The National Ramah Commission Launches Ramah Service Corps

New Initiative to Increase Camper Enrollment and
Bring the "Magic of Summer Camp" to Our Communities Year-Round

November 18, 2010 / 11 Kislev 5771

We are very pleased to announce that the National Ramah Commission (NRC) has received a generous grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camp to launch the Ramah Service Corps Initiative.

This new initiative will enable us to increase the number of children experiencing Jewish summer camp and establish year-round Ramah-style programs in up to 24 synagogues, schools or other educational settings. The goals of the project are three-fold:

1. To increase Jewish camp enrollment in all of our regions;
2. To bring the magic of Ramah to year-round activities in synagogues, schools and elsewhere; and
3. To afford Ramah staff alumni early professional opportunities in informal Jewish education.

Through the Ramah Service Corps Initiative, the National Ramah Commission will:

1. Raise the profile of Ramah--and Jewish camp in general--by placing 24 interns in educational settings across multiple regions. The interns will be part of a learning cohort and will implement at least two Ramah-style programs during the year.
2. Infuse camp-style programming into year-round educational settings in order to generate interest in Jewish camp and increase camper enrollment.
3. Provide theoretical and programmatic training including both on-line and in-service seminars. Some training will be provided by the Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary, which has established a new program to train informal Jewish educators with a generous grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation.

Each Ramah Service Corps intern will work closely with both the NRC and a mentor from the regional Ramah camp office.

The National Ramah Commission is very excited to launch this initiative, which is a key component of Ramah's strategic planning.

For more information, please contact Amy Skopp Cooper, National Assistant Director of the Ramah Camping Movement, at amcooper@jtsa.edu.

Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, National Ramah Director

www.campramah.org