Yitro Leadership Program

The Yitro Leadership program focuses on the next generation of camp leadership: assistant and associate directors. Generously funded by the AVI CHAI Foundation, Yitro trains young leaders to build vibrant, intentional camp communities that are infused with Jewish values, ethics, culture, and spirit. The program supports our ongoing effort to bring top-level executive management practices to Jewish camp, and develop camp experiences that shape and secure children’s Jewish identity for the future.

Over the course of 19 months, participants convene for five intensive sessions led by experts and recognized leaders from various disciplines. We built the curriculum to address the unique role of assistant/associate directors and their main responsibilities, including staff management, assessing and creating change in communities, group facilitation, delivering and receiving feedback, staff morale, facilitating meetings, strategies for behavior intervention, problem analysis and resolution, and mission-based decision making.

Now in its second cycle, Yitro has already graduated 15 camp professionals, several of which have transitioned into roles as camp directors or leaders within the Jewish community.  Yitro Alumni are eligible to apply for matching grants to enhance their Jewish programming for camp staff at their current camps.

Yitro II:

After a rigorous application and selection process with 40 candidates, 19 camps were invited to participate in the second cohort of the Yitro Leadership Program. The selection process for the second cohort placed a strong emphasis on the candidate’s commitment to the field of Jewish camp, and their professional role in cultivating and managing the staff culture at their camp.

The members of the second cohort of the Yitro Leadership Program are as follows. Following each candidate’s name is the camp, camp sponsoring movement, and camp office location:

• Ezra Androphy, Pinemere Camp, JCCA, Philadelphia, PA
• Daniel Baer, Camp Interlaken JCC, JCCA, Milwaukee, WI
• Kelly Biedinger, URJ Kutz Camp, Warwick, NY
• Gary Brandt, URJ Henry S. Jacobs Camp, URJ, Utica, MS
• Aaron Cantor, Camp Seneca Lake, Independent, Rochester, NY
• Marissa Frankel, URJ Eisner Camp Institute, URJ, Washington Township, NJ
• Beth Kanofsky, URJ Camp Harlam, URJ, Philadelphia, PA
• Drea Lear, Herzl Camp, Independent, Saint Louis Park, MN
• Rachel Levine, B’nai B’rith Perlman Camp, B’nai B’rith, Gaithersburg, MD
• Katie Quinn, Camp Tawonga, JCCA, San Francisco, CA
• Mallory Saks, Camp Poyntelle Lewis Village, JCCA, Bayside, NY
• Rachel Saslove, Camp Mountain Chai, JCCA, San Diego, CA
• Andrea Solomon, URJ Camp Coleman, URJ, Atlanta, GA
• Joshua Sternburg, Camp JRF, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Jenkintown, PA
• Seth Toybes, Wilshire Blvd Temple Camps, Independent Reform Camp, Los Angeles, CA
• Michael Wax, B’nai B’rith Beber Camp, B’nai B’rith, Skokie, IL
• Eli Zevin, Camp Alonim, American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA

We are looking forward to working with this cohort during their program participation, which extends into the fall of 2013.