Tarbuton Israeli Cultural Experiences San Diego was awarded several years of Federation Innovation Grants, and we’re thrilled to see this important program thrive and grow in our community and beyond. Kol HaKavod!

In recognition of the 25th anniversary of The Covenant Foundation, PresenTense Group and The Covenant Foundation have selected three organizations to participate in the inaugural year of The PresenTense Community Hackathon.

The Community Hackathon is designed to galvanize local leaders to solve a key challenge related to Jewish education and engagement by generating, prototyping and integrating new solutions into their communities. Participating host institutions will receive training, in-kind support and $15,000 in funding to execute the program and seed the new ideas that emerge.

PresenTense received a strong and diverse applicant pool of 20+ forward-thinking institutions making compelling cases for the value that these innovative methodologies would bring to their work.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, and Tarbuton in San Diego have been selected as the host institutions in the first year.

“We were blown away by the creativity and passion demonstrated by the applicants for the first-ever Community Hackathon. Jewish institutions across the country are eager to connect more deeply with their constituents and leverage local resources and talent to offer meaningful and creative pathways to Jewish education and engagement. We look forward to showcasing the work of the Vancouver, Portland and San Diego communities as a celebration of The Covenant Foundation’s upcoming 25th anniversary. We believe they will pave the way for other communities to integrate these methodologies into their day to day work for years to come,” said Naomi Korb Weiss, CEO of PresenTense.

According to Harlene Appelman, Executive Director of The Covenant Foundation, “The Hackathon, along with other 25th Anniversary initiatives, is designed to create a conversation about Jewish education throughout North America.”

Beginning in November 2016, the three communities will begin the yearlong PresenTense program. Leaders from the host institutions will together learn PresenTense’s tools and methodologies, forming a community of practice to implement them on a local level. With the support of PresenTense, each institution will identify a communal education challenge, engage local stakeholders, and host a high-energy Community Hackathon in the spring of 2017. At the conclusion of the event, three teams or individuals in each community will be selected to proceed to the idea acceleration phase, facilitated by PresenTense, in order to develop and implement their pilot ventures.

This article originally appeared in eJewish Philanthropy and is reprinted here with permission.