Supported by a national grant, Tufts Hillel this fall will begin a new partnership in a bid to promote community service−related initiatives and the link between social justice concepts and Judaism.
Tufts Hillel at a kickoff event tonight will officially announce a new partnership with Repair the World, a national organization dedicated to promoting social activism and community service among American Jews and their communities.
Senior Kira Mikityanskaya and junior Julie Kalt are heading the initiative, funded by a grant received from the national Hillel organization. The initiative will involve student leaders from Hillel, the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) and the Roosevelt Institute.
Repair the World has provided financial assistance to Jewish organizations committed to social activism in the past, but this is the first year in which the national organization is distributing grants to universities, according to Mikityanskaya. Tufts is one of the first universities to receive a grant, Kalt said.
Having been involved with Tufts Hillel since their respective freshman years, Mikityanskaya and Kalt were entrusted with the responsibility of increasing the number of Tufts students performing work related to social justice on regular basis.
"Our mission on behalf of the grant is to substantially increase the number of students that are directly involved in community service and to strengthen the connection between social justice and Judaism," Mikityanskaya said. "Since we are such an active campus, both politically and socially, we hope to find a way to directly connect people to what they are passionate about."
Mikityanskaya added that organizers hope to encourage students to actualize their goals.
"Our goal is to take it to the next level and actually go out into the communities so as to practice what we preach," she said.
The student leaders hope to integrate social justice into their project by applying the CASE methodology, an acronym that stands for community partnerships, advocacy, service and education, according to Kalt.
In addition to formally announcing the newly formed partnership, the aim of the kickoff dinner at the Granoff Family Hillel Center is to gather student leaders and give them the opportunity to exchange ideas about the new initiative, according to Mikityanskaya.
Beth Cousens, the associate vice president of the Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Experience at Hillel's Schusterman International Center, will speak about the connections between the initiative's goals, social justice and Judaism.
By including other student initiatives within the scope of the Repair the World initiative, Mikityanskaya and Kalt hope to highlight the fact that their goal of increasing student participation in service work cannot be achieved without contributions from an array of student bodies on campus.
LCS plans to assist in matching interested students with the resources and partnerships that the organization has already established, according to LCS Presidents Shir Genish and Gregory Lee, both seniors.
"Because students often forget about the importance of volunteering and what they could gain from volunteering, it is nice when a new initiative gets introduced and serves as a refresher," Lee said.
