Partner Stories

1. Supporting Youth Voice and Research-Based Reproductive Education

   Funding from the Jewish Heritage Fund (JHF) in 2021 helped create a local chapter of Planned Parenthood’s award-winning Teen Council…

   Funding from the Jewish Heritage Fund (JHF) in 2021 helped create a local chapter of Planned Parenthood’s award-winning Teen Council Peer Education program. The Planned Parenthood Teen Council works to amplify youth voices through training on advocacy and public policies that impact sexual rights and health. Members of the Teen Council attend weekly trainings to become volunteer peer educators in their communities. Council members lead these formal education sessions, which cover a wide range of topics, including healthy relationships, consent, STIs, safe sex, and LGBTQ+-focused sex education. Council members are also trained to respond to questions from peers to dispel common myths about sexual health and connect them with accurate information and local resources.

   Funding also supported the Community Outreach Educator position at Planned Parenthood. In addition to leading the Teen Council, this position works to train local educators, health providers, and social workers, offering courses that are LGBTQ+ inclusive and include trauma-informed reproductive education that is also affirming. The success of this position demonstrated to JHF the need for increased continued funding to support an additional educator to work towards meeting the community’s need for quality reproductive education.

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2. Supporting Holocaust Education Across the Commonwealth

   The UK-JHF Holocaust Education Initiative is a teacher training program developed to support teachers in implementing the 2018 Ann Klein…

   The UK-JHF Holocaust Education Initiative is a teacher training program developed to support teachers in implementing the 2018 Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act mandating Holocaust education in Kentucky public middle and high schools. Embracing a train-the-trainer model, JHF’s funding has supported the University of Kentucky’s Jewish Studies program and College of Education to develop a steering committee of 10 distinguished subject-matter experts which will oversee two cohorts of 20 teacher-leaders. Representing communities across the commonwealth, teacher-leaders will implement over 20 Holocaust education workshops for at least 500 of their peer educators by spring 2024.  

   The University of Kentucky’s work is helping to ensure that Kentucky teachers are equipped with tools and resources to carry out ethically and regionally appropriate Holocaust education and has the potential to impact tens of thousands of students across the state. Poised to create a national model for exemplary state-centered Holocaust teacher training, JHF is proud to support this work to connect Holocaust history with present-day issues of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and racism and to empower teachers and students to stand up against its spread in their schools and communities.

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3. Supporting Local Jewish History and Stories

   The support from JHF to the Filson Historical Society has resulted in the creation of the Jewish Community Archives (JCA)…

   The support from JHF to the Filson Historical Society has resulted in the creation of the Jewish Community Archives (JCA) and the Community History Fellows Program (CHFP).  Established in 2017, the JCA seeks to archive significant records from the Jewish community, including the Jewish Community of Louisville (JCL), Jewish Hospital, and collections from many individuals, businesses, and other community organizations.  Notably, this work with the broader community has resulted in the creation of the Jewish Community Archive Endowment to support the long-term continuation of the JCA at the Filson.

   The Community History Fellows Program started in the spring of 2022 and brought in an initial cohort of 6 history advocates from diverse backgrounds and parts of Louisville to explore topics and tools in historical research, documentation, and interpretation. Fellows used these methods in real-time by developing individual history projects of enduring value to their home communities. Projects include a study on the historical intersections of land usage in Louisville and the Jewish Community and a project looking at Congregation Adath Jeshurun’s participation in Black-centered pushes for social justice.  A second cohort began in April 2023.

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4. Supporting Social Justice Youth Development

   In 2021, the Jewish Heritage Fund provided funding to the University of Louisville Center for Social Justice Youth Development Research…

   In 2021, the Jewish Heritage Fund provided funding to the University of Louisville Center for Social Justice Youth Development Research to implement a professional development program for youth development professionals utilizing the Social Justice Youth Development (SJYD) framework. Through this Framework, professionals are better equipped to engage students in identifying and dealing with serious social problems they are facing by empowering them to be active participants in bringing about positive change. This framework focuses on adopting principles and practices that work to close the gaps created by inequities and access to opportunities for youth. The content for this program is further guided by a Youth Advisory Board comprised of Louisville area youth.

   The pilot cohort included 62 total participants. Carol Gunderson, from the Food Literacy Project, said of the program, “The SJYD certificate program invited our team to go deep with racial identity processing and healing, to learn from the history of youth-led social movements, and to study and integrate the principles and practices for accompanying our community’s young people on their path to thriving – acknowledging and celebrating differences in identities, and centering youth voices and experiences.”  The initial success of the certificate program has brought in additional community partner engagement, including Metro United Way offering mini-grants to organizations enrolled who would like to enact a social action project. The Louisville Metro Government – Youth Engagement Services has also secured American Rescue Plan dollars to integrate a SJYD coaching/technical assistance model into the UofL program.

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5. Supporting Community Collaboration to Inspire and Educate

   The Violins of Hope is a collection of more than 50 restored instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust….

   The Violins of Hope is a collection of more than 50 restored instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. These instruments have survived concentration camps, pogroms and many long journeys to tell remarkable stories of injustice, suffering, resilience and survival. In 2019, JHF funding helped to bring The Violins of Hope to Louisville to facilitate a citywide dialogue about music, art, social justice and free expression. The 10-day program consisted of more than 30 community events, exhibits, performances and educational experiences.

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6. Supporting Biomedical Research

   Since 2017 JHF has provided over $2.7 million to the University of Louisville to support its internal research enhancement grants…

   Since 2017 JHF has provided over $2.7 million to the University of Louisville to support its internal research enhancement grants program. This program allows principal investigators to gather new data to improve a previously submitted a multi- year, nationally peer reviewed grant application that scored well but was not funded. Most recipients of these bridge grants were awarded national grants after resubmission, resulting in $23.9 million in external funding to the University of Louisville.

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7. Supporting Innovative Partnerships and Programs

   Funding from JHF supports a partnership between Bernheim, Bridge Kids International, and Play Cousins Collective to develop and pilot a…

   Funding from JHF supports a partnership between Bernheim, Bridge Kids International, and Play Cousins Collective to develop and pilot a Rites of Passage program. The effort aspires to empower adolescents to become leaders in the community by increasing their sense of connectedness and responsibility. The approach is rooted in Black culture and includes immersive experiences in nature as part of nurturing young Black men and women during the critical phase of development when young people transition from childhood into adulthood.

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8. Supporting Jewish Identity Building

   In 2019, JHF and the Jewish Community of Louisville (JCL) teamed up to make Jewish overnight camping and Israel travel…

   In 2019, JHF and the Jewish Community of Louisville (JCL) teamed up to make Jewish overnight camping and Israel travel a reality for Jewish-identifying kids in Louisville. While research clearly points to these experiences making a lifelong impact on children, including Jewish identity building, learning to live with others, cultivating a sense of independence and self reliance, teaching teamwork skills, and forming friends for life, the cost can be prohibitive for many families. Working through the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s One Happy Camper program, families in Louisville are eligible to receive up to three years of grants to cover a significant portion of camp tuition. Teens participating in an organized trip may also apply for financial assistance through what the JCL now calls the Jewish Journeys program.

   As a result, in 2021, Jewish Louisville saw a 28% increase in overnight campers since 2018, the number of first and second year campers doubled over 2019, and despite the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, 12 teens from Louisville successfully traveled to Israel. Through continued investment in these programs, JHF seeks to inspire children to explore and celebrate their Jewish identity, and to build long lasting connections with each other and their Jewish community.

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