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Edith Everett to Fund New Hillel Social-Justice Initiative
March 20, 2006Comments (0) | Add | E-mail this to a friendRenowned New York philanthropist Edith Everett will provide Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life with a multi-year grant to train Hillel professionals and student activists in ethics and to enable them to create tzedek (social justice) programs on campus and in their communities. Mrs. Everett, a member of Hillel's International Board of Governors and Board of Directors, is dedicating The Everett Family Tzedek Initiative to the memory of her late husband, Henry, who was also a devoted Hillel lay leader.
"The Everetts have always exemplified the Jewish value of righteousness," said Hillel International President Avraham Infeld. "I can think of no more fitting role models for a far-reaching tzedek initiative to cultivate ethical leadership and to catalyze a commitment to positive social change."
The Everett Family Tzedek Initiative will provide a package of training and grants to 15-20 Hillels each year to strengthen their social-justice work. Hillel professionals will participate in a two-to-three-day Ethics Training Institute to explore an ethics curriculum through text study, discussions and interactive learning sessions. The professionals will then attend a Tzedek Experiential Seminar, in which they will engage in a social-justice activity such as repairing hurricane-damaged roofs in the Gulf of Mexico or working in an underprivileged community in Israel. Based on this experience, the professionals will design a Student Ethical Leadership program for their individual campuses. Tzedek Advocacy Grants will be made available for these campuses to implement their social-justice programs and to develop student leaders in this area.
The Everett Initiative, which begins in spring 2006, will become a central component of Hillel's Weinberg Tzedek Hillel program, an international program to create meaningful Jewish social-justice experiences under the auspices of Hillel's Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning.
"Not only is the project carefully and strategically crafted in order to help a campus advance tzedek and ethics culture and programs, but it also demonstrates our ongoing commitment to directly invest in the campus as a whole," explains Meyerhoff Center Director Clare Goldwater.
Hillel professionals can download more information and an application for the Everett Initiative from Hillel.net. (Scroll down to the Tzedek Hillel section near the bottom of the page.)
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