Earlier this year, current Fellow Dan Gelbtuch joined the JOI recruitment committee because he wanted to give something back. 

"JOI has given me so much this year," he said.  "I've gained so much knowledge and have found such an inspiring community.  I want to give other people the chance to learn about community organizing and get excited about what JOI can offer."

With this goal in mind, Dan joined alumni, Fellows and JOI staff to recruit the next class of talented, socially engaged young adults wanting to explore the power of community organizing.  As part of JOI's  targeted viral marketing strategy, he and others generated a list of highly desirable applicants and made personal contact with each of them. He talked to his friends and neighbors, sharing his personal story of how JOI has shaped his identity as a young Jew working for change.

Dan's hard work joined a string of both traditional and experimental marketing strategies, which included blogads on sites like Facebook and Jewschool, as well as typical outreach to Hillels, idealist.org fairs, listserves and articles in the Jewish Advocate and synagogue newsletters. JOI Fellows also created workshops on college campuses to give potential applicants a taste of a real JOI training, and staff held a group informational conference call, attended by 15 applicants, to ask questions of the current Fellows and alumni. 

This major outreach initiative resulted in our most diverse pool of applicants yet, bringing unique educational, work and life experiences to the table.  The results are impressive, and we're still getting applications and inquiries from latecomers.  Overall, JOI received 75% more applications than last year, with 33% of the applicants ready and able to work in Spanish-speaking communities.  Other applicants speak Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Tuluga, Yiddish and American Sign Language.

After a phone screening, the top 30 applicants will be invited to a 2-day, in-person group interview April 13-14.  The candidates who are accepted after the first day will be offered a place as a JOI finalist and will interview with potential placement organizations on the second day.  Candidates will also have an opportunity to meet current Fellows and alumni the Saturday night before the event at an informal gathering hosted by the current fellows.  Feedback from current Fellows and alumni will be incorporated into the selection process. 

Building the next incoming class is one of the many first steps towards strengthening our program model and expanding JOI's national and international reach.  If you have questions about the application process, please contact rherst@jewishorganizing.org.

Pictured above:  Fellows Dan Gelbtuch and Anne Fox brainstorm marketing strategies to recruit the next class of Fellows. 

REFLECT: Fellow and faith organizer at Rosie's Place Ivy Hest led a text study on written reflection, self-evaluation and organizing in preparation for Shabbat.  Fellow and youth organizer at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation Dan Gelbtuch discussed how to integrate a writing practice into your work to help frame concrete goals and move forward. 

LEADERSHIP:  Fellow and UNITE HERE local 26 labor organizer Anne Fox led a training on tactics for committee mapping by identifying key leaders, allies and relationship/power structures. 

VALUES: Long-time Organizer and Professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Marshall Ganz revealed how storytelling is an essential, powerful piece of community organizing by sharing how his own values developed within the Civil Rights and Labor Movements.  He also analyzed the current Democratic primary contest within a historical and Jewish context. 

CLASS-CONSCIOUSNESS:  Major Gifts Officer for the Jewish Women's Archive Farrah Rubenstein addressed the role of class and privilege in development work and asked the Fellows to consider their relationship to these issues and how it might impact their fundraising work.