Read entire conversation on page 8.

After careful deliberation by Joshua Venture Group staff, 76 applicants advanced to Stage 2.  They will have four weeks to complete their Venture Proposals — a more comprehensive look at what makes these ventures and emerging leaders a worthwhile investment for JVGroup and for the American Jewish community.

Our team of outside evaluators will review all submissions – both Venture Concept Papers and Venture Proposals, and about a quarter of our remaining applicants will be invited to New York for in-person interviews in early Spring.

We look forward to the process and will keep you updated as things develop!

Other opportunities for more information:

• Watch Lisa’s presentation and Q&A from our NYC session
• Download a copy of her presentation

Highlights from Lisa’s visit to Seattle, including Dual Investment Program offerings, answers to FAQs about the application process, and a tinge of controversy surrounding the use of the term ’social entrepreneur’.  Full article here.

Applications are due at 11:59pm on January 3rd, 2010. Learn more about the program. Apply now!

Amy comes to Joshua Venture Group as her final placement through the Insight Fellowship, a project of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation’s Center for Leadership Initiatives. Through the Insight Fellowship, Amy previously worked at the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists and American Jewish World Service.

Amy graduated from the George Washington University with a specialized degree in Contemporary Semitic Languages and Cultures. She studied Hebrew, Arabic, and inter-disciplinary Middle Eastern studies both at GW and at the University of Haifa, where she worked as a grant writer and translator at a domestic violence treatment and prevention center. She has worked in DC and New York public schools, and in experiential Jewish education for young adults in the US and Israel. Amy grew up in Michigan and currently lives in Brooklyn.

Tamar Snyder profiles the return of Joshua Venture Group and the search for our third cohort of “Jewish change-makers” in The Jewish Week:

“After a four-year hiatus, the Joshua Venture Group has hired a new executive director and will begin soliciting applications for its third cohort of Jewish change-makers. …”

Full article

“After a four-year hiatus, Joshua Venture Group has hired a new executive director and will begin soliciting applications for its third cohort of Jewish change-makers. …

‘I believe the words ‘Jewish social entrepreneur’ actually mean something,’ says Alan Cohen, chair of JVG’s board and a professional at UJA-Federation of New York. ‘It’s not just that it’s new. It’s about trying to address problems or challenges in the Jewish community in ways that transform the way we do things.’ … ”  Full article.

– Pioneer of Jewish Social Entrepreneurship Offers Early-stage Funding and Resources to Young Visionaries –

NOVEMBER 2, 2009, NEW YORK, NY – After a four-year hiatus, Joshua Venture Group (formerly known as Joshua Venture), a not-for-profit organization that identifies and cultivates emerging Jewish leaders and champions their visions for social change in the Jewish community, has re-launched its fellowship program. JVGroup will recruit eight exceptional social entrepreneurs from across the U.S. to participate in its Dual Investment Program, a two-year fellowship that provides $40,000 each year in early-stage funding, training, and resources to help a select group of young Jewish social entrepreneurs to build sustainable initiatives that support the Group’s mission. Applications for the Program’s 2010-2012 cohort are being accepted until January 3, 2010 and will be announced in April.

Launched in 1998, Joshua Venture was known for cultivating progressive, creative ventures that have helped shape today’s Jewish landscape. Between 2000 and 2005, it funded groundbreaking ventures like JDub Records, Sharsheret, Keshet, Just Vision, Heeb Magazine, Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, Storahtelling, and many others. In 2005, Joshua Venture suspended its operations to re-evaluate its structure, but not before leaving its mark as a pioneer in the now burgeoning field of Jewish social entrepreneurship. The decision to re-launch the program came after research and careful deliberation by a group of dedicated individuals and funders.

“We’ve restructured our management, governance, program, and funding model to ensure that we have a strong foundation to support what we see as a critical mission for the Jewish community,” said Alan Cohen, chair of the board of directors of Joshua Venture Group. “The board brought on Lisa Lepson, a top-tier executive and dynamic leader, to spearhead the re-launch of Joshua Venture Group at a time when Jewish communities are faced with great challenges but also with many more opportunities.”

The organization was originally founded by pioneers of a social entrepreneurship model in the Jewish community as a way to empower young leaders and provide them with the resources and tools to build influential projects that would bring new life to their Jewish communities. The new Joshua Venture Group has secured five years of funding for core operations from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation and remains committed to the goal of revitalizing and enhancing Jewish communities.

“I am thrilled that Joshua Venture is re-launching as Joshua Venture Group. It marks the return of an unparalleled resource for the national Jewish community with notable programmatic enhancements that reflect learnings and the current state of the art.  Joshua Venture Group is unique in its dedication of this level of support both in terms of funding and of personal and professional developmental resources for Jewish social entrepreneurs and new ideas. We are proud to support the most promising social entrepreneurs and invest heavily in their development and potential for success,” said Marcella Kanfer Rolnick, president and chair of the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, Joshua Venture board member from 2004-2005, and steward of Joshua Venture Group’s re-constitution of funders and board.

As part of the re-launch, Joshua Venture formulated a new brand identity, which includes a new logo, web site, and tagline: “Bold Visions. Dynamic Leaders. Real Progress.” It also added the word “Group” to its name to reflect the organization’s increased emphasis on the collective nature of its work, its cohorts, and as an allusion to the venture capital industry, which seeds ventures that can demonstrate measurable outcomes, superior performance, and judicious use of funds.

“Joshua Venture Group has historically played an important role in supporting young leaders with bold visions. We will continue to hand-pick talented leaders who are dedicated to creating not just new or unique projects, but sustainable enterprises that will truly transform the American Jewish community,” said Lisa Lepson, executive director of Joshua Venture Group and a veteran of the social entrepreneurship movement. “We will seek out visionaries who can navigate the difficult obstacles of building a start-up and persevere through difficult challenges. Innovative funding and income generation models, as well as the potential to leverage projects for maximum impact, will be of special interest—particularly in a tough economy,” she said.

The Dual Investment Program

Joshua Venture Group’s “Dual Investment Program,” formerly called the “Joshua Venture Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs,” offers participants funding and support services such as stipends for health insurance, professional and organizational support, semi-annual retreats with skill-building workshops, and individualized coaching worth over $100,000 throughout the two-year period. The highly selective program will focus on investing in both visionary leaders and the groundbreaking ideas presented during the application process with a particular bend toward seeing long-lasting and wide-ranging results.

To find the most transformative enterprises, JVGroup has opened up the criteria from its previous incarnation. Unlike similar funding organizations, there is no age limit or required organizational structure; for-profit social ventures, autonomous projects within more established organizations, and concept- and nascent-stage organizations to those that have been around up to 5 years and have budgets of up to $500,000 are all eligible. Applicants must present a mission for having social impact in the American Jewish community, propose a sound venture structure, and have proven leadership qualities.

Applications for the 2010-2012 cohorts are available at www.joshuaventuregroup.org; Fellows will be announced in April 2010.

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ABOUT JOSHUA VENTURE GROUP

Joshua Venture Group is a 501(c)3 whose mission is to reinvigorate and expand the Jewish community by cultivating the leadership and management capability of talented, passionate young Jewish social entrepreneurs and by investing in their visions and the growth of healthy, sustainable organizations.  Joshua Venture Group receives generous support from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation. More information can be found at www.JoshuaVentureGroup.org.

Rabbis Rochelle Robins and Sarra Levine founded Bat Kol in 1995. Its initial project, Bat Kol: A Feminist House of Study, a yeshiva in Jerusalem (1997-2000), cultivated a pluralistic atmosphere of intergenerational, cross-cultural, and progressive Torah learning. Since 2000, Bat Kol’s focus has been U.S.-based, with its mission expanding into the realms of interfaith coalition building, social action, and health care education.

Bio
Rabbi Rochelle Robins is a graduate of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. She was trained in clinical pastoral education at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and has extensive experience as a pastoral care provider. She sees her rabbinate as an opportunity to assist people in becoming empowered individually and as a community through dynamic engagement with traditional text and thought. In 2001, Rabbi Robins was awarded a Joshua Venture Fellowship, recognizing her has one of the country’s leading Jewish social entrepreneurs. Currently, Rabbi Robins is working on Bat Kol projects and serving as a chaplain educator in San Diego, California.

The mission of the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF) is to develop and distribute effective educational materials about the Jewish partisans and their life lessons, bringing the celebration of heroic resistance against tyranny into educational and cultural organizations.

JPEF has produced a comprehensive and thought-provoking new curriculum called RESIST, designed to transmit the enduring understandings arising from the stories of the Jewish partisans. With layers of interactivity unprecedented in most any curriculum, RESIST is designed for 6th-12th grade students in formal and informal settings and is now being implemented in Jewish and secular schools worldwide.

Bio
Mitch Braff grew up outside San Francisco, California, and studied film at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In his senior year at UCSB, he completed a documentary about an inner city arts program, Jazz in the Classroom. The film, which featured Wynton Marsalis, played in several festivals around the world and received several awards. After he graduated, Mitch launched Danser Productions, a film and new media concern, whose corporate clients include Dockers, Sony, Yahoo! and Wells Fargo.

After meeting with various people in education and Holocaust studies, Mitch realized that there was a need to record the stories of Jewish partisans. He founded the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation to celebrate the strength of the human spirit over bigotry and oppression through educating students across the globe about the partisans’ stories.

El Centro’s mission is to provide all who are interested with spiritually enriching experiences from which they can learn and grow within a warm and welcoming environment. Members include Jews of Ashkenazic and Sephardic heritage, as well as Jews of converso (anusim marrano) background, whose secret practices of Jewish customs while formally practicing Catholicism eventually led them to the process of returning to Judaism. El Centro seeks to inspire others in the Jewish world to re-examine and reconnect with their Judaism and infuse their religious life with enthusiasm and joy.

Bio
Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel (“Manny”) Viñas grew up in a traditional Sephardic home of Cuban Jewish parents who came to America after the Cuban Revolution in 1960. He was born and raised in Miami, Florida and attended local Yeshivot in preparation for a Rabbinic career. In 1989, Rabbi Viñas moved to New York to continue his studies at Touro College where he received a B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) in Psychology and Social Sciences from Touro College and a Masters Degree in Social Work (MSW-CSW), with honors in psycho-dynamics from Hunter College. Rabbi Viñas completed his training as a scribe with ordination (kabala in sofrut) at Yeshiva University and has received “Yoreh Yoreh” ordination from both Kollel Agudath Achim and Yeshivah VeKollel Zichron Hizkiahu Yoel of Boro Park Brooklyn, New York.

In April of 2003, Rabbi Viñas accepted the position of Rabbi at the Lincoln Park Jewish Center (LPJC) in Yonkers, NY. Rabbi Viñas has dedicated his career to serving diverse Jewish communities by bringing Klal Yisrael (all Jews) together regardless of denomination, form of practice, race, ethnicity, or any other difference. He currently resides in Lincoln Park, Yonkers, with his wife Erica, a Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Educator in a private practice, and their three daughters.

Bio
Daron ‘Farmer D’ Joffe is an organic/biodynamic farmer, environmental educator and social entrepreneur. He is the founder and president of Farmer D Organics, creators of farms and products for the earth and its people. Farmer D Organics retail organic garden center is located in Atlanta near Whole Foods at Briarcliff Rd. Farmer D’s signature products includes Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Organic Compost made from Whole Foods Market spoils and is available for sale at Whole Foods Markets throughout the Southeast.

Over the past fourteen years, Farmer D has founded and managed a number of organic farms all over the country. In 1998, Farmer D was selected as the Biodynamic Rookie Farmer of the Year and was one of only eight recipients nationwide to receive the 2003-2005 Joshua Venture Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs. He was also selected as one of the top 20 brightest talents under 40 years of age by Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Magazine in February 2006 and as one of the Top 40 under 40 by Georgia Trend Magazine in October 2006. In 2008, Farmer D Organics received the Spirit of Innovation Award for “Most Sustainable Business” by the Savannah Economic Development Authority’s Creative Coast.

As the organization has now closed its doors, the challenge is passed on to each individual within the Jewish community to do more to integrate the work of inclusion into all aspects of increasing the quality of Jewish life. The hope is for the Jewish community to further expand upon Ayecha’s work and message through the daily practices and professional accomplishments of all friends, allies, and fellow advocates in the Jewish inclusion movement.

Bio
Yavilah McCoy is a teacher, writer, editor, and diversity consultant. She was raised in the Flatbush and Crown Heights areas of Brooklyn, New York where she received her yeshivah education at Bais Rivkah and Yeshivah University High School. She has taught Judaic studies, Hebrew language and English literature on elementary and secondary levels. In addition to serving the Jewish community as an educator, Yavilah has served as a member of the board of directors for the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, Hadassah, Jewish Community Relations Council, and the St. Louis Jewish Light. Yavilah is a trained facilitator for the Anti Defamation League’s “A World of Difference” program, the National Conference for Community and Justice’s Dismantling Racism Institute, and the National Coalition Building Institute of Washington, D.C.  In 2003, she received the Joshua Venture Fellowship, and she utilized this training and support to become the founding director of Ayecha, a national not-for-profit that provided educational resources for Jewish diversity and advocacy for Jews of Color in the United States. Since 2003, Yavilah has become an acclaimed international speaker on the subjects of “increasing awareness of Jewish diversity” and “developing strategies for inclusion.”  In her spare time, Yavilah enjoys teaching and performing her family’s legacy of Jewish gospel. She is married to Dr. Pinchas McCoy and has recently relocated to Boston where she is now the New England Director of the Curriculum Initiative. Yavilah resides in Newton with her husband and four children, Atarah Yocheved, Yair Moshe, Yonatan Nechemya, and Amalyah Tiferet.

Storahtelling is a pioneer in Jewish education via the arts and new media. Through innovative leadership training programs and theatrical performances, Storahtelling makes ancient stories and traditions accessible for new generations, advancing Judaic literacy and raising social consciousness. Using an innovative fusion of scholarship, storytelling, performing arts, and new media, its programs reclaim the narratives and traditions that define Jewish life yet have failed to adapt to modern times. Storahtelling restores the Torah Service to its original stature through a revival of the lost craft of the Maven, the traditional storyteller who translated the Hebrew Torah into local language. Rooted in biblical text and ritual practice, Storahtelling uses dramatized interpretations, traditional chanting, orginal music, and live interaction to bring Bible off the page and onto the global stage.

Founded in 1999, Storahtelling has grown into an international network of educators and artists, invigorating Jewish identity through dynamic educational programs and performances for multigenerational audiences worldwide.

Bio
Amichai Lau-Lavie is the founder, executive and artistic director of Storahtelling.  An Israeli-born teacher of Judaic Literature and performance artist, he is described as “one of the most interesting thinkers in the Jewish world” by the New York Jewish Week, “iconoclastic mystic” by Time Out New York, and “a Judaic Pied Piper who spins gold out of the inherent drama of biblical legends and scripture” by the Denver Westword. Amichai studied at various yeshivot, including the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Elul Center in Jerusalem. Between 1992 and 1996, he directed the summer programs at Melitz: the Jewish Zionist Centers in Jerusalem, focusing on the integration of Jewish education via the arts. His theatrical experience as a writer and performer includes the Theatre Company Jerusalem, the Acco Theatre Group in Israel, and the Avodah Dance Ensemble in the United States.  Between 1997-2000, he served as Artist-in-Residence at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City.  Amichai is a Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute in Israel (2008-2009), a consultant to the Reboot Network, a member of the Synagogue 3000 Leadership Network, and a 2002 recipient of the Joshua Venture Fellowship. He currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Six Points Fellowship, the advisory board for Faith House Manhattan, and the board of directors for Zeek Magazine.

Just Vision serves as a platform to inform, connect, and engage people in Palestinian-Israeli civilian efforts to resolve the conflict nonviolently. Using film and cutting-edge multi-media tools, Just Vision shines a spotlight on vital initiatives, builds bridges from awareness to action, and inspires civic participation in grassroots peace building. Just Vision fills a critical void by creating a media and educational platform for Palestinian and Israeli civic leaders and connecting them to high-profile print and broadcast outlets, community leaders, and networks of supporters around the world. In addition, the organization has engaged thousands of educators, students, and community leaders in the United States, Israel, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to raise awareness about, and spark engagement in, the most promising conflict resolution initiatives happening today.

Bio
Ronit Avni is the founder and executive director of Just Vision. She directed and produced the documentary film, Encounter Point, which received the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary and was an official selection at many prestigious film festivals around the world. Ronit appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005 with her colleague, Joline Makhlouf, and her work was featured on Oprah.com. She is currently producing a new documentary film, Budrus Has a Hammer (working title), which received the competitive 2009 Sundance Documentary Fund award, and was featured as a work-in-progress at Independent Film Week’s Spotlight on Documentaries series and at the Good Pitch at Silverdocs.

From 2000-2003, Ronit co-produced short videos and online video advocacy features in collaboration with filmmakers in Senegal, Burkina Faso, the United States, and Brazil as part of her work for the human rights organization WITNESS. Ronit has trained non-governmental organizations from Honduras to the Gambia to produce videos as a tool for public education and grassroots mobilizing, as a deterrent to further abuse, and as evidence before courts and tribunals. She wrote and produced a short documentary film, Rise, with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She co-edited the book, Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press, UK), with staff from WITNESS. Her work has also been published in the spring 2006 edition of American Anthropologist. She is currently a UN Global Expert through the Alliance of Civilizations, a resource for journalists looking for reliable, thoughtful commentators on issues pertaining to East-West divides. Ronit has lectured at universities across North America.

Ronit graduated with honors with a BA in Political Science from Vassar College. She received a Burnam Fellowship to intern at B’Tselem: the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Concurrently, Ronit volunteered for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI).

Sharsheret, Hebrew for “chain,” is a national organization of cancer survivors dedicated to addressing the unique concerns of young Jewish women facing breast cancer. Sharsheret provides culturally sensitive support to young Jewish women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer, as well as to those facing the risk of developing breast cancer, and offers related resources for Jewish communities and health care organizations. Since the organization’s founding, Sharsheret has launched ten national programs and has responded to more than 19,000 calls and emails from health care professionals, Jewish organizations, women’s organizations, women affected by breast cancer, their families, and friends.

Sharsheret’s efforts to support young women and educate health care professionals have been recognized with prestigious awards and significant media coverage. The organization has been featured in more than 75 publications and media outlets nationwide, including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Self, and CBS News. For its critical services, Sharsheret was awarded the New York State Innovation in Breast Cancer Research Award.

Bio
Rochelle Shoretz, a two-time breast cancer survivor, founded Sharsheret to connect young Jewish women fighting breast cancer following her own diagnosis at age 28. A Centennial Scholar graduate of Barnard College and a Kent Scholar graduate of Columbia Law School, Rochelle served as a law clerk in 1999 to United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

For her pioneering efforts in establishing Sharsheret, Rochelle was named a “Woman to Watch” by Jewish Woman Magazine and a Yoplait Champion in the Fight Against Breast Cancer, and was honored by the Philadelphia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Israel Cancer Research Foundation. She is a board member and alumna of the Joshua Venture Group, as well as a graduate of the Berrie Fellows Leadership Program of the UJA-Federation of Northern New Jersey.

Rochelle has served as a resource for major media on issues related to breast cancer in young women. She has appeared on The Today Show, CBS News, and Fox News, and in more than 100 articles published online and in newspapers across the country, including the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The mother of two, Rochelle lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, with her sons, Shlomo and Dovid.

Bio
Amy Tobin is a writer, singer, and performer who has devoted her professional and artistic career to creating community. She has released two CDs and collaborated with poets and punk musicians, drag queens and rabbis. Her cabaret rock opera “The Esther Show,” a modern and adult interpretation of the Book of Esther, has toured major U.S. cities for Purim since 2002. Learn more at www.amytobin.com.

Amy is also the executive director of the David Brower Center, an innovative green building with offices for 27 environmental and social action organizations with a gallery, theater, and conference center. The Brower Center, which opened in May 2009, provides a physical space for collaboration and innovation. A home for activism and cross-sector dialogue, the Center brings people together and inspires them to sustain nature and create thriving, healthy societies. Learn more at www.browercenter.org.

Amy serves on the steering committee for the Nonprofit Centers Network and the board of the Downtown Berkeley Association.

Covering arts, culture, and politics in a voice all its own, Heeb has become a multimedia magnet for the young, urban, and influential. Heeb Magazine delivers original reporting, celebrity interviews, photography and illustration from the world’s most creative, emerging talents. From its inception, Heeb has been much more than a magazine—it is a community. Heeb tailors over 50 events each year for this community all over the U.S. Heeb events reflect the sensibilities and subject matter of the magazine. A cross between a literary event and a night of stand-up comedy, the monthly Heeb Storytelling showcases seven local personalities who each tell a seven-minute “Jewish story.” The annual Heeb Hundred Traveling Portrait Exhibition is a celebration of Heeb Magazine’s list of one hundred Jews that you need to know about, hosting opening night receptions throughout North America.

Founded in 1998 with a grant from the Covenant Foundation and in partnership with the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Lishma began as an egalitarian yeshiva-study summer program for young adult Jews ages 18 to 25 to explore their Jewish identity through the lens of traditional study, prayer, and practice. The name Lishma is derived from the Hebrew phrase “Torah Lishma,” meaning studying Torah for its own sake. Combining the passion and commitment of traditional yeshiva learning with the openness and fun of Ramah camping, Lishma continued to impact the lives of young adult Jews until the program closed its doors in 2007.

Bio
Rabbi Daniel Greyber became executive director of Camp Ramah in California shortly after his ordination at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism in May 2002. A lecturer in the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Rabbi Greyber has taught courses on liturgy and Halakhah to first-year rabbinical students since 2004. Rabbi Greyber is an engaging speaker and has been scholar-in-residence for groups such as the Geller Young Leadership Program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and Congregation Beth Am of San Diego. He has taught at conventions for the Rabbinical Assembly and Jewish Educators Assembly and has been published in Conservative Judaism, Midstream Magazine, and other Jewish periodicals. In the Fall of 1998, he helped to found Lishma, an innovative learning program of Ramah and the Ziegler School, where young adult Jews spend the summer exploring traditional Jewish texts, prayer, and practice in the beautiful setting of Camp Ramah in California.

Rabbi Greyber attended UC Berkeley and Northwestern University and graduated in 1994 with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communication Studies. A gold medallist and Captain of the U.S. Swimming Team at the 1993 World Maccabiah Games, Greyber published “.08 of a Second,” Dancing on the Edge of the World (Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Park, Lowell House Press, 2000), an essay about his journey from being a competitive swimmer to becoming a rabbi. While in rabbinical school, he also founded the Neshama Minyan at Temple Beth Am and Minyan Nifla at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, soulful Friday night services using the melodies of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Jennifer, and three sons, Alon, Benjamin, and Ranon.

Lisa Hersch is an Associate Principal with McKinsey & Company, based in New York City. She has worked globally across a variety of industries, including consumer electronics, retail, telecom, media, financial services, and consumer products. Her work is largely focused on strategy, sales and marketing, and capability building.

Lisa has extensive experience working with non-profit organizations, including the Public Broadcasting Service, Comic Relief, Balkanu’s Cape York Digital Network in Australia, and Arcandina children’s TV production company in Ecuador. She has also served as a mentor with the “I Have A Dream” program and as a member of Echoing Green’s Social Investment Council.

Lisa holds an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business, an M.A. in Education from Stanford University School of Education, and a B. Commerce (1st Class Honors, Marketing) from University of New South Wales.

Keshet was founded with a vision of a Jewish community that celebrates the full diversity of gender and sexual orientation – not as a departure from Jewish tradition but as an authentically Jewish perspective. Initially founded as a Boston area initiative for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) inclusion in Jewish life, Keshet has grown from a small, grassroots group working for change in Boston into a robust organization with national impact. A three-pronged strategy is utilized for creating change in the Jewish community: 1) Training educators and youth professionals; 2) Producing and disseminating resources; and 3) Building the capacity of local leaders to implement effective programs for GLBT inclusion in their own communities. Through intensive trainings for Jewish educators and community leaders, the documentary film Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School, which tells the story of a 16-year-old Jewish lesbian struggling to remain true to her dual identities, and a comprehensive companion curriculum, Keshet has created a model for relevant, inclusive Jewish education. In addition to training between 50-60 Jewish educators annually to be certified Jewish Safe Schools facilitators, Keshet’s Safe Schools program is being replicated in three cities (Detroit, San Diego, and Los Angeles) outside of Boston. Since Keshet started working nationally three years ago, over 3,500 local and national Jewish educators, clergy, lay leaders, and youth have participated in a Keshet training. We estimate that our indirect impact, through the trainings many of those individuals have facilitated in their home communities and through our resources, is in the tens of thousands.

Bio
Idit Klein has worked as the executive director of Keshet since 2001. In that time, she has built Keshet from a one-person, $35k annual budget, local organization to a nine-person, over $850k organization with national reach. She has led numerous successful organizing efforts at synagogues, schools, and Jewish organizations around the country. Under her leadership, Keshet mobilized over 30 Massachusetts congregations to help defeat the proposed anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment. Klein also served as the executive producer of the documentary film, Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School. Prior to Keshet, Klein was an activist in the queer women’s community in Israel and played a role in early organizing around the creation of the Jerusalem Open House. She worked for social justice organizations in Jerusalem and in Boston including Shatil, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research & Information, and Community Work Services. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received a Master of Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a focus on social justice and anti-oppression education. Idit was among eight recipients of the 2003-2005 Joshua Venture Fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs. She is a past fellow and current board member of the Jewish Organizing Initiative and was honored by the Jewish Women’s Archive with a Women Who Dared award.

JDub Records was founded in December of 2002 by two NYU students, Ben Hesse and Aaron Bisman, as a non-profit dedicated to innovative Jewish content, community, and cross-cultural dialogue. Its mission is twofold: to create community among young Jews, their friends, and significant others by promoting proud, authentic Jewish voices in popular culture; and to offer young adults opportunities to connect with their Judaism in the secular world in which they live.

JDub has grown into an internationally recognized brand, having spurred a national conversation about Judaism in mainstream culture – most prominently by Hasidic reggae singer Matisyahu, whom JDub discovered, promoted, and managed through March 2006. Currently, JDub has offices in New York and Los Angeles, 12 artists on the label, and a full calendar of concerts and events planned across the country. In October 2009, JDub aquired Jewcy.com, the premiere online media outlet devoted to presenting a spectrum of conversations on Jewish identity and community for and by young Jews.

JDub empowers young Jews to expand the definition of “Jewish community” and make space for a proactive, celebratory and diverse sense of Jewish identity. Today, in an age where celebrity is king, the opportunity for Jewish role models to emerge in public spheres is a chance to relate our values and history to the next generation, in their language and on their terms.

Bio
Aaron Bisman is the co-founder, President, and CEO of JDub. A DJ and graduate of NYU’s Music Business program, Aaron was a recipient of the Joshua Venture Fellowship in 2003, and is a co-creator of the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists. In the little free time he has, Aaron co-founded Altshul, a traditional egalitarian community in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Aaron is married to Amanda Pogany, a Jewish educator, curriculum writer, and coach in New York City. They have a one year old son, Asher, who has a blog. Keep up with Aaron at www.twitter.com/bizmonides.

Bio
Meredith Englander Polsky, a special educator and social worker, co-founded Matan in the year 2000. After serving at the helm of Matan for five years, Meredith spearheaded the effort to hire a new executive director and took a four-year hiatus from the professional staff of Matan. During that time, Meredith served as secretary of the board of directors. She recently returned to Matan as special education coordinator and is thrilled to be back. Meredith lives in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with her husband and three children.

Tobin Belzer PhD is a Research Associate at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California.  A sociologist of American Jewry, her research and program evaluations have focused on young adults’ Jewish identity, Jewish organizational culture, Jewish education, and comparative congregational studies.  She has worked with numerous Jewish organizations and foundations including: Foundation for Jewish Culture, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, The Koret Foundation, the Jim Joseph Foundation, Mandell L. Berman Jewish Heritage Center for Research and Evaluation in Jewish Education at JESNA, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education.  Belzer earned her PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University.  With Rabbi Julie Pelc, she is the co-editor of Joining the Sisterhood: Young Jewish Women Write Their Lives (SUNY Press, 2003). Belzer was awarded the Hadassah Award for Excellence in Writing about Women from the American Jewish Press Association. She was a 2007-08 Fellow of the Congregational Studies Team’s Engaged Scholars Program, funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Julie Shaffer is the executive director of the Oreg Foundation in Boulder, Colorado. She is fortunate to be able to combine her personal passions with her professional work in supporting Jewish, environmental, educational, and local community service initiatives. Julie’s varied work life has included non-profit management consulting, preschool director, small business owner, and elementary school teacher.

Julie has been involved in Colorado’s Jewish non-profit world as a professional and lay leader for 15 years. She was a founding board member of the Boulder Jewish Community Foundation, which included a 2003 honor for her dedication and extraordinary work in the Boulder Jewish Community. Julie serves on the board of directors of Judaism Your Way, an outreach organization based in Denver, and served on the boards of HaSifria, Boulder’s Jewish library, and B’Yahad, the Boulder: Israel People to People Project. She has also been active on the steering committee of the JCC preschool and on the transition planning team for the Boulder JCC. She currently serves on the Foundation Professionals Advisory Committee for the Jewish Funders Network.

Julie is an active partner in Social Venture Partners of Boulder.

Julie is a graduate of the University of Michigan. She and her husband, Bruce, are the parents of three children.

Rochelle Shoretz, a two-time breast cancer survivor, founded Sharsheret to connect young Jewish women fighting breast cancer following her own diagnosis at age 28. A Centennial Scholar graduate of Barnard College and a Kent Scholar graduate of Columbia Law School, Rochelle served as a law clerk in 1999 to United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

For her pioneering efforts in establishing Sharsheret, Rochelle was named a “Woman to Watch” by Jewish Woman Magazine and a Yoplait Champion in the Fight Against Breast Cancer, and was honored by the Philadelphia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Israel Cancer Research Foundation. She is a board member and alumna of the Joshua Venture Group, as well as a graduate of the Berrie Fellows Leadership Program of the UJA-Federation of Northern New Jersey.

Rochelle has served as a resource for major media on issues related to breast cancer in young women. She has appeared on The Today Show, CBS News, and Fox News, and in more than 100 articles published online and in newspapers across the country, including the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The mother of two, Rochelle lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, with her sons, Shlomo and Dovid.

Seth is a corporate attorney and partner with law firm Arnall Golden Gregory LLP in Atlanta, representing national and international start-ups, mature companies, and investors in complex business transactions, investments and joint ventures.

In addition to his involvement with Joshua Venture Group, Seth is a Vice Chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and past Chair of its Planning and Allocations Committee. Seth also currently serves as First Vice-President of Jewish Family & Career Services in Atlanta; is a member of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Global Leaders Forum; member of the Atlanta-area AIPAC Executive Council; member of the Civil Rights Committee of Southeast Region of the ADL; Treasurer of 24/7 Gateway Center (Atlanta Homeless Services) and is a past Board Member of the American Israel Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region.  He is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program.

A frequent author, Seth has published numerous articles on about local, domestic and international Jewish communal matters in various publications and blogs regularly about Jewish community issues at www.boundlessdramaofcreation.com. Seth and his wife Marci are members of Congregation B’nai Torah in Atlanta and have three children: Morgan, Danielle and Jordan, who attend the Epstein School in Atlanta.

Alan Cohen is the senior director for strategic planning and organizational resources at UJA-Federation of New York. In this position, he supports the development, implementation, and monitoring of high-impact initiatives.

In the past, Alan served as the director of planning of UJA-Federation’s Caring Commission, where he focused on issues facing older adults and end-of life care. Alan was instrumental in launching the Jewish Healing and Hospice Initiative, which included the establishment of the Mollie and Jack Zicklin Jewish Hospice Residence, the first of its kind in the country. He also led UJA-Federation’s non-sectarian grantmaking initiatives to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Alan participated in the Selah Leadership Program for a national cohort of social justice leaders.

Prior to joining UJA-Federation, Alan focused on developing services for the Joint Distribution Committee to address the needs of elderly Jews living in the former Soviet Union. Alan made aliyah and lived in Israel for five years. He is a member of the International Council of the New Israel Fund.

Alan graduated from Brandeis University Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, studying politics and Russian language and literature. After university, Alan was awarded the Dorot Fellowship in Israel. He later received a Master of Public Policy and Administration from Columbia University.

Alan lives in New York City with his partner Robert Bank, with whom he shared the 2009 Partner in Justice award from AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps.

Lisa Lepson has extensive experience building start-up non-profits and for-profits with a social mission. Previously, Lisa served as the global director of non-profit services at RockCorps, a social venture dedicated to engaging youth in volunteerism through the power of music. In this role, she established a department that developed more than 400 volunteer service projects with over 300 non-profits in three countries, engaging a total of 45,000 volunteers. Prior to RockCorps, Lisa served as the director of employer partnerships for San Francisco-based Upwardly Global, a social entrepreneurial organization that brings under-employed immigrant professional and employers together. There, she created revenue-generating relationships with corporate and public sector employers.

Lisa served as the founding president of Exhale, which provides services, training, and education to empower individuals, families, and communities to achieve post-abortion health. Lisa guided Exhale from an all-volunteer structure to a professionally run organization and currently serves on its National Advisory Council. Her organizational development and non-profit management experience also includes board membership of Killing My Lobster Theater Project and stints with Berkeley Hillel, San Francisco AIDSWalk, Juma Ventures, and Net Impact.

Born and bred in Brooklyn, Lisa’s career began in the Jewish community as a teacher’s assistant at the East Midwood Jewish Center. After college, Lisa worked at Lilith Magazine as an editorial intern and an outreach coordinator for programming aimed at unaffiliated young Jews in New York City. Lisa has traveled extensively in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe and holds an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA and a BA in Comparative Literature in Hebrew, French, and English from Brown University.

Our visit to the West Coast was fantastic! After engaging with so many emerging social entrepreneurs and hearing their inspiring ideas, we left feeling energized and reinvigorated — and excited to see what the East, Midwest, and South have to offer!  Check out j. weekly’s article to hear the perspectives of JVGroup alumni and to learn more about our trip out West.

And if you’re not on the West Coast, it’s not too late to ask your burning questions or hear more about what the Dual Investment Program has to offer.  Joshua Venture Group is heading back on the road!  Click here to see if we’re heading to a city near you.

Citizen Film is committed to collaborating with civic and community institutions to make films that engage audiences in meaningful conversation about the relationship between culture and community. Since 2002, Citizen Film has produced the New Jewish Filmmaking Project, a program of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival dedicated to showcasing diversity in the Jewish Community from the point of view of the culturally diverse generation of Jews that is coming of age today. Sam launched the New Jewish Filmmaking Project thanks to a 2001 Joshua Venture Fellowship.

Bio
Sam Ball is a producer and director of documentary films whose work has been showcased at prestigious art film venues around the world, including MoMA New York (in 2002, 2005, and 2006), the Pompidou Center’s Cinéma du Réel in Paris, the Hirshhorn in Washington DC, the Sundance film festival, and many more.

Twelve of Sam’s films have shown on public television. His latest production is “Balancing Acts: a Jewish Theater in the Soviet Union,” which he directed for the multi-media exhibit Chagall and the Artists of Russian-Jewish Theater (March 22 – September 7, 2009 – the Jewish Museums of New York and San Francisco). Thanks to a grant from the Creative Work Fund, he has begun work on a mixed-media piece about the Group Theater for the Jewish Theater – San Francisco, in collaboration with playwright Corey Fischer.

For the past seven years, Sam has been producing and directing documentary films for the San Francisco-based Citizen Film, Inc., which he co-founded with filmmakers Sophia Constantinou and Kate Stilley. Together, they have produced more than 30 documentaries of all lengths and formats since the company’s founding in 2002.

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Bio

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We believe that Jewish social entrepreneurs play an important role in fostering change.  Therefore, after a thoughtful restructuring, fund solicitation, and formation of a new team, Joshua Venture Group has re-emerged and will provide important resources to visionary leaders. We are proud of our alumni and their important contributions to the Jewish community. We look forward to building on our strong foundation to invest in social entrepreneurs and support work that will transform the Jewish world. Our vision is an enhanced Jewish community that meets the needs of all Jews in all domains — the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual.

For more information about Joshua Venture Group and our relaunch, visit About us and Our Story.

Jenny Kibrit is a dynamic and passionate Jewish professional with experience working within the Jewish community in several capacities. Most recently, she served as a research associate for a consulting team contracted by UJA-Federation of New York to identify strategies for engaging young Jewish families. Prior to her work in consulting, Jenny managed special projects in constituent communications and public relations at Mayyim Hayyim, an innovative mikveh and education center in Newton, MA. She has coordinated and facilitated community service learning projects for high school students attending the Genesis summer program at Brandeis University, as well as developed and implemented engagement programming for college students through Hillel at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Originally from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Jenny holds an MBA in Social Policy and Management and an MA in Jewish Professional Leadership from Brandeis University, as well as a BA in International Studies and Spanish Language from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.