Edith and Carl Marks Community Center Receives $30,000 Grant

The Hadassah Foundation Invests $165,000 in Leadership Development for Jewish Teens and Young Women in the U.S. in 2018

NEW YORK, NY - October 11, 2018 - The Hadassah Foundation, which invests in social change to empower girls and women in Israel and the United States, announces that it has given $165,000 in grants in 2018 to six organizations that strengthen the leadership skills and capabilities of Jewish girls and young women in the United States.

Since 2000, approximately $8.3 million has been awarded by the Hadassah Foundation to nearly 100 nonprofit organizations. With this latest round of grants, the Foundation has awarded a total of $515,000 to Israeli and American groups in 2018.

This latest round of grants to organizations in the United States is part of the Foundation’s multi-year initiative—inaugurated in 2014—to strengthen leadership development opportunities for young Jewish women in the United States.

Four of the 2018 grantees are receiving renewal grants, one is a first-time grantee, and another is past a grantee receiving funds for a new project.

“We are proud to make such a difference in the lives of girls and women,” said Julie Morris, chair of the Hadassah Foundation.

Grants were awarded to the following organizations:

Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, $30,000: The JCH received funds for the Women's POP (Positions of Power) Fellowship, which will engage a group of college-age women from the Russian-speaking Jewish emigre community in New York and focuses on civics, activism, and politics, all through the lens of Jewish values.

Jewish Community Center of Chicago, $20,000: The JCC received support for its Seed613 program, which provides teenage girls with entrepreneurial tools and knowledge to develop a socially responsible venture that will impact the Jewish community.

Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, $22,000: The JUF received support for the Research Training Internship (RTI), which enables teen girls to generate new knowledge about the lives and experiences of Jewish teen girls.

jGirls, $25,000: jGirls received a grant for its online magazine written and edited by Jewish female teens which amplifies the voices of young Jewish women.

Lookstein Virtual Jewish Academy at Bar-Ilan University, $32,000: LVJA, an online school for Jewish Studies, received a grant to design and pilot an online course, Leadership Lab, a gender-sensitive, co-ed online course for 12- and 13-year olds that will develop age-appropriate leadership competencies and texts that will feature female leaders.

Moving Traditions, $36,000: Moving Traditions received a grant for Zazot, a new fellowship program for Jewish girls in grades 10-12, which will provide them with skills, mentorship, and hands-on leadership experience on issues they care about that affect the lives of women and girls.

About the Hadassah Foundation

The Hadassah Foundation is an investor in social change to empower girls and women in the United States and Israel. It supports programs that promote leadership advancement, breaking glass ceilings, and political and civic representation for Israeli women and girls of all ages and backgrounds, and within the Jewish community in the U.S; in Israel, it also funds projects that eliminates religious barriers that create unequal and/or separate playing fields for women. Since 2000, approximately $8.3 million has been awarded to nearly 100 nonprofit organizations. To learn more, visit www.hadassahfoundation.org.

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (HWZOA) is the largest Jewish women’s organization in the United States. With 300,000 members, associates and supporters Hadassah brings Jewish women together to effect change and advocate on critical issues such as medical care and research and women's empowerment. Through the Hadassah Medical Organization's two hospitals, the world-renowned trauma center and the leading research facility in Jerusalem, Hadassah supports the delivery of exemplary patient care to over a million people every year. HMO serves without regard to race, religion or nationality and earned a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination in 2005 for building “bridges to peace” through equality in medical treatment. For more information, visit www.hadassah.org.