Description

Over the last year the URJ has shifted our approach to building NFTY and our Reform Youth Movement from a general engagement model, to a community organizing model that empowers teens to create the community they want to live in. Studies show that this approach not only helps increase engagement by building a movement of like-minded peers, but also helps the teens involved be more resilient, more joyful, and more confident in themselves. Join us for an introduction to this approach and explore how you might bring it to your own setting.

Michelle Shapiro Abraham, MAJE, RJE (she/her), is the Union for Reform Judaism’s  executive director of strategic innovation and program for camps, youth & immersives.  A longtime Jewish educator, author, and speaker, she holds a master’s degree in Jewish education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.  Michelle is a recipient of the 2015 Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education and an active member of Temple Sholom in Scotch Plains, NJ, where her husband, Joel Abraham, serves as the rabbi.