Vision

The goal of The Diller Teen Fellows (DTF) Program is to develop future generations of Jewish leaders worldwide who will be committed to the Jewish community, Israel, and community service. At the program’s end each participant will feel inspired and empowered to take action.

Goals

• Judaism & Jewish Identity: exploring various aspects of the participants' commitment to Jewish identity - humanistic values, ancient tradition, historical memory, religious faith, cultural works, connection with Israel, and a sense of shared destiny with the Jewish people as a whole.
• Community Service & Activism: encouraging participants to act according to a sense of communal responsibility both locally and globally.
• Leadership: developing the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively impact and inspire others.
• Israel and the Diaspora: enriching and strengthening ties between Jewish teenagers in Diaspora Jewish communities and their counterparts in Israel; instilling a deep connection and sense of responsibility to the state, people, and land of Israel.

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 twelve 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 North America with Israeli teen leaders.   

Which communities have already implemented the Diller Teen Fellowship?

San Francisco/ Upper Galilee, Cleveland/ Beit Shean, Baltimore/ Ashkelon, Los Angeles/ Tel Aviv, Metro-West New Jersey/ Rishon L’ Tzion, Boston/ Haifa, and Montreal/ Beer Sheva are all proud to be the first communities implementing the Diller Teen Fellows program. These communities were carefully selected for the initial 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, an education 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 $348,000. The Helen Diller Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties will grant $190,000* toward the annual local program budget of each new community, in addition to many services including, but not limited to the curriculum, staff training and oversight, and the coordination and implementation of the Israel Seminar. American participating families will be asked to pay $2,500 each. American participant fees are anticipated to provide $50,000 to each community. 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 $10,000, with scholarships totaling $7,000 budgeted for each partnership. Each participating community—through its Federation or another funding body—will contribute a total of $98,000 towards the North American and Israeli programs.

* This is in addition to the support from the National DTF offices in North America and Israel (including, but not limited to the curriculum, U.S. and Israel-based professional and support staff and educational specialists, program evaluation services and templates, marketing templates, travel, joint program and retreat for all the Israeli teens, and training workshops for staff from your local community). This amounts to an estimated $81,000 in additional in-kind support for your community.

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 through the Federation’s Living Bridge program. The DTF national director, education 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 office to ensure quality standards, although the role of the national office is primarily to support the local programs and serve as a resource. The national office 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?

• 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 $98,000 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 education 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 $98,000 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 instead the Diller Teens traveled to Israel over 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 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.

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? How does our community apply? Whom do we contact?

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 Nicole Miller, National Director, Diller Teen Initiatives, at 415-512-6206 or NicoleM@sfjcf.org, or Mark Reisbaum, Director of Grants, Jewish Community Endowment Fund, at 415-512-6251. An initial exploratory conversation with Nicole Miller, in advance of formal application submission, is strongly encouraged.

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 2009, with Israel seminars in the summer of 2010. To accomplish this, the local host community should be prepared with staffing, an institutional home and internal support structure in place by spring 2009. Applications from new communities will be accepted on a rolling basis.