PANIM's Summer JAM: For Alumni

"Summer JAM has given me the direction which I so desperately needed in order
to become involved politically within my community both locally and nationally.
PANIM has shown me that
one person can make a difference and that is the
only confidence I need to go home and advocate for the things which I believe in.
My Summer JAM experience has opened my eyes to the diversity that exists within
the Jewish community."
-Jodi Schneider,
Jacksonville, FL

For High School Students:

Youth Venture
Youth Venture helps to empower young people ages 12-20 by providing them all the tools necessary to create civic-minded organizations, clubs or businesses. Ventures are supplied with up to $1000 in start-up grants for their venture. A Venture can be any youth-created, youth-led organization designed to provide a positive lasting benefit in a school, neighborhood, or large community. We strive to reach and support any young person nationwide who has a dream about how to make a difference, and the dedication to make it happen.

J-Serve
J-Serve is a single day on which Jewish youth across the country perform acts of community service in conjunction with Youth Service America’s National Youth Day of Service. The goal of J-Serve is to create an annual event around which the entire Jewish community can mobilize across denominational/movement lines.

Jewish Coalition for Service
The mission of the Jewish Coalition for Service is to inspire everyone in the Jewish community to dedicate a part of their lives to full-time, hands-on volunteer service. Check out their website for a great listing of intensive service programs for Jews of all ages and backgrounds.

Genesis
Genesis is an academic program but it is much more than summer school. Teenagers with different beliefs and practices engage with an exceptional group of scholars, artists, activists, and experiential educators to participate in a dynamic Jewish living experience.

Panim el Panim
Panim el Panim is Hebrew for “face to face.” Since 1988, 12,000 teens from 200 communities have traveled to Washington to participate in Panim el Panim: High School in Washington . Each seminar brings together diverse groups of 10th-12th grader students from around the country to explore public policy and social activism through a Jewish lens.On Panim el Panim, participants learn about public policy and political activism by interacting with experts on a wide range of cutting edge issues. Topics include capital punishment, civil liberties, abortion, bio-ethics, gun control, and peace and war.

PanimWorks
Live and work in an entirely new culture this summer! Make a difference as you live in rustic accommodations on a Native-American reservation, interacting with members of the Navajo Nation while working together to promote positive change. This trip in the majestic Southwest includes hands-on service projects as well as outdoor recreational activities. Make lifelong friends and learn about the ethical values that define Jewish life while earning up to 45 community service-learning hours. PanimWorks is open to rising high school sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduating seniors.

Jewish Civics Initiative
The Jewish Civics Initiative (JCI) is a unique educational program teaching 10th, 11th and 12th grade high school students to apply Jewish values to public policy and social justice issues. The JCI program has three major elements: an innovative curriculum based on Jewish values , Washington D.C. seminar and community-based service-learning projects.

American Jewish World Service
The AJWS's Volunteer Summer and Alternative Break Program's offer High School and College students an intensive experience volunteering in underdeveloped communities around the globe!

For College Students and Graduates:

Taglit-birthright israel
Taglit-birthright Israel provides the gift of first time, peer group, educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26. Taglit-birthright Israel ’s founders created this program to send thousands of young Jewish adults from all over the world to Israel as a gift in order to diminish the growing division between Israel and Jewish communities around the world; to strengthen the sense of solidarity among world Jewry; and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people.

Machon Kaplan
Machon Kaplan is a unique summer work/study internship program for undergraduate students from college campuses across North America interested in Judaism and social justice. Based in Washington , D.C. at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, it provides students with a meaningful internship dealing with social justice issues; the opportunity to engage in academic study that relates to their internships; and, a community of like-minded students to share the experience together in a group living atmosphere. Students learn, through study and action, the interrelationship of Judaism and American democratic ideals, as well as the political interaction of the organized American Jewish community and the U.S. government, while gaining a foundation of Jewish knowledge to help ground the political issues on which the Center works.

Urban Mitzvah Corps
The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs’ Urban Mitzvah Corps program gives college students the opportunity to spend winter break doing hands-on social justice work in Chicago . Students will learn about Jewish approaches to social justice and social action on campus, while exploring Chicago with new friends.

Jewish Coalition for Service
The Jewish Coalition for Service was recently listed in Slingshot as one of 50 most innovative Jewish organizations. The mission of the Jewish Coalition for Service is to inspire everyone in the Jewish community to dedicate a part of their lives to full-time, hands-on volunteer service.

Weinberg Tzedek Hillel
Weinberg Tzedek Hillel is a public service and social justice initiative devoted to transforming the culture of your campus and your community.