J.Team
The Jewish Youth Philanthropy Program, or J.Team is comprised of teens from 9th - 12th grade who share a common interest in social action. Meeting monthly over the school year, they will participate in nonprofit site visits and community service projects, while learning about Jewish values of giving.
Finally, J.Team members decide as a group where to donate over $7,000 of community donated funds. The teamwork approach to philanthropic giving makes this program a win-win for our community's teens and nonprofit agencies. The J.Team session begins this fall. Applications for 2010-2011 are currently being accepted until June 30, 2010.
If you have questions or are interested in the 2010 session, please contact Marla Goldberg, Teen Philanthropy Program Manager, at 206 774-2230 or MarlaG@JewishInSeattle.org.
Interested in checking out the experience you could have on J.Team? Take a look at the amazing J.Team YouTube video here.
Download the brochure and application.
J.Team Blog
Welcome to the J.Team blog!
Hi, this is Marla Goldberg, Teen Philanthropy Program Manager, and I wanted to tell you about the blogging our teens will be doing this year. Each month we visit one non-profit agency around the Seattle area to learn more about their impact on the community. At the end of the year, these teens will be deciding to which of these agencies to donate over $7,000. I've asked each of our teens to write up their thoughts and experiences after they visit each agency.
If you have any comments or questions about this blog, please don't hesitate to send me an email by clicking here.
Rachel Looks Forward to Allocations
Now that we are six months into J Team, I've learned a lot about the philanthropy process. J Team allows me to discover my own morals and learn how to advocate for what I believe in. The J Team group chose the word responsibility as our core value. To me this means that we must be responsible in our decision making, towards each other, our own beliefs, and the organizations we are considering. Last meeting we all shared our homework assignments, in which we discussed with out parents about their philanthropy experiences. I've found that the best way to convince others to give is to set an example. I'm looking forward to start allocating the money in a few weeks, and think that J Team is ready to follow through on our responsibilities.
Bridget Starts to Choose
I have now been participating in J.Team for 6 months and I think it has been an amazing experience to learn about how we can help the Jewish community. Recently, we have been analyzing the meaning of responsibility. Personally, I feel it is my responsibility to do as much as I can to help people or groups that are in need. J.Team has taught me how important this really is. As a group, we have visited organizations in need of financial help and learned about what their organization does for the community. Together we decide what we like and dislike about the charity and whether or not it is our responsibility to help them and if so how much we will give them. Lately, I have been discussing my responsibility to help others with my parents to get their opinion on my decisions. I learned that they feel it is their responsibility to donate to Jewish organizations because they feel a connection to the Jewish community. I completely support my parents' beliefs but I think that my responsibility is not only to donate to Jewish nonprofits but to donate to all charities that I think could make a huge difference in the world.
Trying to decide which nonprofits to donate to is an extremely hard and long process because we want to make sure we choose the charities where our donations will directly help their cause. Our whole group has put a ton of effort into selecting our nonprofits but I think I've made the right decisions and I can't wait to see how my choices will impact the community!
Ashley Thinks About Why We Should Give
I really enjoy all the site visits because when you go to different agencies you see the different needs in the world. I feel J.Team has helped me realize what I value most and has also helped me see the values others posses too. Through J.Team connections are built with the people in the group as well as with the community. I think that I have become more sensitive to the needs of different people through the sites we have visited.
We came up with the word responsibility because it applies in multiple ways to the job of J.Team. In regards to charity in general, I believe it is our responsibility to give to those who have less or our suffering. Through J.Team we help contribute to the responsibility we have to help others. In addition, when making the decision of which organization to give our money to, we have to take the time to really think about it so we can act responsibly with this money in a way that we believe fits the needs and wants of our group.
Maimonides Ladder made me think about why my family gives charity and why others give charity. When looking at two people giving charity, often the amount is what people focus on. However, Maimonides Ladder made me wonder what is going through someone’s mind when they give charity. If you are not happy you are giving or you feel you are being forced to give money that it isn’t real charity. Charity should be given out of kindness. I believe that the amount donated is not always as important as the intentions of the giver.
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