How To Join

The Springboard Fellowship is a paid, two-year fellowship that brings recent college grads with passion for building Jewish life and skills in innovation, social justice or Jewish education to college campuses across North America. Through this fellowship, participants will further develop their talents and use them to engage students in Jewish life.

Graduating seniors or recent grads who have experience and a demonstrated interest in innovation, social justice or experiential Jewish education or related fields and are excited to positively impact the lives of hundreds of Jewish college students are encouraged to apply.

Applications for our sixth cohort, Cohort Vav will open in February 2021. Fill out our interest form to receive information when the Springboard Fellowship application opens.

Springboard Fellows begin in early July 2021 and participate in professional training as part of Hillel’s New Professionals Onboarding, which will take place in summer 2021.

Each Fellowship placement is for two years. Those starting in Summer 2021 will complete their fellowship at the end of June of 2023.

Fellows receive an annual salary of $40,000 plus a comprehensive benefits package, which includes health insurance as well as generous vacation and sick time, to name a few. Fellows also participate in a number of intense and immersive professional development opportunities, including New Professionals Institute, Hillel’s Global Assembly, and an individualized course of study that may include travel or immersive learning.

*Fellows placed in Canada are offered a competitive salary per local compensation bands and standard salaries for entry level employees at Hillels in Canada.

It depends on your experience and what you want to do next. The Springboard Fellowship is designed to give you tools and experiences that will prepare you for a variety of next steps. Part of the Fellowship is designed to help you answer this very question. Past fellows have continued working with Hillel, stayed in the Jewish nonprofit world, attended grad school, and have gone to work in other places in the nonprofit or corporate world. Whatever you decide, we’re confident that the Springboard Fellowship will be a great start to your professional journey, and we’re committed to helping you get where you want to go next. We also offer career coaching to our alumni and recent graduates to support them in their next steps. 

• We don’t know what the future holds for campus life, but fellows have been a crucial part of creating meaningful Jewish experience for Hillels using digital platforms. Drawing on skills they develop in the program, fellows bolster Hillel’s capacity to meet students where they are, particularly in a moment of need, isolation, and unpredictability, using innovative approaches and utilizing virtual platforms. Springboard Fellows have engaged thousands of students since they have had to leave campuses due to COVID-19, modeling what digital engagement can look like. They’ve also enjoyed the benefit of a close network of colleagues – their fellow fellows – who are excited to share ideas, collaborate, and reimagine what Jewish life might look like. Through Jewish education, ritual, and community building, this crisis is creating new purpose and drive for our Fellows and their leadership.

Innovation Specialists will work with students to reimagine and redesign Jewish life on their terms. Trained in Design Thinking methodology, Fellows will work with students to design or redesign two to three areas of Jewish student life to be better suited for the 21st century student. At the same time, their influence will help their Hillel become more creative in all of their work.

Not necessarily. Innovation comes in many forms. We’re looking for people who have big ideas, a keen understanding of people, and a willingness to take risks. Your innovation experience might have happened when you created a new program or a new approach to an academic project. Bonus points if you have experience in Design Thinking!

As a Social Justice Specialist, you will empower students to work together to make change on a local and domestic level, guided by Jewish values, texts, and history. You’ll work with students to identify and act on a variety of issue areas important to their campus, by building connections across your campus community, creating space for students to learn about issues that matter to them, and helping them organize big projects such as alternative breaks.

Yes! Social Justice Specialists come with a diverse set of skills, which might include professional or volunteer experience, or coursework in community organizing or social justice. Our Fellows understand that students connect with Jewish life, social justice, and community action in a number of ways, and we hope you’ll draw on your own experience and passions as you seek to understand where you can affect successful change on campus.

Ezra Jewish Education Specialists will work to infuse Jewish learning and conversation into their everyday work on campus. Trained in pluralistic Jewish experiential education, Fellows will be equipped to organize learning opportunities, devise innovative programming that expose students to Jewish life and culture in new ways, and lead immersive experiences such as alternative spring break and Birthright trips.

Absolutely. You will draw on your own rich Jewish experiences to bring Judaism to life on campus and receive training in Jewish education. Your participation in gap year programs in Israel, Jewish camp, day school, college level Jewish Studies, youth group and more are all great prior experience for the Ezra Jewish Education track.