If the future of Louisville’s Jewish community depends on getting young people involved in the Young Adult Division, then the Jewish Federation of Louisville must find ways to reach out to and engage these young people on their terms.
To begin the process, YAD Co-Chairs Keren Benabou and Laurence Nibur, working with JCC Special Events and Development Director Lenae Price, have convened a group of emerging leaders to create the YAD Ambassadors program.
“The program goal is to develop the next generation of young leaders and to redefine how we do that into the future,” Nibur said. To do this, the ambassadors will look a the variety of constituencies within YAD – singles, marrieds without children, marrieds with young children, intermarrieds, etc.
“This is the most dynamic time of life for young adults,” he noted. “A lot of change happens and we have to figure out how to approach each of these groups.”
At the first meeting on December 13, the YAD Ambassadors met for two and a half hours, brainstorming to create a vibrant YAD program.
The first event will be a YAD Happy Hour on Thursday, January 7, 6-8 p.m. at the new bar, Galaxie, in the Green Building in NuLu.
The group is also planning an active presence on social media. #JewLou is already an active web page, according to Nibur. “We want to make it very easy for folks to find out about what’s happening in Jewish Louisville.”
A second site, #becauseitmatters, is planned as a conversation starter. Nibur said he might write, “I’m an active member of the Jewish community because it matters to me that my children have access to the same sense of community as I did.” A young single without children might answer the same question very differently.
Current YAD Ambassadors are Sarah Bloom, Sasha Chack, Alison Feit, Larry Forman, Lisa Rothstein Goldberg, Brett Hudspeth, Shmully Litvin, Devon Oser, Dereck Pugh, Justin Smith and Casy Tuma.
If you are interested in becoming a YAD Ambassador and helping reimagine and restructure YAD, contact Lenae Price at lprice@jewishlouisville.org or 502-238-2763.
