Hillel launches $10 million program to train campus staff

Funded with ‘new investments,’ project aims at making Jewish life ‘exciting and relevant for young Jews’

18 November 2016, 3:02 pm

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Eric Fingerhut, former president of Hillel International, speaking at J Street U’s three-day summer leadership institute at a conference center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on August 17, 2015. (Melissa Apter/JTA)

Hillel International launched a new program, Hillel U, to offer training for some 1,000 professionals working for Hillels on US campuses.

The program, launched with $10 million in what the organization calls “new investments,” was announced Wednesday. It is aimed at making Jewish life “exciting and relevant for young Jews.”

Hillel U will incorporate immersive experiences as well as high-quality distance learning programs modeled after top programs in the academic, corporate and nonprofit world, Hillel President and CEO Eric Fingerhut said in a statement.

The program will establish a new Center for Jewish and Israel Education, which will offer in-person training sessions each year.

Hillel also announced the launch of the Leonard and Tobee Kaplan Supervisory Leadership Program to “train Hillel professionals in supervision and personnel management skills to make Hillels even greater places to work.”

These programs follow Hillel’s announcement in March of a series of two-year Springboard Fellowships, which aim to place 500 recent college graduates on campuses across the country for training as Jewish professionals.