Each year, the core of @akiva's teen engagement work is our Shin Shinim program, where recent high school graduates from Israel join our community for the year to work with our high school students. The Shin Shinim become integral parts of our community, building relationships with their host families, the schools, and synagogues that they work in, and most of all, with the teens with whom they engage in one-on-one learning.

From social action campaigns to development work, Mariely Luengo has always been an activist and leader. A native of Puerto Rico raised in a Sephardi home, Mariely has been working independently in the Greater Cleveland nonprofit sector and leaving her mark on Jewish Cleveland since she arrived four years ago. A member of YLD and part of a 248 Community Action Network cohort, she is a testament to terrific leadership development by Federation-funded initiatives. She delivered a moving presentation at this year’s annual meeting and was named as one of the co-chairs for this year’s Super Sunday.

Hebrew at @akiva, a Federation beneficiary agency, has evolved into a multifaceted program designed to reach Jewish Cleveland teens on their own time and in a way that works for them as individuals. While some teens choose to come twice a week for two hour classes, others study in person only once a week, finishing the balance of required curriculum online. For many teens, studying Hebrew @akiva allows them to earn high school foreign language credit as well. In either case, one of the hallmarks of @akiva is the personal relationships that we as educators are able to build with our learners and their parents.

Rabbi Shoshana Nyer, director of lifelong learning at Suburban Temple – Kol Ami, shares how support from the Jewish Education Center (JEC), a Federation beneficiary agency, has an impact on her career as a Jewish educator, as well as the congregants of her synagogue. Our community's support of the Campaign for Jewish Needs helps make the JEC's commitment to education and lifelong learning possible.

With the Mandel JCC’s popular children’s overnight and day camps canceled during summer 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, support from the Jewish Federation of Cleveland was critical in allowing the Mandel JCC to provide alternative programming. JCC staff developed an exciting lineup of Camp Wise Outdoor Fun Day programs. These unique offerings provide families and groups an opportunity to experience the magic of Camp Wise – the Home of Happiness for generations of Greater Cleveland children – while social distancing in the great outdoors.

COVID-19 on student learning is one of the biggest challenges of this pandemic. Students have had to adjust to a completely new way of learning at a rapid speed. For children with special needs and their families, this has meant even more hurdles to overcome.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland strongly condemns the recent decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union to uphold a Belgian ban on ritual and kosher slaughter, enabling anti-Jewish laws to be enacted throughout Europe.