JCLP Students & Alumni
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Class of 2017
Mel Rivkin
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2017
After completing the Jewish Communal Leadership Program in 2017, Mel Rivkin moved to Chicago to pursue a career in social work. While at U-M, Mel's JCLP experience focused on Management of Human Services and integrated macro social work practices. Mel Received their Professional Educator's License from Loyola University in the Spring of 2020 and has been a School Social Worker with Chicago Public Schools since the Fall of 2020. Mel works on being in community with other marginalized individuals and communities both personally and professionally, along with creating affirming spaces for neurodivergent approaches to academics in schools. Mel also continues to explore their Jewishness from artistic and social work lenses. In their free time they create art, dance, and hang out with their pup Taz.
Sharon Alvandi
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2017
Sharon Alvandi works with the Parenting in Context Lab at the University of Michigan where she gathers data about parenting education programs designed for fathers who are expecting babies. She also works for B'nai Brith Youth Organization's Perlman Camp as a part of their inclusivity initiative's staff. Over the 2017 summer, she worked to ensure that campers received appropriate accommodations for differing abilities, consulted with camp staff on mental health and behavior management, intervened, and counseled individuals in crisis, and worked with the general Perlman Camp community to expand BBYO's vision for inclusivity. She also attended the National Havurah Committee's Summer Institute as a Zeitler Fellow. Originally from a Persian-Jewish community in New York, Sharon earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Bard College and helped found a progressive middle school in the Bronx. While a JCLP student, she interned at a battering intervention program and a prison re-entry program as a group facilitator and a programming organizer. In her free time, Sharon worked to create brave spaces for youth from metro Detroit and nearby suburbs with the Student Youth Dialogues program at the University of Michigan Program on Intergroup Relations. She also worked with young Jewish students at synagogues in Ann Arbor and engaged in discussions with communal leaders about their perspectives on faith identities interwoven in social justice work. Sharon hopes to continue to focus on the interplay between gender and trauma, crisis intervention, and communal healing in social work practices.
Class of 2016
Alli Rosen
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2016
Alli Rosen has returned to her hometown of Richmond, VA after more than 3 years of working with Bay Area Community Resources as both a Senior and Regional Supervisor for the BAYAC AmeriCorps department where she was responsible for recruiting, hiring, training, and supervising 25 AmeriCorps volunteers working at youth-serving partner organizations around San Francisco. Alli graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BSW from James Madison University. Following graduation, she completed two years of AmeriCorps National Direct at LIFT-Chicago where she managed a community resource center helping community members achieve economic stability and well-being. Alli worked in food and environmental education with Hazon in the Bay Area, contributing to her dual passions for food justice and health equity across race and place. She completed her MSW field work at Fair Food Network and Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.
Aubree Sepler
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2016
Aubree Sepler works as an Emergency Projects Specialist with FEMA in New York City. She previously worked in the New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget on the disaster recovery task force. Her unit works to coordinate federal funding (HUD, FEMA) and provide resources to communities in recovery from disasters and to those at risk in the future. Originally from Florida, she studied Social Policy & Evaluation while in JCLP. Aubree graduated with Honors from the University of Michigan in April 2014 with a BA in Women's Studies and Psychology and a minor in the Community Action and Social Change program. Aubree's passion for the intersection of gender-based identity and Judaism stems from intergroup outreach efforts. In particular, engaging in dialogue work through positions at the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, as a research assistant for the Program on Intergroup Relations' Arab-Jewish Dialogue course, and as a fellow for the Shoulder-to-Shoulder emerging interfaith leaders program, has shaped Aubree's vision for the future of progressive Jewish organizing. Aubree has worked extensively with LGBTQ organizations and campus advisory boards, and held three separate policy and program evaluation field placements at the local and national level.
Emily Zussman
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2016
Emily (she/her) is the Director of People and Culture at OneTable and has been on the OneTable team since graduating from JCLP in 2016. While in JCLP, Emily completed her year-long field placement at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit in the NEXTGen Detroit department. Emily’s most formative Jewish experiences stem from her time spent as a camper, counselor, and supervisor at Tamarack Camps in Michigan. She is passionate about building teams and professionals that, in turn, build strong Jewish communities. Emily is a fellow in the Ruskay Institute for Jewish Professional Leadership at the UJA Federation New York.
Jaime Bean
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2016
Jaime Bean has spent the last five years working at Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, most recently as the Associate Director of the Israel and Overseas Department. She received her Master of Social Work in 2016 from the University of Michigan where she was part of the Jewish Communal Leadership Program. Following her master’s program, Jaime spent a year living and teaching English in Israel. Jaime is originally from Huntington Woods and currently lives in Ferndale with her husband Ethan.
Kate Malekoff
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2016
Kate is the Chief Operating Officer at Lost Debate, a media and education non-profit focused on combating polarization and misinformation. She also works with young people in the New York City foster care system as a Court Appointed Special Advocate. Kate was previously the VP of People & Culture at DoSomething, the Director of People & Operations at Safe Passage Project, and the Director of Human Resources & Talent Operations at DREAM (formerly Harlem RBI). Kate's JCLP experience included work with Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit, focused on domestic abuse, family case management, and community outreach. She was also on the board of the University's Student Rights Project, a project of law and social work students providing non-legal advocacy for low-income students facing expulsion or suspension in Southeast Michigan
Mayan Herman
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2016
Mayan is a bilingual school social worker at KIPP Comunidad, an elementary charter school in Austin, Texas. She previously worked as a bilingual case manager with Any Baby Can. Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Mayan attended the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with her BSW. Mayan also minored in Spanish, and studied abroad in Seville, Spain. Prior to coming to the University of Michigan, Mayan was a child welfare caseworker with the Department of Human Services in Pennsylvania, where she valued the diversity of cultural backgrounds in the families she served. During JCLP, Mayan interned at Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Washtenaw County in the Clinical and Community Services department, where she provided therapy, assisted community members by making referrals and addressing their needs in times of crisis, and ran a social skills group with young girls at the Hebrew Day School.
Class of 2015
Emily (Meister) Odesser
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2015
Emily Odesser is a hospice social worker at JSSA (Jewish Social Service Agency) in Rockville, Maryland. She previously worked as the Director of Enrollment with Young Judaea Israel Programs the Development Coordinator at Shalem College in Israel. As a JCLP student, her field placement was at Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, where she interned in the Refugee Resettlement Program. She worked with refugees from all over the world in helping them acclimate to life in America. She was Co-President of the Organization of Jewish Social Workers at the University of Michigan and served as a student representative on JCLP's Advisory Committee.
Emily White
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2015
Emily White is the Program Director of the Israel Education Center at the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago. As a JCLP student, her graduate field placement was with Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit, where she worked with Mentor Connection serving Oakland County Youth in community and career mentoring. Before attending graduate school, Emily served as a teacher and mentor for Jewish teens for fourteen years at Oak Park Temple in the metro Chicago area. In JCLP, Emily strengthened her skills for working with teens and enhanced her knowledge of wider issues of leadership and engagement in Jewish education.