Springboard Ezra Fellow
Hillel at VCU
Role Overview
Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining Hillel at VCU 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 . Founded in Summer 2023, Hillel at VCU supports Jewish student experience on campus and helps to strengthen a community of over 1,500 Jewish students.
You are committed to building a home for Jewish students on campus and a safe space for them to explore Jewish life, Jewish learning, and connection to Israel. You find joy in molding student leadership and providing opportunities for students to grow. You are a key part of reaching Hillel at VCU’s mission to enrich the lives of VCU Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people, Richmond, and the world. You are excited to be part of the foundation of the community Hilell at VCU is building. 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
GOALS:
- Actively contribute to shaping Hillel at VCU by engaging 180 students.
- Collaborate with students and colleagues to develop at least one weekly, two monthly, one semesterly, and as-needed ad-hoc programs.
- Build and support a pipeline for student leadership, including, but not limited to, the Student Executive Board.
WHAT YOU’LL DO:
- Engage students with students across campus to understand their interests and connect them with opportunities in Hillel, primarily focusing on first year and second year students.
- Recruit and support student leaders interested in joining the Student Executive Board or applying to be an Engagement Intern.
- Build an Engagement Strategy for reaching 180 students, focusing primarily on building one-on-one relationships with new students and developing engaging programs.
- Act as an alternate advisor for the Student Executive Board and assisted in the engagement of its members, including organizing board meetings, planning board-run programs, and providing leadership development offerings.
- Recruit for immersive experiences, including, but not limited to Alternative Break and Birthright Israel trips.
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 location in Richmond, VA; remote work is not available for this position
- A self-starter willing and able to excel in the role despite the challenges of building Hillel at VCU from the ground up.
- Strong entrepreneurial spirit. Things may not always go according to plan and you must be willing to take risks and learn your wins as well as your losses.
- Confidence initiating and running programs, and comfort asking questions.
- Ability to collaborate across teams both inside and outside of Hillel.
- Understanding of the uniqueness of engaging students on a commuter campus.
What You’ll Receive
- Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary for this role is $44,000 in year one of the Fellowship, and the salary is $46,500 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).
About Hillel International
In 1923, Rabbi Benjamin Frankel started Hillel with humble means, a noble mission and a breathtaking vision: to convey Jewish civilization to a new generation. Today, Hillel International continues to enrich the lives of Jewish students and is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world at more than 550 colleges and universities across North America and around the world. As Hillel evolves as an organization, the mission remains steadfast: to create lasting connections with every Jewish student that foster an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning, and Israel and train them to become the next Jewish leaders.
Hillel is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an accepting and inclusive environment for all.
