What is the Diller Teen Fellowship?

The Diller Teen Fellowship (DTF) is a national initiative to promote Jewish teen leadership based on a successful model implemented in San Francisco for the past ten years. It is a selective year-long program for local cohorts of twenty 10th and 11th graders, focusing on Israel education, leadership training, community service, and Jewish ethics and identity-building.  It is the hope and belief of the Helen Diller Family Foundation that by investing in our teens today we will be creating the future leaders of the Jewish Community.  During eight Sunday workshops and three intensive weekend retreats, Fellows participate in a Jewish educational training series and create and implement social service projects. The program also includes a three week summer seminar in Israel and a ten day peer-to-peer exchange in the U.S. with Israeli teen leaders.  

Which communities have already implemented the Diller Teen Fellowship?

San Francisco/ Upper Galilee, Detroit/ Central Galilee, Cleveland/ Beit Shean, Baltimore/ Ashkelon, Los Angeles/ Tel Aviv, and Metro-West New Jersey/ Rishon L’ Tzion are all proud to be the first communities implementing the Diller Teen Fellows program.  These communities were carefully selected for the first phase of expansion.

How will the Diller Teen Fellowship program work in my community?

The program model will be customized to meet the unique needs and existing programs and institutions of each participating community. The national initiative will provide a San Francisco-based director and an Israel-based coordinator who will work in-person, by telephone, electronically, and through video-conferencing with partnering communities to disseminate model curricula and marketing materials, train local DTF program staff (including two annual training seminars for all the local coordinators), convene all the DTF participants in Israel for three weeks each summer, and assist the regional coordinators in tracking and evaluating the programs.

How much will it cost?

While the actual budget is likely to vary in each city, the annual program budget model for each community is expected to be approximately $298,000. The Helen Diller Family Foundation will grant $95,000 toward the annual local program budget of each new community and approximately $50,000 in services including, but not limited to the curriculum, staff training and oversight, and the coordination of the Israel Summer Seminar. American participating families will be asked to pay $1,800 each. American participant fees are anticipated to provide $30,000 to each community, with an estimated four-to-five scholarships totaling $6,000 budgeted for each group of 20.   Israeli participating families will be asked to pay $500 each (plus the cost of their travel visa to the U.S.).  Israeli participant fees are anticipated to provide $9,000, with scholarships totaling $1,000.  Each participating community—through its Federation or another funding body—will contribute $54,000 towards the local program and an estimated $60,000 towards the Israeli peer-to-peer exchange program. The implementation budget is projected to increase by 3% annually, allowing for inflation, and the grant from the Helen Diller Family Foundation will increase proportionately each year.

Budget income summary

Expense summary

How does the peer-to-peer exchange with Israeli teens fit into the DTF program?

Local communities should have already established or be willing to establish an exchange program with Israeli teens, such as the one offered through the Federation’s Living Bridge program.  The DTF national director and the Israel based Diller representative can help facilitate the process of establishing a program for Israeli teen leaders in your sister city.  These Israeli teens are hosted by your community for a peer-to-peer experience with the Diller Teen Fellows.  They will also participate in one of the local retreats with the DTF and then host the DTF in the summer when they come to Israel.  This is a critical step in developing the participants’ lifelong relationship with Israel and many DTF alumni consider it to be a highlight of the program.

How will the local program interact with the national program? What is the reporting structure? How does accountability work?

The local program will be primarily accountable to its own community funders, institutional home, and lay advisory board for policy and program management. It is important that the local institution housing the program establish an internal support structure to ensure success.  In addition, the local program will be overseen by the National Director to ensure quality standards, although the role of the National Director is primarily to support the local programs and serve as a resource. The National Director will also be coordinating the Israel Summer Seminar in cooperation with the local program staff to ensure that the content of the trip will be integrated into the local curriculum. The local community is required to meet criteria set by the national program, including all elements enumerated under “Eligibility and Requirements.” In order to continue to obtain national funding community programs will need to maintain these requirements.

Eligibility and Requirements?

A community will be selected to participate when it demonstrates readiness:

• To provide an institutional home for the DTF program within an organization with the capacity to sustain the program and to identify a dedicated DTF program regional coordinator.
• To obtain support for $54,000 of the program budget from the local Federation’s annual Campaign funds, local Endowment/Foundation grants or other private donors.

• To market the program broadly to local agencies, synagogues and lay leaders to recruit a critical mass of teens with high potential to be Jewish community leaders (the National Director will provide model marketing materials).

• To assemble a lay committee to oversee the local program policies, recruitment and selection of participants.

• To make an initial three year commitment.

• To accommodate the peer-to-peer experience with Israeli teen leaders through the community’s Living Bridge program or other comparable program.

Does our community have to have the $54,000 per year financial commitment in place before applying?

The community will need to secure funding before Helen Diller Family Foundation funds are transmitted, but the partnership process can begin before a firm commitment is secured. The DTF National Director can offer support for marketing the program to potential funders in your local community.

In which community agency should the DTF program be housed?

Depending upon the structure of your community, the program could be housed in the Federation, the local Bureau of Jewish Education, a JCC, the Israel Center, or another agency with the capacity and mission to deliver the program effectively.

What happens if the security situation in Israel gets worse?

While the Israel summer seminar is critical to the Diller Teen Fellows experience and there is no comparable substitute to an Israel experience, safety of the participants is clearly the top priority.  If the security situation deteriorates to a point where we cannot confidently ensure the safety of the participants, alternative arrangements for the summer seminar will be made.  For example, the San Francisco DTF group was scheduled to leave for Israel at the height of the war in July 2006.  Instead of traveling at that time, an alternative summer seminar was created locally and the Diller Teens postponed their traveled to Israel until Passover in 2007.

How can the program be customized to suit our community? What kind of flexibility do we have? Can we have a cohort of five to six people? Do we have to go to Israel? Can we adapt an existing program to fit the guidelines for participating?

While it is possible to adapt an existing program to fit the guidelines for participation, all programs must strive to have 20 participants and an institutional home, meet curricular guidelines, implement social service projects, and participate in the joint Israel Summer Seminar.

What happens if a student is selected and then mid-year the family determines that it is unfeasible for the student to participate in the Israel Summer Seminar?

Every student must commit to participate in the summer group travel experience in order to be part of the program, and each family must be accountable for this commitment.

Is our local community required to use the Diller name? What if a local donor wants to use his/her name?

All programs receiving support from the Helen Diller Family Foundation are expected to carry the Diller name as the “brand name” for the program. While the Diller Teen Fellows name must be used, additional supporters can be acknowledged in marketing and program materials, i.e. “The Detroit Diller Teen Fellows Program is co-sponsored and partially funded by the Stephen H. Schulman Millennium Fund.”

Who are the Dillers and why did they choose to establish such a program?

The Diller Teen Fellows program is just one of the many programs and institutions that are supported by the philanthropy of Helen and Sanford Diller. The Helen Diller Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund creates and maintains groundbreaking programs in a broad range of priority areas, including youth, education, the elderly, the arts, medical research, leadership development, and Israel.

What are the selection criteria in choosing participating communities?

Successful implementation of the program requires strong community youth professionals, strong institutional structures to support the program, an ability to recruit a cohort of 20 young leaders and secure financial commitment for a minimum of three years.  We are also seeking communities that already have in place or will establish a Living Bridge or comparable program that can accommodate a peer-to-peer experience with Israeli teen leaders.

Where do I go for more information?

http://www.sfjcf.org/israel/diller/
A site is being developed with much more information on the national program, but in the meantime, you are encouraged to contact Phyllis Cook at 415-512-6211 or Nicole Miller at 415-512-6206 or NicoleM@sfjcf.org .

When is the deadline to apply? To have the program in place?

The goal is to have the next group of cohorts recruited and selected by the fall of 2008, with trips to Israel in the summer of 2009.  To accomplish this, the local host community should be prepared with staffing, an institutional home and internal support structure in place by spring 2008.  Applications from new communities will be accepted on a rolling basis.  

How does our community apply? Whom do we contact?

An initial exploratory conversation with the National Director of the Diller Teen Fellows, in advance of formal application submission, is strongly encouraged. Please contact Phyllis Cook at 415-512-6211 or Nicole Miller, DTF National Program Director, at 415-512-6206 or by e-mail at NicoleM@sfjcf.org.