The Judith Trust announced this week that they have chosen JLGB to take on the next phase of their Inclusion Campaign, and will be funding the project for the next two years. By passing the baton on to JLGB, the Judith Trust hopes that even more Jewish young people with individual needs, as well as the youth leaders and community professionals who support them, have the toolkits they need to reach their potential by making youth social action more assessable, inclusive and empowering for all.
The Judith Trust began its Inclusion Campaign in 2011, and has been working cross-communally throughout the Jewish community to promote the inclusion of people with learning disabilities and/or mental ill-health into Jewish community life. In parallel, the JLGB have been running accessible and inclusive activities for young people with physical and learning difficulties across its network, most notably through its adapted kosher Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition provision.
This collaboration is the perfect synergy to empower Jewish young women and men of all abilities to take part in youth activities, volunteering, leadership and social action opportunities throughout our community, whilst ensuring that their individual inclusion needs can be met.
In the coming years, JLGB will engage an estimated 15,000 Jewish young people through it’s ‘evolve – youth volunteering and skills initiative’, which is a unique collective impact project and game changer for youth social action across the Jewish community. The backbone of evolve is a digital platform, funded by the Wohl Foundation, which matches, records and rewards young people’s volunteering through national awards and accreditation.
Through evolve, JLGB are already on course to work with over 300 charities to create faith-based and culturally sensitive volunteering opportunities, and now through this campaign will broaden accessibility even further with an inclusion kitemark for evolve charities whose opportunities are adaptable for young people with individual needs.
Jo Richler, Education Consultant for The Judith Trust said:
“We are so pleased that JLGB have agreed to take the Inclusion Campaign to its next phase and are excited about the possibilities this new collaboration will bring to hundreds of young women and men with individual needs who want to be part of our community and take part in all it has to offer. I am also delighted that the current Inclusion Campaign advisory group, consisting of senior representatives from across the spectrum of Jewish affiliation, including Rabbi’s and professionals from the Jewish community’s social care providers, have all agreed to continue to support this work. This will ensure a cross-communal approach to inclusion so that no one in our community is left out.”
Neil Martin OBE, JLGB Chief Executive said:
“We are proud to be the new custodians of the Inclusion Campaign and are grateful to the Judith Trust for their belief in the JLGB to continue the initiative and support many more young people with individual needs to achieve the awards and accreditation that will so greatly benefit them as they go onto adult life. Through our weekly activity groups up and down the UK, DofE Expeditions, evolve volunteering opportunities from the Yoni Jesner Award to National Citizen Service, JLGB [are excited] will be able to build capacity to ensure that all Jewish young people, regardless of ability or circumstance, can be included.”
All synagogues, youth groups, community centres and charities are invited to get involved with the next exciting steps of the campaign and plans are already underway to offer inclusion workshops for all stakeholders, including parents. To find out more please email empower@jlgb.org or call 020 8989 8990.
