Growing up can be a challenge, especially for ‘tweens’—kids ages 9 through 13. Girls in this age group have their own unique needs as they face situations like social isolation, bullying, and obsession with body image.

Tracey Kite, a HealthCare Guide with Jewish Child & Family Services (JCFS), said, “We have come to understand and recognize the barriers to helping girls develop self-esteem,” she said. “We thought, ‘How can we be active in shifting those barriers?'”

A new program, BeTween: Growing Healthy Jewish Girls, seeks to address young girls’ concerns, using a Jewish lens. This comprehensive model program will provide Jewish girls with knowledge and skills for leadership, health, and identity. The Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (JWF) provided an initial grant for a one-year collaborative planning process, in which groups from across the spectrum of the Chicago Jewish community, that included the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, JWF, JCFS, Jewish Community Center (JCC) Chicago, Response, Moving Traditions: Rosh Hodesh-It’s a Girl Thing!, Chicago area synagogues, concerned parents-and the girls themselves.

“It’s been a collaborative process form the beginning. That’s part of what makes it so exciting. That also tells us that this is important to a lot of people,” said Ann Luban, JCFS Program Specialist.

The surveys, research, and focused discussions “opened all of our eyes to the little things that we need to pay attention to, in order to help our girls,” Luban said.

“We talked to girls in grades three through six, and we talked to their moms,” Kite said. “We also talked to high school girls and their parents, and asked them to look back and tell us what would have been helpful. We envisioned what I think is an amazing program that will focus on fun, healthy role modeling, teaching skills to help girls grow emotionally and physically, and keep them connected Jewishly.”

The BeTween program includes professional and paraprofessional training.

The Mayer Kaplan JCC will pilot the program, starting with a kickoff event, “Just BeTween Us: A Celebration of Jewish Girls and the Women in their Lives,” on Sunday, Nov. 23, from 1:15-5 p.m. The event features Caroline Rothstein, a motivational speaker, performer, and host of the YouTube series, “Body Empowerment.” Rothstein is a Chicago native currently based in New York City.

Breakout sessions include spoken word poetry with Rothstein, a mother-daughter book club, Art Fun: Getting to Know Myself on the Inside and Outside, BBYO: “I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss,” Rosh Hodesh-It’s a Girl Thing!, and Smarty Pants Yoga. Adult sessions focus on parenting challenges such as social media and girl drama. The event will close with Pound Fit, an aerobics program with drumming.

Additional BeTween programs will be added later, including a girls’ running program that starts next month, Kite said.

Parent Stacy Saef said her daughter is excited about the event. “I left the BeTween Us postcard in my car, awaiting my daughter’s keen eye. She spotted it and read through the material and within minutes, she was sold, especially when she found out that Smarty Pants Yoga is coming.”

Luban said high school girls will attend the event, to be positive Jewish role models for younger girls. “Girls like to be with older girls. The older girls said it was important to them when they were younger to have older girls around who would understand them in ways they felt adults didn’t.”

The BeTween website is scheduled to launch sometime this month. It will include not only events and activities, but will serve as an informational hub for parents and girls, with links to partner organizations.

Kite said materials developed for BeTween will be available for use throughout the community at no cost. “We really want this to be community based,” she said. “One synagogue is restarting its mother-daughter book club, using our materials.”

“BeTween is so important,” Luban said. “We have an opportunity to move the Jewish community forward in this, taking a whole cohort of girls and helping them experience
things differently.”

For registration information, visit http://bit.ly/BeTweenForm or call the Mayer Kaplan JCC at (847) 763-3500.