$105,000 expands Holocaust teaching program for state educators
The Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations received a three-year grant for $105,000 from the Helen Bader Foundation, Inc. Funds will be used to collaborate with the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, to develop a new Holocaust education training program for teachers throughout the state. The program ties into the 60th anniversary in 2005 of the liberation of the concentration camps.
The grant is one of 24 new grants totaling $678,000 recently awarded by the foundation through its Jewish Life and Learning program in support of religious and cultural programming in the Milwaukee area.
The council’s program, for middle and high school teachers, centers on a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Pre- and post-trip training will help the teachers incorporate the topic into their lessons and share it with other teachers at their school. It is anticipated that 60-80 teachers will participate each of the three years.
Another grant, awarded to Grand Valley State University, also supports Holocaust education. The university, in Grand Rapids, Mich., received a two-year, $20,000 grant to produce a public television documentary series on Holocaust survivors in the U.S. and to distribute educational companion materials in the Milwaukee area to coincide with the documentary’s broadcast.
Tobey Libber, program officer at the foundation, said, “If we don’t underscore the lessons of the Holocaust, new generations will be in danger of forgetting them as time goes on.”
Other local grants are:
• Jewish Youth Foundation, Inc. — Three-year, $110,000 grant to form a volunteer corps of trained Jewish teens to assist families with special-needs children.
• Milwaukee Jewish Federation — Two grants totaling $80,000: $50,000 for its Community Campaign 2004 in support of social, educational and religious programs; and a three-year, $30,000 grant to enhance the Coalition for Jewish Learning’s recruitment and retention program for Judaic educators.
• Ohr HaTorah, Inc. — Two grants in the amount of $80,000: a three-year, $70,000 grant to hire staff to expand its religious outreach program for teens and college-age students, and $10,000 to move and expand Milwaukee Judaica, a resource for Jewish books, music and other information.
• Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study — Two grants totaling $66,000: a three-year, $60,000 grant to hire a director of alumni affairs to increase its fundraising capabilities, and a two-year, $6,000 award to create a tutoring program to assist students at the city’s three local day schools.
• Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center — Three grants totaling $50,000: a two-year grant for $30,000 to continue its Jewish Family Worker position, which coordinates Jewish programming; a two-year, $15,000 grant to organize havurot, fellowships of adults that encourage Jewish lifestyle development and raise cultural awareness; and $5,000 to develop Passover and Chanukah cookbooks.
• Nicolet High School — Three-year, $45,000 grant to continue its Hebrew language classes.
• Union of Orthodox Congregations of America-National Conference of Synagogue Youth of Milwaukee — Three-year, $30,000 grant to continue outreach programs for Jewish teens.
• Yeshiva Elementary School — Three-year grant for $30,000 for testing and therapy for students with speech problems.
• Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue — Three-year, $13,000 grant to revise the curriculum for its merged Hebrew and religious school with Congregation Beth Israel.
• Torah Academy of Milwaukee — Two grants totaling $12,500: $7,500 to update the computer network and $5,000 to participate in distance learning programs in Judaic and secular studies.
• Children’s Lubavitch Living and Learning Center — $10,000 for scholarships for children to attend its preschool.
• Hillel Academy — $10,000 to redevelop its science curriculum.
• B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation Milwaukee Ltd. — $5,000 for a series for young adults showing comedy within Jewish culture.
• Milwaukee Jewish Day School — $5,000 for a family retreat to celebrate Shabbat and promote Jewish learning.
• Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning — $5,000 to plan a second community-wide Israeli Scholar-in-Residence program.
• Marquette University — Three-year, $1,500 grant to help its Department of Philosophy host a series of seminars on Jewish Medieval thought.
Overall, these Jewish Life and Learning grants were part of 129 new grants totaling $5 million. Among local recipients are:
• Burleigh Street Community Development Corp. Inc. — An Economic Development grant for $30,000 for construction of Phase II of a retail/commercial center for revitalization of the Sherman Park neighborhood.
• Hillel Foundation University of Wisconsin, Inc. — A two-year Directed grant in the amount of $50,000 to support programs of interest to the Bader family. Funds will be used to host an event series for Madison’s Jewish community.
Since the foundation was established in 1992, more than 2,900 grants totaling $118 million have been awarded.
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