Is internship always synonymous with unpaid coffee-makers? Not in Jewish Vocational Service’s Kohn program, where its 21 years of matching Bay Area college students whose internships in Jewish communal agencies led to the 2006 Jewish Community Federation Program of the Year award in June.
“The agencies really embrace their interns and don’t treat them as cheap labor,” said 1996 Kohn alumna Nicole Sasson-Miller, who is the national director for the Diller Teen Initiatives Program. “The whole point is to invite them into the professional Jewish world, so it’s a real learning experience.”
Approximately 30 students annually receive in-depth perspective at a Jewish agency by working four days a week at one site, in Sasson-Miller’s case the marketing department at the Osher Marin JCC, then sharing those experiences in Friday seminars with the rest of the interns. After the memorable Kohn summer, Sasson-Miller was inspired to study in Israel and bring her experiences back to teens in the Bay Area through the Diller Program.
“I’ve been involved in lots of big things in the Jewish community,” said Sasson-Miller, who now works at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, “but my primary starting point was Kohn.”
Sasson-Miller does not stand alone in her continued involvement with the Jewish agencies after the summer comes to a close. According to a retrospective study conducted in 2004 after 18 summers of internships by Jewish Education Service of North America, 22 percent of the roughly 175 alumni who responded to surveys are working as Jewish communal professionals. In addition, 65 percent are volunteering or have in the past volunteered within the Jewish community.
Typical is 1993 alumnus Jordan Sills, who continues to participate actively in the Jewish community as the executive vice-president of the Young Adult Division of JCF and last year was the co-chair of the YAD campaign. While Sills interned in the campaign department of the JCF, he worked on a project motivating Jewish doctors who were not currently active in the community to donate to the JCF. Sills appreciated the effort the JCF put into education for these professionals to make sure they knew their gift would be meaningful.
“It was awesome that they were working so hard to engage people not just for their money, but to teach Bay Area Jews about the community and how to build the community,” Sills said.
Sills believes that the Kohn program prompted his later involvement with JCF.
“Kohn gives people values at a young age and hopes that they participate in the future,” Sills said. “Without these programs, it is very easy to forget about Jewish philanthropic agencies. You get wrapped up in other things like work and social life.”
Associate Director of the Jewish Community Relations Committee Abby Porth also began her career in the Jewish community with the Kohn Program in 1994. As an intern at AIPAC, Porth organized an evening event for Jewish college students to hear about an Israel-related topic, thus engendering interest in Middle East affairs. This experience prepared her for her work the following summer as a legislative assistant at a religious action center for Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C.
“The Kohn program exposed me to wonderful role models who made their own careers in the Jewish community and gave me the opportunity to see what working in this community would be like,” Porth said. “When I made the decision to come back, I felt more prepared for what it would be like because of my experience in Kohn.”
By encouraging college students to return to the Jewish community, the Kohn program offers benefits for the agencies as well. Besides merely hiring for the future, agency supervisors can lighten their own loads as well as expand meaningful projects in new directions with the new help.
After supervising Kohn interns for three years, Carrie Rice of Congregation Sherith Israel continues to be impressed by the quality of work they produce; some of her fellow staff members are Kohn alumni.
“It shows me that I have a responsibility for building the Jewish workers of tomorrow,” Rice said.
Rebecca Diamondstein, previous Jewish community programs manager and Kohn program director for JVS, echoes Sasson-Miller’s sentiments.
“I think there’s a huge value in Kohn interns,” said Diamondstein, who is now the director of leadership development at JCF. “It is important to keep your finger on your constituents, the emerging leaders of our community.”
As the program has continued to be such a success, the International JVS has taken notice and worked to create similar programs around the country, including in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York.