JCLP Alumni
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Class of 2014
Avital Ostfield
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2014
Avital Ostfield is the Director of Education at Temple Sinai in New Orleans. She previously worked as Director of Education at B'nai Amoona in St. Louis, Missouri and the Director of Congregational Services at Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor, Mchigan. Avital completed the Jewish Communal Leadership Program and her masters in social work in 2014 with the goal of balancing and combining her commitments to Jewish community and the broader society. She spent her time in the program with field placements at the National Council of Jewish Women/Greater Detroit Section as well as Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit. Avital was the Co-President of the Organization of Jewish Social Workers at the University of Michigan. For the two years prior to graduate school, she taught in the Detroit public schools as a Teach for America corps member.
Robert Siporin
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2014
Robert Siporin is a psychiatric social worker with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Detroit helping homeless veterans. He previously worked as a financial coach and Manager of Financial Stability Programs at Southwest Economic Solutions helping veterans with financial literacy. On campus while a JCLP student, Bobby created a campus organization called We Support Detroit Schools (WSDS), which mobilized university students to collaborate with high schools in Detroit to address problems in their local communities. He was selected as a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar, focusing on mobilizing diverse communities to connect and address the nation's most pressing urban and social challenges together. In 2013, he was named an NASW Student of the Year by the U-M School of Social Work. Prior to graduate school, Bobby completed two years of teaching in New Orleans schools as a Teach for America corps member and then worked as Director of Special Education at Akili Academy in New Orleans. Bobby's experiences as a National Fellow with Repair the World and in the Reality Israel Experience helped him place his work in New Orleans, his commitment to social justice, and his professional goals within the framework of Jewish identity and values.
Sammi Cutler
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2014
Sammi Cutler is the Director of Development at I Was Supposed To Have A Baby and lives in Chicago. She has been focused on fundraising and community building within the Jewish community since the beginning of her career. Before this role, Sammi was at USCJ as the Director of Donor Engagement and spent her first 6+ years in Chicago working for the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago in various Development and Communal roles. She has experience working with donors, board members, and stakeholders, implementing various fundraising strategies in addition to grants, events, and budgets. As a JCLP student, her field placement was with Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit in the older adult department and she served as Co-President of the Organization of Jewish Social Workers on campus. Sammi's undergraduate studies were at the University of Michigan, where she double majored in psychology and Judaic Studies.
Sarah McEwan
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2014
Sarah McEwan is an assistant professor at Saint Joseph’s College of Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She previously worked as the Recovery Services Coordinator at The Willow Center and as the Transitional Housing Coordinator at Holy Family Shelter. During her time with JCLP, she helped coordinate the Mitzvah Day efforts at Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor and assisted with the food pantry and resource management at Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County. To further her studies during the summer semester, Sarah traveled to India to work with the Tibetan community in Dharamsala before returning in the fall to a placement at Catholic Social Services as a case manager. She aspires to model cross-cultural sensitivity within the context of faith-based professional work with the goal to "lift the most vulnerable and to serve those with the least."
Class of 2013
Alice Mishkin
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2013
Alice Mishkin is a PhD student in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan. Alice has frequently lectured for the Intergroup Relations Program at the University of Michigan over the years. She was previously the program coordinator for the Community Action and Social Change undergraduate minor in the University of Michigan School of Social Work. During her time in JCLP, she worked to develop intra-Jewish dialogue programs around Israel, gender and Jewish identity. Alice focused her studies on international community organizing against human rights violations, and Arab and Jewish narratives of oppression and Diaspora. She has worked at the Save Darfur Coalition in Washington, DC, and at American Jewish World Service in New York. Alice spent a year on the Dorot Fellowship, working in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Qalqilya and Nablus for Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations.
Jess Alper
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2013
Jess Alper is the Vice President and Director of National Programs for Health Career Connection in Oakland, California. She previously worked for Kaiser Permanente in OB/GYN and health communications. While in JCLP, she pursued a dual-degree program and graduated with both a MSW and MPH degree. Prior to her time at U-M, Jess spent four years in San Francisco managing health care service programs for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and teaching teens about gender and identity issues in a pluralistic Jewish education program. She was honored with the Elaine Bachrach Teaching Excellence Award as well as the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum's LINK fellowship.
Molly Dehrey-Buckman
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2013
Molly Dehrey-Buckman works as a program officer at The Glazer Foundation in Los Angeles, California. She has previously worked as the Assistant Director of Leadership Development for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, therapist with Psychotherapy Associates of Chicago, and as a clinician/community-based social worker with Jewish Child and Family Services in Chicago, IL. As a JCLP student, she interned with Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit. Before attending U-M, she worked for the Jewish Agency's B'yachad program, Masa's Building Future Leadership Conference, the March of the Living's Los Angeles Delegation, and the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education. Fluent in Hebrew, Molly also spent a year in Israel volunteering at the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma in Jerusalem, which treats victims of trauma from all religious and ethnic backgrounds.
Rachel Freedman-Doan
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2013
Rachel Freedman-Doan is an English teacher in Daegu, South Korea. She interned with Hazon in New York City and Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park, MI, during her time with JCLP. Prior to her studies with JCLP, Rachel was the Director of Interfaith Action at the Ginsberg Center at the University of Michigan. This work of facilitating campus conversations and service across divides of faith and ideology built upon Rachel's undergraduate experience as an interfaith dialogue coordinator.
Shayna Beth Millman
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2013
Shayna Millman is a development associate at the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before moving out west, Shayna woked as the Development Manager at Michigan Hillel in Ann Arbor, MI, the Youth Director at Anshe Emet in Chicago, and the Youth Director at Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah in Wilmette, Illinois. As a JCLP student, Shayna interned with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor and Jewish Child and Family Services in Chicago. As an undergraduate at U-M, Shayna was an inaugural student in the School of Social Work's Community Action and Social Change minor, which she helped to shape as a member of the program's Student Advisory Board. She also worked at Coville Assisted Living Apartments in Oak Park as a Metro Detroit Jewish Occupational Intern Program, where she organized supplemental activities for residents.
Shayna Elizabeth Goodman
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2013
Shayna Elizabeth Goodman is working on her MFA in creative non-fiction at Hunter College where she'll be teaching a class on contemporary literature called "Distinguished Living Writers." She also is working on curriculum development for The School for Creative Judaism focusing specifically on gender roles and Judaism. She previously worked as the Communications, Outreach and Marketing Strategist at May'an in New York City. As a JCLP student, she interned with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs in Washington, DC. After completing JCLP, Shayna received an MA in Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. Her research explored contemporary American-Jewish fiction and its connection to the past in Eastern Europe. She has worked or volunteered for a wide array of Jewish institutions and publications including Habitus: A Diaspora Journal, Hadassah, and YIVO. She has also contributed blog posts concerning feminism and modern Jewish culture to Lilith Magazine and the Jewish Women's Archive blog.