of young Jewish professionals at the local level.

 

The newly designed program will expand Insight’s reach, building on the experiences of its inaugural cohort, which cultivated leading young Jewish professionals through skills training, career development workshops and professional networking opportunities.

 

“It is vitally important to the future health of our communities that we support the next generation of Jewish leadership,” said Lynn Schusterman, the Foundation’s chair. “I am committed to investing in young Jewish professionals in communities across the country by providing training and networking at the local level.”

 

Launched in fall 2008, Insight focuses on helping Jews in their 20’s pursue careers in the Jewish communal sector. The pilot program awarded two-year fellowships to a cohort of outstanding recent college graduates to work in leading national Jewish non-profit organizations based in New York City and Washington, D.C. Starting in 2010, the program will build upon CLI’s existing peer networks to cultivate skills, connections and competencies for hundreds of young Jewish professionals across the United States. Details of the program will be unveiled in the upcoming months.

 

“Our research demonstrates that investment in professional development for younger-generation professionals significantly enhances their effectiveness, interest in and commitment to working in the Jewish community,” said Yonatan Gordis, executive director of CLI. “Focusing the Insight program in local communities will allow us to reach many more young people and to broaden and deepen our impact.”

 

“We are thrilled by the positive experiences of the current cohort of Insight fellows and their host organizations,” said Lisa Eisen, the Foundation’s national director. “We believe that the re-configuration of the program enables us to be responsive to the shifting landscape in the Jewish communal world and to have an even greater imprint upon it.”