12/18/2024
Teens Making A Difference: Saltzman Youth Panel
The Jewish Federation of Cleveland's Saltzman Youth Panel program educates Jewish Cleveland students about the philanthropic process. The panelists, made up of high school juniors and seniors, work together to understand various community needs and then make a formal recommendation to the Federation’s Board of Trustees on how to distribute up to $45,000 in grant funding. Through this program, the participants develop their leadership and group consensus building skills as they learn about community decision-making and tzedakah.
Hear about the 2024-25 cohort's experience by reading panelists' blog posts below:
Session 1 Recap
by Skylar Hurwitz, junior at Orange High School
On October 9, we had our first session at Bellefaire where we learned about many meaningful things. We started off with an ice-breaker game where we tossed a ball with questions on it and whatever we landed on was the question we had to answer. It was a fun game, and we really got to know a lot about each other, from our similarities and differences to our hobbies and more.
The next thing we did was a hypothetical philanthropy activity, where we answered the question: “If you were given $1 million dollars, where would you donate it?” After everyone posted their sticky note to the board, we sorted the organizations into categories before discussing the common themes we saw. It was interesting hearing everyone’s answers, hearing about why they chose the place they did, and also seeing how many people chose the same place. Many of us chose to donate to Jewish causes, and we talked about the way that Jewish philanthropic donors tend to give at higher rates than others and not just to Jewish causes.
After, we read a biography about Maurice Saltzman and learned a lot about him and got to hear about the positive impacts he made in our community. It's cool to be part of his legacy and to have had our first meeting at Bellefaire where he grew up.
Next, we read thank you letters from previous grant recipients, which really stood out to me. While reading the letters, I could see how much of a positive difference has been made by Saltzman Youth Panel for organizations that are local and international. Reading the letters helped me realize how important and impactful Saltzman Youth Panel is and that I’m so grateful I get to be a part of it and help make a difference.
Finally, we did our first consensus-building activity: building our Brit LaShon Hatov. The Brit LaShon Hatov is a commitment to use speech in a positive way, speak kindly, and avoid gossip and harmful words. We know that there will be times when we need to make decisions and we may not all agree, but we will use this document to help guide us in those times.
Session 2 Recap
by Adler Chefitz, junior at Orange High School
At the November 24 session of the Saltzman Youth Panel, we started by discussing money and its importance in our community. What stood out to me was how we were able to recognize that, while hard work is important, not everyone starts off on the same foot and that there is a lot of privilege involved in financial success. We also acknowledged the rare exceptions to this rule, discussing Maurice Saltzman’s background and the impact he had on our community. After some light debate, we reached an understanding that we all share a collective responsibility to give back within our means, whether it be financially or otherwise, like donating our time and talents.
We also talked about common Jewish values and the needs of any Jewish community, discussing how these fundamentals are involved in the work we will do while on the Panel. As a group, we identified the values we want to see mirrored in any partner agencies. In addition to identifying the values and needs that will be in this year's request for proposal, we also walked through our first hypothetical allocation scenarios, balancing the need to have an impact on our local Cleveland community and the larger Jewish community.
By the end of the session, I felt confident to begin the first stage of our process, interviewing different partner agencies to better understand the missions of some of the organizations that will be applying for grants later on. I think this session was very successful, and I look forward to more in the future!
Check back soon for more blog posts from the Saltzman Youth Panel.
