Shaker High Students Helps Give Out $42,500 In Grants

BEACHWOOD, OH — Forty Northeast Ohio Jewish high school students have come together to recommend grants totaling $42,500 for 10 organizations. The organizations operate programs for both the Jewish and general community.

The students are high school juniors and seniors from public and private high schools throughout Greater Cleveland. All of the students are part of the 2016-2017 Maurice Saltzman Youth Panel at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

Established in 1998, the Saltzman Youth Panel makes decisions about how to allocate up to $50,000 in grants. Eighty-five percent of the grants are awarded to organizations serving the Jewish community. The remaining 15 percent goes to non-profit programs that serve the general community.

The panel of students is selected through an application process. The panel then meets seven times throughout the school year. They create a Request for Proposals, reviewed grant applications, learned about consensus decision making and ultimately made an impact on their selected programs and organizations.

The 2017 panel recommendations were presented to the Federation's Board of Trustees on May 4. Two students, Natalie Korach, a junior at Shaker Heights High School, and Joshua Robbins, a junior at University School, led the presentation. Their recommendations were unanimously approved by the board.

“In crafting a Request for Proposals, we explored our own involvement in the Jewish community and issues we care about,” said Robbins, when describing the panel’s decision making process to the Board, in a statement. “It was interesting to see the wide range of passions within the panel. It was amazing to work together to create a request for proposals that reflected our group’s communal values.”

Here's a look at where some of the $42,500 is going:

• $6,000 to the Hebrew Shelter Home to provide transportation assistance to clients
• $6,000 to Jewish Family Service Association (JFSA) to provide subsidized services to older adults who could not otherwise afford them
• $5,259 to the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to subsidize backpacks and basic school supplies for Ethiopian-Israeli children

Prior to the presentation, panel members and their families were invited to a reception to celebrate their accomplishments. Jewish Federation of Cleveland President Stephen Hoffman spoke to the group and congratulated them on their successful collaboration and philanthropic spirit. The panelists spoke about how much they learned about community needs, evaluating grant proposals, and the struggle to prioritize needs when resources are limited.

Photo from Jewish Federation of Cleveland