Jewish Communal Leadership Program
Prepared for Challenge, Poised for Change
The University of Michigan's Jewish Communal Leadership Program (JCLP) offers a distinctive educational opportunity for emerging leaders committed to helping Jewish communities meet 21st-century challenges while also addressing broader social concerns.
The JCLP is a five-semester program conducted over 20 consecutive months:
- A Master's in Social Work
- A Certificate in Jewish Communal Leadership from the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies
- All JCLP students are encouraged to take advantage of the resources offered by the Leadership in Community Benefit Organizations program
- Supervised field work in a range of local, national, and international change-making agencies
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Program Funding: Nonresident students: $47,000 award, Resident students $23,500. All applicants are encouraged to investigate and apply for the Wexner Graduate Fellowships and the JCC Association Graduate Scholarship Program. Merit awards and need based financial aid are also available.
How To Apply
We are now accepting applications for Fall 2017. The online application can be found here. For full consideration, please apply by December 1, 2016. Priority deadline is February 1, 2017 and regular deadline is March 1, 2017.
Contact Paige Walker (vpwalker@umich.edu) for more details or any questions.
Student and Alumni Profiles
Jacob Ehrlich
From Westhampton, New York, Jacob Ehrlich comes to JCLP by way of Amherst, Massachusetts. He graduated with a B.A. in Religious Studies from Hampshire College in May 2015, where he completed a thesis project exploring the dynamics of tradition and innovation in Jewish and Hindu mystical revival movements. He has lent his services as a songleader and homilist to Detroit Jews for Justice and the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, and served as a Hebrew and Judaica Teacher at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield in Fall 2015. As an undergraduate student, he functioned as a spiritual leader for the Jewish community at Hampshire College and interned with the Wexler Oral History Project at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Jacob is interested in how religious practice can be used as a technology for self-transformation and social change, and believes that spirituality holds the key to building and sustaining communities to operate with resilience and reverence. He is excited to pursue Interpersonal Practice with the JCLP, in hopes that he may better serve communities in need as a counselor and spiritual resource as he makes his way toward the rabbinate.
Alumnus Josh Kanter
Alumnus Josh Kanter talks about his experience at the U-M School of Social Work and the Jewish Communal Leadership Program.