Advisor Connect

The 2020-21 Advisor Training Calendar

We’re reimagining advisor training this year with our Advisor Leadership Series and a virtual revival of the Advisor Leadership Training Conference. Every month or so, you’ll hear from expert speakers tackling the topics and skills you care about most. Here’s this year’s lineup, and don’t miss our kick off training, Building Dialogue Across Political Difference with Rachel Dingman (and created with Resetting the Table), Tues Oct 29 at 8:30pm ET on BBYO On Demand.

Consent Culture and Healthy Relationships

Excerpt from “Let’s Talk About 'Nice'”, by Tess Mendelson, NRE: DC Council, which appeared in The Shofar on October 5.

I checked the box “Jewish” on my college applications. Even if I hadn’t, it would have been obvious to the colleges I’m applying to that I’m Jewish. I go to a Jewish Day School, grew up at a Jewish summer camp, and am involved in multiple Jewish youth groups. I can read, write, and speak in Hebrew; I know BBYO’s Menorah Pledge Principles by heart. Yet, I feel that my Jewish education has fallen short in some aspects of my life. We are taught to scream “Dayenu! Enough!” at the Passover table, but sometimes we are unsure of how to say “enough” or “no” when placed in uncomfortable situations, especially around hookups and relationships. We talk about “Nice Jewish Boys” and “Nice Jewish Girls”, but do we talk enough about nice? How can Jewish organizations teach more about healthy relationships, consent, bodily autonomy, and boundaries?

Jewish Women International (JWI) has partnered with BBYO to create Yes and Know (about communicating boundaries) and Choose Respect (about healthy and unhealthy relationships): two plug-and-play programs that your teens can run today to start building a culture of respect, open communication, and healthy connections with each other. The way we treat each other and the way we set boundaries for ourselves and others matters, and your chapter can lead the way in creating the kind of community that we’re proud to be a part of.

Tess Mendelson is a BBG from Northern Region East: DC Council.

PS If you’re interested in how masculinity shows up in consent culture, catch JWI’s world premiere of As A Jewish Man on Mon Oct 26 at 7:00pm ET on BBYO On Demand.
 

Meet the Advisor Leadership Team

Jon Bridge
Advisor
Gold Coast Region

Jordana Etkin
Advisor
Red River Region

Adam Goodman
Advisor
Lake Ontario Region

Evan Huckfeldt
Advisor
Northern Region East: Baltimore Council

Jeremy Palgon
Advisor
Central Region West

Evan Wexler
Advisor
Connecticut Valley Region

Jessica Ilin
Teen
Greater Jersey Hudson River Region

Lior Kolman
Teen
South Africa

Mason Levitt
Teen
Greater Jersey Hudson River Region

Maryn Newman
Teen
Northern Region East: Northern Virginia Council

Zach Schuler
Teen
Eastern Region: North Carolina Council

Ariel Schwartz
Teen
South Jersey Region

Amanda Cohen
Staff
BBYO HQ

Lory Conte
Staff
North Texas Oklahoma Region

Alana Ebin
Staff
BBYO HQ

Claudia Halpern
Staff
Michigan Region

Arielle Handel
Staff
BBYO HQ

Brittany Kahn
Staff
Big Apple Region

Genna Miller
Staff
Liberty Region

Laura Ross
Staff
BBYO HQ

Doug Winkelstein
Staff
BBYO HQ

 

 

 

Hi, I'm Evan Wexler, one of the advisors on BBYO’s new Advisor Leadership Team!

This team is a new initiative made up of BBYO advisors, teens, and staff banding together to support all of our advisors globally. While we will be focusing on three main areas of the advisor experience (training, appreciation, and community building), we are looking at all that advisors do for BBYO, and what BBYO, in turn, does for us. We will be working to help streamline the experience of advisors everywhere, ensuring that everyone has a beneficial, fun, and prepared time being an advisor. We know that advisors are here because they care about and want to support the members – but that doesn't mean that we shouldn’t have a blast, too! A lot of advisors have wonderful experiences with BBYO, have effective training, and are well connected to the other advisors in their region, and we want to make sure that these great experiences are accessible to everyone who steps through our door.

I am so excited to partner up with five other amazing advisors, six teen leaders, and nine staff members, all dedicated to ensuring that BBYO advisors have a great experience and support system. Stay tuned for lots of great things in the year ahead, including the return of Advisor Leadership Training Conference, an Advisor Appreciation Month like you’ve never seen before, and new ways to connect and network. We can't wait to get started, and are thrilled to share with you what we’re building as the year goes on!

Evan Wexler

Advisor, Noah Pozner BBYO #5299, Connecticut Valley Region
 

Will Your Chapter Win the #CommonGroundChallenge?

🚨 Alert—incredible grant opportunity available for all chapters worldwide! BBYO is working with Our Common Destiny to provide up to $50,000 to chapters to hold innovative teen-built programming over the next year. Find all the information at bbyo.org/grants.

The #CommonGroundChallenge will select 30 chapters to compete and receive an initial $500 to plan an excellent program in the next two months. Programs will be voted on after they’re run and the top chapters will advance, with the finalists able to win up to $4,750 (!!).

Chapter experiences should be ones that build connections and reduce friction across the Jewish community (and beyond). BBYO chapters are encouraged to program with teens that practice Judaism differently, are in a different youth movement, hold different political views, represent immigrant communities, are from a new community without BBYO, and the list goes on.

If it sounds simple, that’s because it is—hopefully we’re just strengthening the incredible program ideas that are already happening in our chapters! Wherever possible, TEENS should submit the application. If you or teens have questions, reach out to [email protected].
 

Seeking: GivingBBYO Day Ambassadors

This Tuesday, December 1, our Movement – teens, parents, advisors, staff, alumni, and friends – will join together to raise more than $375,000 for BBYO over a single day: #givingBBYOday. It’s a highlight of the year – not only because it raises critical funds for our regions, but because it unites our entire community around a shared passion for the power of BBYO to make a difference in the lives of Jewish teens.

Support #givingBBYOday this year by creating your own #givingBBYOday Ambassador page, where you can raise funds directly for your region and rally support with templates, graphics, and tools to share your BBYO story throughout the day. Thank you for your help in reaching our $375,000 goal this year!
 

A Test You’ll Actually Want to Take

Your DNA is as important in knowing your past as it is in preparing for your future. With Jewish genetic screening, we can help prevent genetic diseases in our future families. All it takes is a simple at-home saliva test. Learn more at JScreen.org. Also, hear more from our friends at JScreen during our first Advisor Leadership Series training on Oct 29 at 8:30pm ET.