Text to Relationship Funder/Program Provider Collaboration

“Text to Relationship” brings funders and program providers together to improve Jewish Day School text teaching and classroom learning opportunities related to student spiritual/religious development and relationships with God. The project is centered around the pedagogic approaches and/or curricular materials introduced to Jewish day schools through Ayeka, Pedagogy of Partnership (PoP) at Hadar, or Rohr’s Jewish Learning Initiative (JLI) for Jewish Day School students. In addition, the project funders— The AVI CHAI Foundation, the Mayberg Foundation, the Kohellet Foundation—and providers meet regularly, including three in-person retreats to learn together and to share insights about achieving the program goals. The funders and the providers are learning lessons about this endeavor, individually and collectively, and are collaborating and learning from each other. In addition to the implementation in schools, this project enables all participants to also develop working theories about what works to help Jewish day school students in their religious growth and connection to God.