The Growth of the Campus Initiative - 05/30/2019
Two years ago, after consultations with our funders and partners, Onward Israel partnered with Hillel on an exciting new program line: the campus initiative. Several insights inspired this direction: many prospective participants go to school outside of large Federation catchment areas; 90% of Onward Israel participants are on campus as they come on the program: local campus groups , primarily Hillel, are best poised to benefit from Onward Israel returnees and best equipped to recruit them; finally, the power of a campus-specific cohort- coming back to school together after an impactful summer in Israel, is particularly potent to advance the Jewish and Israel agenda on campus. In the 2018 pilot, two schools Penn St. and University of Florida participated; for this year, this number has grown to eight schools, including one campus in partnership with Olami. The participating campuses are University of Central Florida, University of Florida, Penn St., Cornell, University of North Carolina Hillel, George Washington, Columbia and University of Arizona\Arizona St. In all, 307 participants have applied and 188 of them will participate this summer. We are very grateful to our on campus partners, at both the local and national level, and look forward to this summer’s program, the impact the alumni will have on their campus, and the inclusion of additional campuses in the program in 2020.