Education, outreach funded

Jewish Community Foundation awards 2003 grants

BETH OLSON
Staff Writer

The Jewish Community Foundation has awarded $153,725 in grants to local programs and services.

The money comes from the Fund for Jewish Philanthropy, which is comprised of unrestricted gifts to the foundation. The fund, created by a $1 million bequest from Alvin S. Kraus in 1993, enables the foundation to distribute grants through a competitive annual process.

"The Fund for Jewish Philanthropy is one of the best-kept secrets in town," says Andi Minkoff, Grants Committee chairwoman. "I hope that people would become more aware of what it does and the positive role it plays in the community, because our guidelines allow us to be flexible and respond to situations as they arise."

In particular, the foundation provides grants to new and innovative programs and services and one-time projects and events.

One program funded by a foundation grant this year is a joint outreach effort of Temple Emanuel, Temple Beth Sholom and the Tri-City Jewish Community Center targeting unaffiliated Jews in the East Valley through advertising in the secular media.

Rabbi Andrew Straus of Temple Emanuel said it is the first effort in the East Valley to reach out in an organized and sustained way, although the organizations have worked together in the past to put on one-time events. The new program wouldn't be viable without the foundation's support, Straus said, and is "totally dependent" on the grant.

"None of us had the cash to do it," he said. "Advertising in the secular press is very expensive."

Straus expressed his "appreciation for the foundation for taking a chance on us and seeing what comes out of it."

Last year the foundation allocated money to the Hillel Outreach to Commuter Students program through the Hillel Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University. Along with a separate grant from Barbara and Barry Zemel, the funds assisted with outreach to college students at campuses other than ASU's Main Campus in Tempe. Fonda Christopher, commuter student program associate, said she used the grant to establish clubs at both ASU East and Scottsdale Community College, in addition to identifying Jewish students at several other college campuses.

The program - now called Hillel Multi-Campus Outreach - has a goal for this year to establish clubs at additional campuses and to identify Jewish students at campuses that have not yet been reached.

"The second-year grant (has) made it possible to continue reaching out," said Christopher.

The Arizona Friends of American Red Magen David for Israel started a "Partners for Life" program last year, educating about 1,200 children in grades kindergarten through fourth about ARMDI's life-saving efforts in Israel. A grant from the foundation for this school year will assist in allowing the program to expand to instruct children in grades five through eight.

"We applied to the Jewish Community Foundation so we could continue the project because we basically self-funded it before," said Jay Bycer, co-chairman of Arizona Friends of ARMDI. "The money will allow us to expand the program to older child- ren - a little bit more sophisticated, and we're doing different things to make the program more meaningful for them."

A small percentage of the funds available from the Fund for Jewish Philanthropy is set aside for emergencies that may arise.

Additionally, the Grants Committee has discretion over field-of-interest funds, which this year were allocated to Hettene, a residential home for developmentally disabled children in Israel, and "Theatre Without Boundaries for Youth with Special Needs," a United Jewish Communities theater project for disabled youth in Kiryat Malachi, Phoenix's Partnership 2000 city in Israel.

The foundation allocates additional funds from design-ated and donor-advised (philanthropic) funds.

Contributions to the Fund for Jewish Philanthropy can be made in any amount and can include a portion of an estate, property, a life insurance policy or a portion of a retirement fund, said Marcia Weisberg, foundation exe-cutive director.

"Although we do receive gifts during a donor's lifetime, most donors contribute to the Fund for Jewish Philanthropy through their wills," she said.

Minkoff pointed out that the dollar amount of each grant is determined based on the amount requested, the number of people served or potentially served by the program, and whether or not additional funding sources are available.

"We look to fund as much as we possibly can, so we look very closely at the budgets of the grant requests," Minkoff explained. "We're in contact with the agency, organization or synagogue that's requested the money to really under-stand the program, to really understand how much is needed to do the job. We don't want to give more than is needed because it then takes away from what we could give to another program. On the other hand, we don't want to cut our award to the point where we're not giving enough to make the program viable."

This year, the Grants Committee awarded grants to the following programs:

Day School Marketing Coordinator, Day School Consortium - To hire a half-time day school marketing coordinator to market the schools, coordinate joint programming and joint venture opportunities ($40,000)
Jewish Genetic Disease Project, Jewish Family and Children's Service, Council for Jews With Special Needs, Shalom Center of Temple Chai - Phase Two of this project is to increase awareness in the Jewish community of the prevalence and issues of eight Jewish genetic diseases and to provide genetic mutation analysis testing for up to 200 attendees at a health fair ($15,000)
Hillel Multi-Campus Outreach, Hillel Jewish Student Center - To establish two to four new Hillel sites at college campuses where there are no Jewish organizations ($15,000)
Kashruth for our Elders, Va'ad Hakashruth - To fund a half-day per-manent mashgiah at Kivel Campus of Care ($12,500)
Jewish Services and Activities Available in the East Valley, Temple Emanuel, Temple Beth Sholom, Tri-City JCC - An outreach program targeting unaffiliated Jews in the East Valley to educate them about opportunities for involvement and the organizations in the area that can serve their needs ($10,000)
Jewish Lessons to Grow By, Bureau of Jewish Education - An interactive family series, targeting affiliated and unaffiliated families with children in grades one through six, that addresses ethical issues and provides a forum for exploring these issues in a Jewish context ($4,500)
Teacher Training in Multi-Sensory Structured Language Methods and Techniques, Pardes Jewish Day School, The King David School, The Phoenix Hebrew Academy, The Jess Schwartz Jewish Com-munity High School and the Tri-City JCC - Teacher training in a Multi-Sensory Structured approach to better teach all students to read, but especially those who struggle with learning to read ($3,500)
Dor L'Dor, Kivel Campus of Care, The King David School, Phoenix Hebrew Academy, Pardes School - An intergenerational program in which both seniors and children benefit from learning from each other ($1,000)
Heartbeat of Israel, Israel Office of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix - To create a variety of cultural events and pro-grams from Israel as a "living bridge" between the people of Phoenix and the people of Israel ($1,000)
Special Needs Summer Camp, Council for Jews with Special Needs - To assist children with dis-abilities, enabling them to attend regular (non-segregated) Jewish summer camp ($725); The Council for Jews with Special Needs received the balance of their request for this program, $2,900, from the Physically Disadvantaged Children's Fund.
Partners for Life, Arizona Friends of American Red Magen David for Israel - An educational program for day school and religious school children in grades five through eight, to teach them about tzedakah, tikkun olam (repair of the world), and emergency medical services in the United States and Israel ($500)
Commission on Jewish Continuity and Com-munity, Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix - The Commission will award grants on a competitive basis to programs that address needs identified by the recent demographic study ($50,000).

Minkoff hopes that the community will become more aware of the foundation's mission.

"I think it's really the best place to put dollars for the future of this community because it assures that whatever the needs of the community are, they can be responded to," she said.

Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.

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