A new round of grants from the Jewish United Fund’s Community Foundation for Jewish Education will provide $350,000 to grow and improve educational programs at more than two dozen congregational schools and early childhood centers throughout the Chicago area.

The total includes new support from the Harvey L. Miller Supporting Foundation, which will allow CFJE and its partner, JUF Right Start, to offer additional funds to help Jewish early childhood schools attract more families to Jewish early childhood education.

Other grants, available to congregational schools and Jewish enrichment programs, as well as early childhood centers, will promote existing best practices and planning efforts.

“This year’s grants reflect CFJE’s strategic commitment to funding growth opportunities for congregational education in the Chicago Jewish community through investment in what applicants see as their best practices,” said Debbie Berman, board chair of CJFE. “They also reflect our investment in planning for the future, which includes several grants to enable schools to work cooperatively with other schools in their area.

“Moreover,” Berman said, “thanks to our partnership with JUF Right Start and the Harvey L. Miller Supporting Foundation, we are making significant progress in bolstering the quality of Jewish early childhood education programs throughout the Chicago area.”

CFJE Executive Director Rabbi Scott Aaron said that “our efforts to ensure more factual knowledge about local congregational and early childhood education were very useful in both our understanding of the needs of the applicants and in helping them think through ideas for the most effective uses of requested funds.”

The new Barrier Buster Grants, allocated in partnership with JUF Right Start and the Miller Foundation, will go to BJE B’nai Tikvah, to expand morning offerings to accommodate family needs; Ginsberg Solomon Schechter Early Childhood Center to deepen its Project Approach curriculum; Glasser Preschool/Oak Park Temple to study the possibility of expanding to full day; Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School for reimagined space for families with young children; JCC Chicago for its Interfaith Family Outreach Initiative; Moadon Gan Gani for targeted marketing materials; Beth Emet for a feasibility study of Jewish home daycare for infants/toddlers in Evanston; and Chicago Jewish Day School for recruitment videos.

Early Childhood Education Grants have been awarded to Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation for its Reggio Emilia approach; BJE ECC/Beth Hillel Bnai Emunah to expand professional growth opportunities; JCC Z Frank Apachi Day Camp for expansion of its Loose Parts curriculum; Moriah ECC for a documentation project on building Jewish identity in Jewish EC schools; Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov for its non-fiction early childhood library; and Jewish Council for Youth Services for its Child & Family Development Specialist Initiative.

Jewish Enrichment Grants will be used by the Jewish Enrichment Center of Hyde Park for its Education Documentation Initiative, and by Bayit Evanston to develop its licensing strategy.

Congregational Education Grants will go to Temple Beth-El’s Mishpachot program; BJBE’s Ma’avar : Web-Based Jewish Learning Enrichment effort; Temple Beth Israel’s Hebrew Pedagogy Improvement program; Temple Jeremiah’s Bridging the Gap: Bringing Israel Closer to Home program; the Board of Jewish Education’s Kickstart Chicago; Congregation Knesseth Israel for Israel Education Fox Valley Style; West Suburban Temple Har Zion’s Hebrew enrichment program; Oak Park Temple’s madrichim training; North Shore Congregation Israel, for Innovation Activities: 4 curricular enhancements; Anshe Emet Synagogue and Temple Sholom, for a Joint Professional Development Project; Beth Shalom-Northbrook’s Hebrew Through Movement program; and Or Shalom’s Hebrew Through Movement Northwest project.

For more information about CFJE and its Jewish Education grants, contact Rabbi Scott Aaron, Ph.D., at (312) 673-3267 or[email protected].