The Jewish Innovation
Embracing Wholiness is unique in that it fuses Jewish values and concepts with a communal education approach, utilizing the power of the community and the relationship of the individual to community to address issues of positive identity and relationships. It empowers youth to work with one another to build communities that support a whole, healthy self image. Youth will leave the program with a stronger sense of self, supportive relationships with their community of peers, and powerful community building skills that will serve them throughout their lives. This curriculum will be of particular importance to camp personnel, youth group advisors, teachers, and others who educate about positive identity, self-image, bullying, and relationships.
The Impact
By empowering our youth to build strong, connected, positive and support communities that are based on Jewish values, we strengthen not only individual Jewish youth, but the Jewish community as a whole.
What Will You Do with the Money?
The other major way I will use funds will be for program development. Currently, I have a foundation for the program–a sample curriculum that I piloted and evaluated at Camp Alonim. I would like to further develop the program and strengthen the program, which requires resources. Some of the resources will be books and research. However, I would also like to have money to pay a consulting fee to a therapist/counselor, and a couple other educators who have different strengths than I (such as art educators, for example) to help me flesh out the program beyond my own expertise.
