Table of Contents
Leadership, Advocacy & Volunteering
Today’s high school students are tomorrow’s Jewish leaders. Leaders for Tomorrow (LFT), American Jewish Committee’s education and advocacy program for teens, empowers young Jews to speak up for Israel and the Jewish people. LFT helps high school students develop a strong Jewish identity and trains them as advocates for Israel, and to be voices against antisemitism. LFT gives students the tools to talk about the issues impacting world Jewry today, and the confidence to stand up for these issues in college and throughout their lives, no matter how difficult the situation. Click here to learn more.
The Bronfman Fellowship is a transformative, year-long experience for a cohort of 26 intellectually adventurous young people who want to see the world through a lens broader than their own. An opportunity unlike any other, it’s a space where Fellows can give free rein to their curiosity and explore issues with depth, candor, and joy, all while having fun and forming friendships to last a lifetime. It begins with a five-week summer in Israel for those in between their junior and senior years of high school. Click here to learn more.
Diller Teen Fellows program is an incredible one-year leadership training experience for 10th and 11th graders that aims to build the next generation of committed Jewish leaders.
A part of a global network of teens, our Greater Philadelphia cohort allows participants to make connections and friendships with peers in the area as well as from around the world. This highly subsidized 12-month program includes workshops, retreats, seminars and a three-week trip to Israel where they meet teens like themselves from around the world. To learn more and apply, click here.
The goal for this program is to equip our youth to become Interfaith Leaders and to feel confident in being an ambassador in their own faith communities and neighborhoods. The training sessions will guide youth through recruitment, relationship development, facilitation, and leadership. The skills you develop here you can carry forward to your college, career, and beyond. Click here to learn more.
Choose from a variety of programs that teach the history and Teens (ages 14 – 17) collaborate with JFCS clients living with disabilities for virtual volunteering in a welcoming and inclusive environment. Participants will receive kits in the mail for each month with the supplies for their volunteering activity, with each project benefiting a different JFCS program or client base. Teens form new relationships in an environment which fosters inclusion and creates a sense of community. Click here to learn more.
Love coming to JRA? Always wanted to be a Yellow Capper? Now you CAN! JRA’s Junior Yellow Capper program gives students in grades 8-12 the opportunity to join JRA’s Yellow Cappers. This junior leadership team will assist at JRA monthly distributions and other JRA events! JRA Junior Yellow Cappers must attend a minimum of 6 JRA monthly food distributions each year. Program participants will be assigned to work with JRA Yellow Capper mentors in a variety of exciting distribution activities. Junior Yellow Cappers will also have the opportunity to help out at JRA events throughout the year. Click here to learn more.
The Moving Traditions’ Meyer-Gottesman Kol Koleinu Teen Feminist fellowship, offered in collaboration with NFTY and USY, invites young Jewish feminists of all genders to learn how to apply a Jewish feminist lens to the world, ask powerful questions, deepen their knowledge about social change and amplify their voices to share their beliefs and express a call to action. Finally, fellows hone their skills by creating a tangible social change project. Click here to learn more.
The Philly Friendship Circle connects teens and young adults to youth with special needs and their families through a full range of social offerings. Inspired by the power of genuine friendships, our youth cultivate understanding, kindness and responsibility while ensuring a caring and inclusive community. The organization offers skill-building leadership opportunities for teens who wish to make a deeper commitment to their mission. These programs go hand in hand with their Fellowship Awards, which provide comprehensive leadership development, and happen to be excellent credentials on college admissions applications. Click here to learn more.
The Teen Empowerment Program (TEP) is designed to provide teens with a springboard to become future leaders in the community. TEP enables teens to experience philanthropy and the grants and allocations process first-hand and explore the Jewish tradition of giving back to the community through volunteer opportunities with JFCS. Through TEP, teens learn community leadership, working with JFCS’ professional staff who encourage thinking about and acting upon the values of tzedakah (giving back) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). TEP plants the seeds for future leaders and philanthropists in our community. Click here to learn more.
Youth Movements
BBYO Liberty Region is comprised of chapters along Eastern Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia), Delaware, and parts of upstate New York. Over 800 teens are members of Liberty Region, and 2000 teens participate in programming with us each year. By becoming a member of Liberty Region and one of our more than 20 chapters, teens are afforded the opportunity to experience local programming in their communities, regional programming at our four annual conventions, and international programming at large scale conferences and immersive BBYO Summer Experiences. Liberty Region teens develop leadership skills, participate in local and regional community service projects, take part in athletic and social programming, and are given a safe space to be themselves while connecting with other Jewish teens. Click here to learn more.
Inspired by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, CTeen empowers teens to actualize their inner infinite potential, while cultivating a strong sense of mission, Jewish pride, and love of G-d. Click here to learn more.
Habonim Dror is a Progressive Labor Zionist Youth movement with a mission to build a personal bond between North American Jewish youth and the State of Israel and creating Jewish leaders who will actualize the principles of social justice, equality, peace and coexistence. Habonim Dror runs summer camps, an Israel summer program, a gap-year program and year-round activities across North America. Click here to learn more.
NCSY Connects with Jewish teens through innovative, cutting-edge social and recreational programs to develop a positive Jewish identity. NCSY Inspires Jewish teens and their connection to Israel through informal Jewish education, retreats and summer programs. NCSY Empowers teens through leadership development and guidance to become passionately committed leaders of the Jewish community and instruments for positive change and renewal. Click here to learn more.
NFTY is a movement that builds strong, welcoming, inspired communities through teen-powered engagement. Together, we pursue tikkun olam, personal growth, youth empowerment, and deep connections, all rooted in Reform Judaism. Stemming from a historic tradition of both Jewish and non-Jewish European youth movements, NFTY is the Reform Jewish youth movement that fosters leadership at the North American, regional and congregational level. Today, over 500 Reform congregations throughout North America sponsor Temple Youth Groups, bringing the NFTY experience to more than 6,000 high school-age young people in grades 9 through 12. Additionally, NFTY welcomes Jewish teens in grades 6-8 through an initiative called NFTY678. Through opportunities offered by congregations in the 19 NFTY regions, and on the North American level, NFTYites strive to forge an identity in consonance with the goals and values of Reform Judaism. Click here to learn more.
Tzofim, or the Israeli Scouts, is a youth movement for Israeli, Hebrew speaking children in North America. The youth-led movement has about 25 shvatim or chapters across the country. High school students plan weekly activities that are held in Hebrew for kids in 3rd – 9th grade. Click here to learn more.
USY empowers Jewish youth to develop friendships, leadership skills, a sense of belonging to the Jewish People, a deep engagement with and love for Israel, and a commitment to inspired Jewish living through meaningful and fun experiences based on the ideology of Conservative Judaism. Click here to learn more.
Young Judaea is the oldest Zionist youth movement in the United States. For over 100 years, Young Judaea has brought together thousands of Jewish youth from across the country and around the world – of every religious, cultural, and political persuasion, through a shared commitment to Jewish values, Jewish pride, and love of Israel. With summer and year-round programs in both the US and Israel, from 3rd grade to college and beyond, Young Judaea is truly unique in its ability to offer a fun, safe, social environment that also includes a distinct focus on education, leadership, and social action. Click here to learn more.
Youth Movements for Hebrew Speakers
IAC Eitanim brings together the next generation’s Jewish-American and Israeli-American middle and high school students for an immersive, innovative, project-based learning experience which strengthens participants’ Jewish identity, builds their connection to Israel and ignites their “Israeliness”. Click here to learn more.
Tzofim, or the Israeli Scouts, is a youth movement for Israeli, Hebrew speaking children in North America. The youth-led movement has about 25 shvatim or chapters across the country. High school students plan weekly activities that are held in Hebrew for kids in 3rd – 9th grade. Click here to learn more.
Arts & Creative Opportunities
Explore your gender, your sexuality, and your questioning nature through art making. The facilitators will provide a safe space to express feelings about one’s identity, build self-esteem, and increase a sense of support. Click here to learn more.
jGirls+ is an online community and magazine for and by self-identifying Jewish teenage girls, young women and nonbinary teens, designed to share their voices with the world and each other. Supported by the Jewish Federation’s Women of Vision, jGirls+’ content is created by teens and curated by a teen-led editorial board. The magazine’s aesthetic is shaped by teen staff photographers.
jGirls+ accepts submissions of creative materials (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography and music) on an ongoing basis from girls, ages 13-19. Published teen writers and artists are paid for their work. For more information. Click here to learn more.
Leadership can show itself in a multitude of ways – including through the medium of art. Named in memory of the heroic young leader who organized Jewish resistance and gave his life fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, the Mordechai Anielewicz Creative Arts Competition invites students in grades 7 through 12 to learn about the Holocaust and respond by means of creative expression. Students may submit original works in the form of poetry, prose, drawing, painting, sculpture, music, dance and video. Click here to learn more.
B’Nai Mitzvah Projects
This comprehensive website is for finding mitzvah projects and volunteer opportunities for Bar/Bat Mitzvah students and high school students looking to fulfill community service hours. The Mitzvah Bowl offers resources for teens and families seeking a way to help others and make a difference.
To learn more, click here or contact info@themitzvahbowl.com.
Jewish Learning
AMHSI is a pluralistic, college-prep, international study abroad program for high school students where the land of Israel is a living classroom. Click here to learn more.
Established in 1997 through a generous grant from Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, Genesis offers a three-week online program session. This program gives outstanding teens the chance to connect with a vibrant peer group, engage in the rigorous study of an academic field through a Jewish lens, and understand what it means to build a diverse, international, pluralistic Jewish community. Click here to learn more.
- Gratz Academy: Gratz Academy, the high school program of Gratz College, engages teens in meaningful learning and community building experiences through live, online Jewish Studies and language courses. Students can earn college credits and certificates while studying with Gratz College faculty and engaging with peers from across the country. Click here to learn more.
- Lower Merion Area Hebrew High School: The Lower Merion Area Hebrew High (LMAHH) is a collaborative educational program for teens from Har Zion Temple, Adath Israel, Congregation Beth Am Israel and Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El. Click here to learn more.
- Abrams Hebrew Academy: The educational mission of Abrams Hebrew Academy is to encourage and challenge our students to develop and embrace disciplined and creative life-long learning practices, thereby instilling pride and understanding of both their Jewish and American heritages while providing them the impetus to become future leaders and active citizens in their communities. Click here to learn more.
- Caskey Torah Academy: Caskey Torah Academy of Greater Philadelphia is committed to prepare the foundation for its students to mature as Torah-observant Jews and role models who are contributing members in Jewish and general society. Click here to learn more.
- Cheder Chabad of Philadelphia: Cheder Chabad of Philadelphia strives to provide academic excellence and positive character development through our merged curriculum of Judaic and General Studies. Each aspect of the curriculum supports the other so the children see a seamless presence of meaning, purpose and holiness in all that they learn. Click here to learn more.
- Jack M Barrack Hebrew Academy: A pluralistic Jewish day school for students in grades 6-12, Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy integrates a rigorous college preparatory curriculum with the teaching of deeply rooted Jewish values and texts. Our students become leaders of the American, Jewish, and global communities inspired to better the world. Click here to learn more.
- Kohelet Yeshiva: Kohelet Yeshiva is a warm and embracing Modern Orthodox K-12 yeshiva day school committed to cultivating Bnei and Bnot Torah who think critically and creatively while exuding confidence and compassion. Click here to learn more.
- Kosloff Torah Academy: KTA is an Orthodox Jewish Girls High School whose mission is to instill in our students a love of Torah, identification with the Jewish People and our mesorah, attachment to Israel and commitment to high standards of Torah observance and personal conduct. At KTA girls are invited to take intellectual risks and to embark on a journey of personal growth and self discovery. Click here to learn more.
- The Mesivta of Greater Philadelphia: The Mesivta High School of Greater Philadelphia is an Orthodox boys’ high school, educating students in grades 9 through 12 in Limudei Kodesh and secular disciplines. We prepare our students for high-level, post high school yeshiva study, as well as for acceptance into the highest-caliber universities. Click here to learn more.
- OROT: OROT offers diverse learners in Jewish day schools a personalized support program addressing academic, social and behavioral needs while building confidence and promoting success. OROT seeks to provide the best possible individualized Jewish, secular and social curriculum, instruction, and environment. Click here to learn more.
- Perelman Jewish Day School: Situated on two beautiful campuses in Wynnewood and Melrose Park, our outstanding facilities feature leading-edge classrooms, superior technology, imaginative art studios, science and engineering labs, gymnasiums and more. Our approach is different. Our kids learn to speak two languages and use that bilingual advantage as they analyze ancient texts. So they think more deeply, ask intuitive questions and make extraordinary connections…in every subject, from anthropology to financial literacy. Click here to learn more.
- Politz Hebrew Academy: Politz Hebrew Academy, founded in 1982, is dedicated to providing a quality Orthodox Jewish Day School education to children in grades Kindergarten through 8th grade. We are a school rooted in the values and teachings of the Torah, committed to helping our children achieve academic standards to the best of their abilities and to prepare them for life as productive and ethical members of society. Click here to learn more.
Moving Traditions emboldens youth by fostering self-discovery, challenging sexism, and inspiring a commitment to Jewish life and learning. Click here to learn more.
The Shalom Hartman Institute is a leading center of Jewish thought and education, serving Israel and North America. Our mission is to strengthen Jewish peoplehood, identity, and pluralism; to enhance the Jewish and democratic character of Israel; and to ensure that Judaism is a compelling force for good in the 21st century. Click here to learn more.
TOA offers students the highest quality online seminars in the Jewish world, capped classes at twelve students. Tikvah has put together a faculty of leading academics, political analysts, journalists, and religious leaders who will lead small group classes in Jewish thought, Zionism, political philosophy, statesmanship, and much more. Click here to learn more.
Jobs, Internships & Scholarships
The Jewish Federation oversees the Israel Programs Scholarship Aid Fund (IPSAF), which provides financial support for anyone who wants to participate in a program in Israel. This fund helps teens travel to Israel with youth movements and attend educational programs. Click here to learn more.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia provides funds to Jewish day and overnight camps to support need-based scholarships and financial aid to families. Click here to learn more.
One Happy Camper provides grants of up to $1000 to families with children attending nonprofit Jewish overnight camps for the first time. One Happy Camper, a program of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, is funded locally by Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Campers can receive either a $700 incentive grant for a first-time overnight camp experience lasting 12 to 18 consecutive days OR a $1000 incentive grant for a first-time camp experience lasting 19 or more consecutive days. Click here to learn more.
The StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship is for self-identified leaders in 11th and 12th grade, who want to proactively impact their local schools and communities. Leventhal Interns will provide nuanced education about Israel and the tools to fight antisemitism to their peers through interactive and creative initiatives and programming. Leventhal Interns cultivate their leadership in the areas of knowledge acquisition, professional development, and practicing new management skills, while receiving personalized mentorship from StandWithUs professionals. Click here to learn more.