LA JOLLA, California (Press Release)–Jewish Federation of San Diego County (Federation), the Agency for Jewish Education (AJE), the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center (JCC) and the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture (CJC), have announced the launch of a new, innovative, collaborative framework for the advancement of Jewish education in San Diego.
Beginning July 1, 2011, the Agency for Jewish Education’s current adult education, teacher professional development and teen programming, resources and services will be integrated into the JCC and CJC program offerings. AJE’s valuable and highly regarded programs including Melton, North County and Coronado Lecture Series, the Goldberg Charitable Trust MAKOR, Teacher Training workshops, seminars and Council’s, the Lipinsky Teacher Resource Center, Partners in Prevention, J*Serve and Yom Limmud, will continue under the professional guidance of AJE’s respected staff through the auspices of the JCC and CJC and sponsored by Federation.
Also, beginning July 2011, Federation, in its role as community convener, will establish the Jewish Educational Services Council (JESC) for engagement of all community Jewish educational stakeholders in a visionary, planning and advisory forum to provide leadership in identifying community educational needs, exploring best practices and supporting the innovative delivery of creative Jewish educational programs Consistent with its long standing support of Jewish education, Federation has also made a landmark commitment to funding this collaboration over the next five years.
Jan Tuttleman, Board Chair of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, notes, “The Federation has been a proud supporter of Jewish education for more than 40 years and we are thrilled to help ensure a bright future for education with the creation of the Jewish Educational Services Council. As Jewish communities across the country seek to reinvent themselves, we expect that they will look to San Diego as the role model for cost effective, collaborative, innovative and creative efforts.”
Cheryl Bender, AJE President says, “This innovative framework for Jewish education maintains the high level of teacher training, adult learning opportunities and teen engagement programs that AJE has nurtured in this community for over 40 years. While maximizing the use of community resources, this framework also ensures that Jewish education will remain a priority in the San Diego Jewish community for many years to come!”
Melissa Bartell, president of the JCC and past president of the CJC, states: “the JCC and CJC are committed to building upon AJE’s 44 years of providing innovative, creative and effective Jewish educational programming, services and resources to the San Diego Jewish community as we enthusiastically embrace our new role as a central provider of Jewish education.”
Caryn Viterbi, past president of the AJE and current president of the CJC adds, “Recognizing their responsibilities as stewards of the community’s charitable resources, these organizations looked beyond the confines of maintaining a long standing institution and determined that the time had come to implement a collaborative, more cost effective infrastructure that provides an opportunity for creativity and growth in Jewish education in San Diego.”
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Preceding provided by the Lawrence Family JCC