Springboard Ezra 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 by percentage in the entire 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 genuinely excited 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 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 Jewish educational and cultural 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 from different demographics on campus to engage them, identify their interests, and connect them to opportunities and to each other.
• Teach Jewish Learning Fellowship (JLF) and other classes for undergraduates - using existing curricula and also creating/adapting materials tailored to various learning styles and interests.
• Co-create, design, and/or lead various other Jewish educational and cultural experiences.
• Recruit students to participate in Hillel’s educational offerings, social programs, and cultural events; participate actively in recruitment and program development for Birthright and other immersive experiences; and support Hillel’s overall relational engagement work.
• Lead or co-lead Shabbat religious and cultural experiences. Envision an overall Shabbat program that is pluralistic, compelling, original, and meaningful.
• Supervise student interns who are responsible for engaging their peers in Jewish life.
• Mentor, inspire, challenge, and work closely with Student Board members.
• 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 T