The CE21 Initiative: Congregational Education for the 21st Century

This initiative is currently affecting more than 4,000 member families in the Greater Washington area.

Launched in 2008, CE21 includes six pilot congregations, which have been guided through a change process by the Partnership’s expert team of organizational and educational consultants. Our team is working with congregations to re-envision Jewish education as a life-long pursuit with a variety of programs, venues and multi-generational opportunities inside and outside the classroom and congregation.  Moving congregations out of their silos and into collaboration internally and with the rest of the community are fundamental first steps in creating a community-wide educational system.

• CE21 communities are now in the process of creating new educational models for their congregants which will be implemented over the course of the next two years.
• The communities are having a growing impact on other congregations through the leadership of educational directors and lay people.

The Partnership is currently exploring the creation of a collaborative educational environment that would offer Jews of all ages within and beyond the affiliated community opportunities to engage in Jewish learning for themselves and their families.

View our CE21 brochure here (click on "expand," then the bottons at the top left to zoom in):

Other programs:

• The Partnership also assists with accommodation and inclusion of individuals with disabilities in all aspects of congregational life. To see the current status of inclusion and accessibility in Metro DC area congregations, please click here.
• SNAP (Special Needs Assistance Program) is designed to train teens who are working as madrichim or aides in congregational school classrooms. During this day-long training, teens cover a variety of special education issues and how they relate to Jewish values. Learn more about SNAP here.

For more information about our work with congregations and the CE21 Initiative, email Barry Krasner at bkrasner@pjll.org or call 240-283-6200.

Articles about CE21:

• CE21- Looking at Congregational Education Differently - Remarks by Geryl Baer, Director of Community Engagement at Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County, at Partnership's Annual Meeting, June 2012.

• Kehilat Shalom is one of six congregations in the pilot cohort of the Partnership’s Congregational Education for the 21st Century (CE21) initiative, a process that enables congregations to create new models for Jewish education across the lifespan. Read more about how CE21 is impacting Kehilat Shalom.
   
• Bringing Jewish Values into American Lives – published in the Washington Jewish Week, March 21, 2012