Help Wanted - Volunteers to establish Jewish Education Programs in University City

One of the primary goals of Kol Ami is to establish a Hebrew and Religious education programs in the University City for people of all ages (3 through adult). As part of the effort we are looking for a group of people to be part of our planning committee. We also want to identify potential teachers and volunteers for the school who could become involved with the curriculum development.

Establishing a quality program will take a great deal of effort and resources. It will be exciting because the University Area is a ground floor opportunity to create a vision amd on-going program for Jewish religious activities. We have already been in contact with organizations in the University Area such as the University YMCA and UNCC Hillel and UNCC Jewish professors to let them know of our plans.

In this early stage vision, we believe we would need a teacher and volunteer assistant in each class that would work with each grade level. We are more interested in people that are innovative teachers and can make learning fun and keep the students motivated. The hebrew/religious curriculum can be learned and we are interested in a two year mininum committment. We plan to provide mentors and training to new teachers.

We also want to identify individuals that are willing to learn about a particular holiday and develop an innovative and fun program for families and the University City community. Other areas of interest will be programs around the challenges of interfaith families, outreach to public schools (educating teachers, administrators and students about Jewish holidays and themes) and community events with other religious institutions in University City.

Some of these ideas we may be able to do immediately, some may take three to five years to develop. It will be an exciting, emotional, and rewarding experience for those volunteers to see their visions and ideas come to fruition.

If you are interested, contact Andy Kaplan, arksales@aol.com

Today was an exciting day as the planning committee for North Charlotte (University City/Huntersville) met with Rabbi Scott Sperling of the Union of Reform Judaism

Rabbi Sperling provided our group with the background of the reform movement and examples of how small synagogues have sprung up throughout the country.

Our goal for now is simple. Provide education, social and spiritual activities to bring the reform and unafilliated community together in the University City area.

We will be forming the following committees to help us in this endeavor.
Steering Committee (Chair, Education Chair, Membership Chair, Public Relations, Treasurer, Secretary).

We will have the following the following four sub-committees for executing the plans.
Education (Hebrew School, Adult Education, Community Outreach)
Social (Holiday events, Youth programs, and other social events)
Financial (Long term planning and Fundraising)
Communications (Newsletter, Public Relations)

We expect to fill these roles as we develop and find individuals.

Shortly we will be setting up a listserv and creating a calendar of events.