Grow your synagogue and strengthen your community with Jewish after school
The Jewish After School Accelerator (JASA) provides your synagogue with the tools, guidance, curriculum, and financial support you need to launch your own successful Jewish after-school program.
Participating organizations will:
Establish a new entry point for families
Add a new impact stream
Increase your organization's visibility in the community
Provide more children with accessible Jewish experiences and learning
Jewish organizations with 501c3 status are eligible to apply.
Modern families need convenient options for Jewish engagement
Modern family life is busy, and Jewish families are more diverse than ever. Parents are juggling work, school, homework, family time, activities, and daily household chores. Many families include single parents or two working parents who are overwhelmed with the demands of modern life. 72% of non-Orthodox Jews who have married since 2010 are intermarried.
Jewish after school bundles Jewish learning with an existing family need for weekday childcare after the school day ends. As participation in traditional programs wanes, Jewish organizations must pursue new ways to engage families that are flexible, convenient, accessible, and welcoming.
Attract new families
Your new Jewish after-school program provides a way to reach families who may not connect with your organization’s existing offerings.
Strengthen Jewish connection
With programming available up to five days a week, Jewish after school provides a way for new and existing families to develop lasting Jewish connections and knowledge. It also creates a path for future engagement in other programs as children grow into their teens.
Add a new revenue stream
The Accelerator program guides your organization to achieve financial sustainability based on earned revenue alone by the third year of operation. The Accelerator’s matching grant of up to $100K helps cover start-up costs.
The Accelerator Experience
As an Accelerator participant, you will receive the coaching, collateral, capital, and curriculum you need to launch a successful Jewish after-school program. You’ll be able to customize every single element to fit the needs of your unique Jewish community.
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COACHING
As part of the Jewish After School Accelerator, you'll receive guidance from experts and collaborate with other accelerator cohort members to:
Customize the curriculum for the families you will serve
Recruit, train, and retain staff
Set up classrooms and activity spaces
Establish daily activity schedules
Market the new offering to families
Set up and manage your program's budget
Structure transportation plans
Understand students' developmental needs
Deliver engaging and joyful Jewish learning
Throughout the one-year program, you will learn best practices, tackle challenges, and celebrate success with a cohort of professional colleagues.
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COLLATERAL
Accelerator participants have access to a portfolio of tools and resources designed to help you plan, launch, and run your Jewish after-school program.
Accelerator leadership will help you customize each of the materials to fit the mission, vision, and goals of your organization.
Materials include:
Human resources documentation including job descriptions and teacher training materials
Transportation guidance and planning materials
Marketing templates and calendars to encourage enrollment
Parent communication templates to build strong relationships
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CAPITAL
Jewish After School Accelerator participants are eligible to receive a matching grant of up to $100,000 over three years to offset start-up costs.
The Accelerator program guides your organization to achieve financial sustainability based on earned revenue alone by the third year of operation.
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CURRICULUM
The Jewish After School Accelerator curriculum:
Includes Jewish values, culture, holidays, Torah, history, prayer, music, Israel, ritual, Judaica, and Hebrew language (reading, writing, and speaking)
Is pedagogically appropriate and designed specifically for the way kids learn after a full day of school
Is customizable to suit your organization’s style of religious observance
Is appropriate for a range of learning types
Is interactive and experiential to keep students engaged
Application Timeline
Please complete the application so we can consider your organization
for future cohorts.
Before you begin your application, be sure to have the following
information available:
Current enrollment numbers for youth and family programs
Current membership figures for families with children (birth to age 11)
List of your organization’s programs that serve Jewish youth during the
school year
Accelerator Program Details
What organizations are eligible to apply to the Jewish After School Accelerator?
The accelerator is open to U.S. synagogues with 501c3 status.
How are participants selected for the Accelerator program?
Organizations are selected based on criteria that indicate a high likelihood of program success including:
Level of commitment of professionals and lay leadership
Access to physical space and infrastructure
Community support and interest
Number of potential participating families
Childcare needs and existing options in the area
Existing Jewish enrichment opportunities in the area
Proximity to schools and areas with Jewish families
How long does the program last?
The Accelerator program lasts about a year with continued support in years two and three of operation.
Where does the program take place? Is travel involved? Does the Accelerator cover travel costs?
The Accelerator includes online and in-person elements. Participants will attend an in-person kickoff conference during which you review program elements, create a project timeline for your organization, learn after-school teaching techniques, and connect with other cohort members. Online, you’ll experience live workshops, access resources, and attend individualized coaching sessions to keep your planning on track. Additionally, your coach will visit your school to provide the in-person support you need. Travel expenses for the kickoff conference (meals, lodging, transportation) are included for primary participants in the Accelerator program.
Who from my organization participates in the Accelerator? What does participation look like?
Each organization will designate a primary Accelerator participant, who will take on the primary role of starting the program. Ideally, this primary participant will become the full-time Jewish After School Director and will oversee staff and operations when the program opens to students. In addition to the primary participant, there are many opportunities for executive directors, clergy, education or program directors, along with finance, communications, and marketing professionals to attend workshops and coaching sessions. Primary participants will attend all workshops and coaching sessions, and will be encouraged to invite others from the organization to attend sessions as necessary or helpful.
Who is running the Accelerator program? How is the program funded?
For the last 11 years, Ana Robbins, founder of Jewish Kids Groups in Atlanta, and her team have been refining the processes, templates, and tools required to connect children with Jewish friends, culture, and Hebrew language after the school day ends. JKG started with just six children in 2012 and today serves 150 students annually at four locations.
In 2019, JKG’s professional team and board of directors decided it was time to help communities across the U.S. establish Jewish programs to engage children on weekday afternoons. Rachel Dobbs Schwartz joined the JKG team in January of 2023 to establish the accelerator and secure funding.
In 2023, JKG was awarded a seed grant from The Marcus Foundation and early support from The Zalik Foundation to launch the accelerator. JKG is seeking additional funding to bring Jewish after school to as many communities as possible.
I have questions before I apply. Who can I contact?
We are happy to answer your questions. Use the contact form below or reach out over email to accelerator@jewishkidsgroups.com
JASA Participants
Cohort 1: After-school programs opened fall 2023
Temple Sinai of North Dade in Miami, FL: www.clubsinai.org
Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati, OH: www.homebaseafterschool.org
Temple B'nai Abraham in Livingston, NJ: www.jplaynj.org
Cohort 2: After-school programs open fall 2024
Congregation Anshai Torah in Plano, TX: www.thehangoutplano.com
Hamakom in Woodland Hills, CA: www.thespotla.org
Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro, CA: www.tbssanleandro.com
Temple Judea in Coral Gables, FL: www.judeagables.org/clubjudea
Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El in Plantation, FL: https://tkae.org/gesher/
Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, MA: www.ohabei.org/for-families/shalombase/
Temple Shalom in Naples, FL: www.naplestemple.org/thehangout
Temple Sinai in Oakland, CA: www.oaklandsinai.org/club-kesher
JASA Leadership
Rachel Dobbs Schwartz, Chief Innovation Officer
With 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector - teaching, building curricula, developing leaders, and non-profit business systems and structures, Rachel has a breadth of professional expertise, from teaching in the classroom to directing overnight camps to facilitating institutional change. Rachel enjoys helping others develop passions, refine processes toward efficiency, manage staff and faculty, and solve problems. Her passion for supporting local Jewish organizations, combined with her love of summer camp education and community, has brought her to JKG as the Chief Innovation Officer, where her primary goal is to scale the impact of weekday afternoon Jewish programs across the country and beyond.
Kendra Wolpe - JASA Cohort Director
Kendra is a trained coach specializing in executive function. Kendra is passionate about finding creative solutions for challenges in her clients’ work and personal lives. An expert in motivational interviewing, she identifies the essence of a client’s challenge and works to translate these challenges into immediate, specific action. Kendra has also been a long-time teacher at Jewish Kids Groups in Atlanta, and understands the impact and potential of bringing this type of program to the national stage. Kendra has deep experience in facilitating and mediating in communal spaces. She is skilled at recognizing emotional needs at both a group and an individual level. Kendra graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in Psychology. She is passionate about creating positive Jewish experiences for young families and helping to spread the magic of JKG.
Tova Tritt - Business Expert
Tova has over 18 years of experience in early childhood education. She began teaching in the classroom, before transitioning into administration, where she served various roles including the Director of Administration and culminating as the Executive Director. During her tenure as an Executive Director, she increased enrollment by 50%, maintained accreditation and licensing, and oversaw the development of other directors and team members through training and coaching both locally and nationally. Tova is eager to get involved and her willingness to help others has led her to serve as an advisor and consultant in local Jewish Day Schools, throughout the Jewish community and JKG. As a believer in personal and professional development, she is excited to serve in this role and looks forward to bringing JASA to other communities across the United States.
Allison Boaz - Communications & Marketing
Allison has been helping organizations communicate effectively for more than 20 years. She partners with clients to develop communications that address customer pain points with empathy, clearly articulate product and service benefits, and provide the reassurance potential customers need to take action. Prior to forming her communications business in 2011, Allison spent seven years managing global digital communications for The Coca-Cola Company and directed projects at two digital marketing agencies. From 2013-2018, she developed the communications, marketing, fundraising, and operational systems to evolve a new summer camp from a young startup to a robust organization that grew nearly 400% in just five years. Allison has been leading communications for JKG since 2020.
Ana Robbins, Executive Director, Jewish Kids Groups
At every level from the classroom to the boardroom, Ana creates experiential opportunities that build human connection. She lives by the ethos of experimentation, self-reflection, and continuous iteration because she thrives in the areas of improvement and efficiency. In 2012, Ana founded Jewish Kids Groups in Atlanta to deliver fun, camp-style Jewish learning and friendship to elementary-aged children every day after school. The innovative program has since educated and enriched the lives of more than 1000 students at four locations. In 2023, upon securing a grant from The Marcus Foundation, Ana and her team developed the JASA program and began scaling the weekday afternoon Jewish engagement model nationally.
Tobin Belzer - Sociologist
Tobin Belzer PhD (she/her) is an applied sociologist whose research and program evaluations for Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and secular non-profit organizations and philanthropists have focused on education, identity and character development, organizational culture, teens and emerging adults, leadership development, congregational studies, gender, arts and culture, special needs inclusion, and Jewish/Muslim relations. Belzer is a Contributing Fellow at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) at the University of Southern California and a Research Affiliate at Stanford SPARQ. She earned her doctorate in sociology and joint master’s degree in sociology and gender and women’s studies from Brandeis University.
Grow your organization and strengthen your community with Jewish after school
Contact us at accelerator@jewishkidsgroups.com