Springboard Innovation Fellow at Santa Barbara Hillel

Springboard Fellow 

Santa Barbara Hillel (University of California, Santa Barbara & Santa Barbara City College) 

Role Overview 

Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining Santa Barbara Hillel as the Springboard Fellow. You will build one on one relationships with students, plan and execute engaging events and programs around campus, and help inspire students to make a commitment to Jewish life. Santa Barbara Hillel is situated in the stunning coastal city of Santa Barbara, a location ninety minutes north of Los Angeles known as the “American Riviera.” Famous for its beautiful beaches, a climate reminiscent of Tel Aviv, and a thriving arts and culture scene, Santa Barbara boasts a welcoming and dynamic Jewish community that presents exciting possibilities for personal and professional development. 

The Jewish student community here – the largest in the University of California system – is diverse, fun-loving, intelligent, and active. At Santa Barbara Hillel, we are cultivating an inclusive, pluralistic, and engaging atmosphere in which even more students can explore and deepen their connection to Jewish life. As Springboard Fellow, you will be central to that mission. You’ll be joining an established Hillel with new professional leadership, and you’ll make an impact right away. You'll wake up each day (or at least most) and be genuinely excited and enthusiastic about creating an inviting place that inspires students to explore, experience, and create vibrant Jewish lives. This is so much more than your average 9-to-5. 

About The Springboard Fellowship 

The Springboard Fellowship is a paid, two-year fellowship that brings recent college grads with raw talent, passion, and skills needed to reimagine and redesign Jewish student life to college campuses across North America. 

Trained in Relationship-Based Engagement, Human-Centered Design and other entrepreneurial frameworks, you will be exposed to the most successful initiatives from across the Hillel movement. Fellows will work with students to imagine, create, and refine

experiences for Jewish life that dramatically impact student engagement, efficiently and strategically apply and scale successful initiatives from across the movement, and give birth to cutting-edge ideas that have the potential to transform how Hillel and creates inclusive spaces for #AllKindsOfJewish. 

We’re looking for people who embrace challenges, take risks, fail, and learn from the past, while maintaining their passion and sense of humor. Extensive Jewish education is not necessary — just an interest in creating a vibrant Jewish community, a commitment to learning, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of students. 

What You’ll Do 

You’ll be a significant catalyst for the enrichment of the Santa Barbara Hillel student experience. 

GOALS: 

• Actively contribute to shaping and growing Santa Barbara Hillel. 
• Co-create, design, and implement new and better ways to reach, welcome, and serve students from a range of backgrounds and perspectives – particularly students who are un-engaged, under-engaged, or currently on the margins of organized Jewish life. 
• Collaborate with students and colleagues to develop new experiences and improve existing programs. Depending on your interests and students’ needs, that may mean working on projects related to everything from Shabbat, to social action, to arts and culture, to more. 

WHAT YOU’LL DO: 

• Meet with students to help connect them with leadership roles in Hillel. Help reimagine leadership opportunities for students at Hillel. Help weave together and lift up the campus community of Jewish student leaders 
• Plan and facilitate regular group-based leadership development opportunities for students. 
• Meet with students from different cohorts and demographics on campus to engage them, identify their interests, and connect to opportunities. 
• Design and implement a plan to strategically build one-on-one relationships with students currently unengaged in Jewish life. 
• Recruit for Alternative Break trips, Birthright Israel, and other immersive experiences.
• Manage various marketing and communications efforts, and contribute to overall strategy-setting regarding such outreach. 
• Other responsibilities as assigned … and other duties as desired! Your interests are important and your ideas are encouraged. 

Who You Are 

• You’re A Relationship-Builder: You thrive on meeting new people, understanding their interests, and forging meaningful connections. 
• You’re A Collaborative Team Player: You enjoy working collaboratively with a team to solve problems and explore new initiatives. 
• You’re A Passionate Learner: You love learning and continuously building up your Jewish knowledge. 
• You’re An Innovative Educator: You believe in infusing education into captivating experiences that stimulate the imagination. 
• You’re A Facilitator: You thrive in creating spaces for students to converse, share ideas, and explore and develop their own ideas on relevant issues. 
• You’re A Recent College Grad: Whatever your degree, you are excited about Jewish life on campus and have experience as a participant and maybe even as an educator in a Jewish educational setting. 
• You’re A Creative Thinker: You are constantly reimagining the ordinary, seeking ways to repurpose and improve things. 
• You’re A Bold Visionary: Think big and creatively, viewing everything as a possibility and embracing a risk-taking, entrepreneurial spirit. 

~You’re A Springboard Fellow ~ 

What You’ll Bring to the Job 

• 0-3 years professional work experience 
• Bachelor's degree 
• This is an in-person role in Isla Vista, CA, the location of UC Santa Barbara; remote work is not available for this position 
• Creativity combined with organization. 
• A strong entrepreneurial, collaborative, and “imagineering” spirit. You should be capable of imagining new possibilities with others, operationalizing/engineering them into concrete experiences and outcomes, and identifying key learnings for the future.
• Talent for student relationship-building – and the toolbox for doing so with a range of personal styles. 
• Confidence initiating and running programs. 
• Comfort with giving and receiving feedback. 
• Ability to relate to, inspire, and empathize with diverse populations. ● Excellent written and oral communication skills. Familiarity with various communication methods. 
• A combination of fresh perspectives, candor, and a commitment to strong team dynamics – all in service of a students-first culture. 

What You’ll Receive 

• Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $44,000 - $50,000 in year one of the Fellowship, and the salary range is $46,500- $52,500 in year two of the Fellowship. 
• A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plan, Life, AD&D and Long Term Disability (LTD) insurances, Flexible Spending accounts, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave. 
• High-level professional development to help develop core skills in experiential education, including learning from some of the most innovative organizations in Jewish education today. 
• $3,200 in professional development funds from the Springboard Fellowship to utilize over the course of two years. 
• Intensive Jewish summer and year-long learning experiences that will provide you with the knowledge, passion, and critical tool kit to fuel your work building our Jewish communities. 
• Mentoring and career coaching to help you during and after your Fellowship.
•  A network of terrific colleagues from across the Hillel movement.
• Travel opportunities, both domestically and internationally, multiple times per year (if permitted, following COVID-19 safety guidelines).