JCLP Students & Alumni
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Class of 2015
Haviva Rome Greenbaum
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2015
Haviva Rome Greenbaum is a college guidance counselor at Valley Torah High School for Girls in Los Angeles, CA. Previously, she served as Director of Family Support Services at Jewish Family Services of Metro Detroit. As a JCLP student, her field placement was at Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Washtenaw County in the Clinical and Community Services department. Through the JCLP Program, Haviva developed innovative and creative programming across Jewish denominations and multiple forms of Jewish affiliations, as well as pursued her passion for clinical social work with the counseling and case management services provided at JFS. After graduating from JCLP, she worked at JFS as a Family Case Manager. Originally from Tarzana, CA, her interest in social work was born primarily from volunteer experiences. At Nofei Yerushalaim Skilled Nursing Facility in Jerusalem, she volunteered in the field of at-risk geriatric support; and at the Jewish Community Center Adaptations Program in New York, she worked with special needs young adults.
Max Glick
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2015
Max Glick is the Director of Handup at Lighthouse in Lathrup Village, MI where he manage a nation-wide fundraising platform responsible for raising $3.2M to fight poverty in the United States by supporting 4,100 clients at 113 partner nonprofits. He previously worked as the Associate Campaign Director at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. A Michigan native, Max concentrated on fundraising, leadership development, program management and community outreach as a JCLP student. He also served on JCLP's Advisory Committee as a student representative. Max received his Bachelors in Public Policy and Organizational Communications from Western Michigan University. He has worked with Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) in Detroit as a Job Coach, Michigan Hillel as a Development Intern, and with Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit as a social work intern. Additionally, Max has worked on a number of local, state and national level initiatives including managing a State Representative race.
P'ninah Kanai
Jewish Communal Leadership Program Class of 2015
P'ninah Kanai is a graphic designer and production artist in Southeastern Michigan. She has worked in the Community Development and JFamily departments at the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit. For over twenty years, she has worked as a departmental director, studio manager, and entrepreneur in both New York and Metro Detroit for many of the world's top advertising agencies, as well as through her own marketing and graphic design agency catering to nonprofit organizations. She has a BA in Communications with honors from Michigan State University, as well as a Certificate in Graphic Design and Advertising from Parsons The New School for Design. A metro Detroit native, P'ninah belongs to the third generation in her family to participate in the building of Jewish Ann Arbor and metro Detroit. She considers one of the most valuable parts of her JCLP experience to have been the field placement opportunity, during which she worked for Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor. P'ninah graduated from JCLP with a concentration in Human Services Management.
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.