Why?

In today’s world, one's identity is an ever changing notion - you can change your name and hair color all in one afternoon, and your marital status with a click of a Facebook button. But when confronted with the fact that we as a group exist at the crossroads of three very different cultures, questions of identity become almost impossible to answer. For each of us words such as “Jewish”, “Russian”, and “American,” mean very different things. From each of these cultures, we have assimilated some traditions and ideas, and rejected others. In the end, while we come from similar backgrounds – Soviet-born Jewish Americans who speak both Russian and English - each of us has incorporated a unique amalgam of qualities from these cultures and languages.

So when it comes down to it, what does it all mean? What does it really mean to be Jewish for someone born in the Soviet Union? Is it something that we act out, something that we just are, or something that we can reject? Is it even possible? And really, why should we care?

The BluePrint Fellowship is a new program that starts to resolve these ever elusive questions.

What?

BluePrint members will be able to see the practical results of this idea by creating their own unique community projects. Based on the skills of each person, participants will be connected with distinguished mentors and experts who will work with them one-on-one to help them further their own creative goals. Whether you are an artist, a business professional, or a non-profit lay person, BluePrint will provide you with the skills necessary to wade through the Jewish communal world as well as larger creative communities. BluePrint meetings will be designed to inspire and transform participants through creative projects, personal connections, and new ways of looking at personal history and identity. With these skills, participants will be able to take their projects beyond the walls of BluePrint, and apply them to broader horizons.

BluePrint will conclude with a training seminar to Israel and Kiev. The purpose of this seminar will be to introduce our participants to artists and community activists in order to spur intense conversations, long-lasting connections, and hopefully inspiration for innovative community projects. We will expose ourselves to views and creative energies that might ordinarily seem unfamiliar by immersing ourselves into the cultural variety of Jewish communities. But it is only by sitting down around the same table with people from different backgrounds, that we can understand the fundamental core of BluePrint – that the search for identity, community, and creativity is universal.

 

Participation is contingent on a competitive interview process as well as the creation of a personal project. Open for young adults (college graduates +) from a Russian-speaking Jewish background, between the ages of 25 and 40.

Deadline: October 12, 2009

All BluePrint fellows will be provided with the following:

· Seed money to create a project of up to a $1000
· One-on-one consulting with a coach/mentor
· Connection to organizations and people of “interest” such as speakers, facilitators, educators, coaches, lay-leaders, and community activists
· 8 training sessions
· Opportunity to join “Mitbachon” – an exclusive educational weekend retreat for North American young adults and leaders in San Francisco (subsidized)
· 10-Day training seminar to Israel and Kiev (subsidized)
· Resource guides

Requirements:
• Full attendance and active participation in all 8 training sessions (one out of eight can be missed)
• Participants would be invited to take part in “Mitbachon” educational retreat, February 2010.
• Attending training conference in Israel and Kiev, April 2010

We at BluePrint believe that a necessary component of any fellowship must be for the participant to be able to utilize skills learned and translate them into their own lives. With this in mind, a major part of the BluePrint curriculum will be to inspire participants to create their own unique projects. Through hands-on workshops, peer-to-peer review, and one-on-one coaching, participants will be able to successfully see their projects from conception to realization.

It is our expectation that all project participants will start innovative community projects of her/his choice. While we encourage everyone to be as creative as possible, the following guidelines should be adhered to:

• The project can be an event, a product, or a presentation.
• The project should identify and address a need within the Russian-speaking Jewish community.
• The project should have a connection to the Russian-speaking Jewish community, the larger Jewish community, or the Israeli community.
• The project should influence at a minimum 20 people, whether as participants, audience members, or patrons.

‏Guiding Principles of our approach

‏We believe that in order to maximize your desired outcomes from this program, an equal attention must be paid to four key ingredients:

‏Knowledge: Acquiring awareness and basic understanding of historical and cultural perspectives of the Jewish people, and contemporary issues of the Jewish world today, with a unique focus on post-Soviet Jewry through a series of informal educational experiences.

‏Inspiration: Advancing participants’ motivation to become active members of the Jewish community through personal acquaintance with a multitude of grassroots projects in the Jewish communal field (initiated by people with similar backgrounds or lack of affiliation) as well as variety of leading experts in Jewish education, showcasing the variety of intellectual and emotional enrichment available in the Jewish world today.

‏Skills: Ability to dissect, focus, and develop and successfully operate participants’ mini-grant projects or personal projects through hands-on professional workshops and peer-to-peer review of their projects.

‏Coaching: One-on-one coaching component that will set clear goals for project objectives, create and evaluate options for achieving desired goals and outcomes, identify and create resources that go beyond traditional methods, and effectively utilize a combination of coaching tools including logical analysis and intuition in order to achieve the best possible outcomes related to project goals. Coaches provided are academically trained in their field to best support participants’ projects.