Avodah

Results: For more than 20 years, we’ve been inspiring Jewish leaders to commit to a life of social change, promoting a vision of Jewish life rooted in justice, and engaging the broader Jewish community in some of the most pressing issues facing our country at a local and national level. With more than 1,400+ alumni and participants, Avodah has contributed 2.2 million hours of service to local anti-poverty organizations around the country. We have partnered with more than 200 of the top non-profit organizations, serving nearly 780,000 people in need. Avodah has provided local organizations with more than $23 million in staff capacity and engaged thousands across the nation in the work for social and economic change.

Target demographics: Avodah works to build the next generation of Jewish leaders to address the country's most pressing social and economic issues.

Direct beneficiaries per year: Last year, we directly served 40,000 people in need and provided more than $2 million in staff capacity to local anti-poverty nonprofits throughout the country.

Geographic areas served: New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington DC, and Kansas City

Programs: From early career professionals to C-Suite executives, Avodah develops lifelong social justice leaders whose work is informed by Jewish values and who inspire the Jewish community to work toward a more just and equitable world. Avodah's programming includes the Jewish Service Corps, the Avodah Justice Fellowship, the Avodah Institute for Social Change, and is home to a network of more than 1,400 alumni. The Jewish Service Corps provides a year of full-time service for Jewish adults ages 21-26 at leading nonprofits in Chicago, New York, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. Our Corps Members work in leading anti-poverty organizations, live together as a community, and participate in weekly educational programs to deepen their understanding of domestic poverty and explore their work through the lens of Jewish tradition and values; the Avodah Justice Fellowship convenes cohorts of early-career professionals for nine months of intensive learning, mentorship, and community building around social justice work through an inclusive Jewish lens in Chicago and Kansas City; the Avodah Institute of Social Change provides mid to senior-level Jewish professionals with social justice training through cohort learning, lectures and events, and a library of social justice resources. For the 1,400+ graduates of our programs, Avodah supports its alumni network through ongoing programming, engagement, and advanced skill-building; and Community Engagement programming, in which Avodah partners with organizations and educators in order to deepen our collective learning and draw the broader Jewish community into the most pressing social and economic issues of our time.