Dear Tutors and Friends,

I am excited about the start of school, catching up with teachers and other friends and meeting a new crop of students. I am sure that many of you feel the same. This year JCL is starting off the new school season with strength. Our hard-working staff has been busy conducting training sessions for new tutors, including those entering our program through new partnerships with congregations and other organizations.

The Bay Area JCL has been fortunate since its founding six years ago to have a talented, energetic staff, mostly composed of young people. Their energy and dedication has been a major ingredient of the success and growth of our program. Inevitably, many of them move on after a while to pursue their personal ambitions and goals. This year, we particularly are sad to lose Shirley Feldman, the director of our East Bay program, who made a great contribution to building JCL. We wish her luck in her future career.

We have two outstanding recent additions to the JCL staff who I know will continue the traditions of excellence their predecessors have established. First, we are pleased to welcome Dana Mano as the Director of the Peninsula JCL; and second, Jennifer Beck has come on board as our new East Bay Director. (See bios below.) I look forward to working with these two outstanding additions to our team, and I hope that all of you will have the opportunity to get to know them and to benefit from their energy, enthusiasm and knowledge.

Something else that is new this year is our Lead Tutor program. Already implemented at many schools in San Francisco and the Peninsula, we hope to expand it to all JCL school and after- school sites over the coming months. The concept is to have an experienced volunteer tutor at each site where JCL volunteers work who can help improve the experience for all our volunteers.

As one of the Lead Tutors, let me give you a few initial impressions of how the program is working. At the start of the school year, I had a telephone conversation with each of the tutors at my site and at another nearby school that has only two tutors and therefore does not have its own Lead Tutor. Some concrete results came out of these conversations. One volunteer told me he was not returning to our site because he had moved to another part of town. I relayed this information to JCL staff, who were able to get him started at another school convenient to his new residence.

Another volunteer told me that she had not tutored last year because she was too busy, but was willing to return. As a result, she will receive an assignment that will fit her schedule and interests. In addition, most of the JCL volunteers I talked to were interested in meeting the other volunteers at the site to share experiences and get to know each other. We will have an event to do this later in the fall.

The overall goal of the Lead Tutor program is to make sure that our volunteers are content with the site where they tutor and derive satisfaction from their work. We assume that happy tutors will show up regularly, do a good job, want to improve their tutoring skills, and come back next year. My own very limited experience, a “worm’s eye view” if you will, suggests that the Lead Tutors will help achieve these goals.

New Peninsula Director Dana Mano

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Dana Mano as the full-time director of the Peninsula JCL. Dana was born in Israel but grew up in the U.S. in St. Louis. She is a graduate of Washington University where she majored in Comparative Arts and minored in Psychology and Jewish and Near Eastern Studies. While in St. Louis she worked at local synagogues as an Executive Director while teaching art at a Hebrew Academy.

Realizing that there is a better way and place to live, she moved to the Bay Area and for several years ran the Summer Camp Program at the ALS JCC in Palo Alto, and served as part-time Director of the Teen and Tween Program at Congregation Etz Chayim. Dana brings a great deal of enthusiasm and creativity to JCL along with in-depth knowledge of the Peninsula Jewish community.

New East Bay Director Jennifer Beck

JCL is pleased to announce that we have hired Jennifer Beck as our new East Bay Director. Jennifer has a strong background in both education and volunteer organizations. Originally from Flint, Michigan, she has a BA from the University of Michigan and an MA in Educational Leadership from the Bank Street College of Education in NY. After college Jennifer served in the Teach For America program in Houston. She has taught middle school in Texas and New York. While living in New York, she was the Senior Education Manager at New York Cares, a community-based volunteer agency. There she partnered with over 40 schools and agencies to create after-school programs for children and adults. She recruited volunteers and developed tutor-training workshops to prepare them to work one-on-one with at-risk students. Jennifer clearly brings excellent experience to the JCL team and we look forward to learning a great deal from her.

Haley Bronstein Collects 500 Books for John Yehall Chin Elementary

On June 11, 2005 Haley Bronstein became a Bat Mitzvah at the Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. (Haley is pictured to the right, with little sisters Nicole and Kimmy.) But instead of celebrating with a lavish party that evening, Haley hosted an event just for her friends, emphasizing the importance of giving to the community. Haley invited her guests to bring children's books to the party, which were arranged in basket centerpieces on each table and later donated to John Yehall Chin Elementary, one of Emanu-El's partner schools through its collaboration with the Jewish Coalition for Literacy.

The idea to collect books as a project for her Bat Mitzvah was inspired by Haley�s mom Cheryl, and Emanu-El's Director of Youth Education, Abra Greenspan. When planning Haley's Bat Mitzvah, it was important for Cheryl that Haley, their family and friends "remember what it's really about: taking responsibility, becoming part of the community, and doing mitzvot (charitable deeds). The Jewish people are 'the People of the Book' and Haley was learning so much for her Bat Mitzvah that we thought the theme of the event should be related to learning." The Bronstein family loves books and reading, so collecting books was a fitting choice.

In her invitation, Haley included a letter describing John Yehall Chin Elementary, both its background and the types of books the students needed. The original idea was for Haley's guests to just bring books to her party. But the Bronsteins had hit upon something big. Excited friends had more books than they could carry to the party, so they brought them straight to the Bronstein home—by the garbage bag-full. Haley says, "Each guest brought at least two books each. And my friends were really excited to be involved in the project. They wanted to know all about the school the books were being donated to."

The Jewish Coalition for Literacy provided bookplates for the collected texts. When Haley and Cheryl first contacted JCL's San Francisco office, they thought they'd need about 100 plates. But as the books poured in, they requested 150 more. After reaching 300, they stopped counting, but estimate that they ended up with about 500 in total!

Many of the guests at Haley's Bat Mitzvah were her classmates at Del Mar Middle School in Tiburon, some of whom had never attended a Bat Mitzvah before. For that reason, it was important for Haley and her family to show them "what a privilege it is to be a Bat Mitzvah, and that you�re here to see what you can do for your community." Though the celebration intentionally avoided extravagance, Haley's friends all told her they thought it was the best party they'd been to. For her part, Haley hopes the project will inspire her classmates to take on similar endeavors.

Meanwhile, at John Yehall Chin, Rachel Kaufman—JCL's site coordinator there—was thrilled to hear that Haley wanted to donate the books she'd collected to her school. Rachel is a third grade teacher at Chin, and is herself a member of Emanu-El. The elementary, located in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, and whose students mainly reside in Chinatown, is desperate for new books. In fact, Rachel herself combs local secondhand stores looking for appropriate books for her students, which she pays for out of her own pocket.

When John Yehall Chin students visited their school library for the first time this new school year, they were greeted by some 500 new additions to their collection. Rachel says, "The kids were so excited. I didn�t even tell them about the books in advance, they discovered them on their own. They were asking me, 'Where did all these new books come from?'" Among the texts were several beautifully illustrated Disney books—right away big hits.

So the Bronstein Family's vision of Haley's Bat Mitzvah as a means to touch their community was realized. Mazal tov, Haley! You are a shining example of what the Jewish Coalition for Literacy stands for, and a model for all of us.

By Roberta Rothman, Bay Area Director

JCL is pleased to announce that the Lead Tutor Initiative is underway in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. At each site with over five tutors, a long-standing tutor has been designated as the “Lead Tutor.” This project is an effort to increase communication both amongst tutors and between tutors and the JCL staff. Each Lead Tutor will be calling the other tutors at their site to confirm placement, discuss any concerns about the school or the program that tutors may have, and arrange to host an “idea exchange” sometime during the year to talk about tutor experiences. The Lead Tutor will then let the JCL staff know if there are any problems or issues that need attention. This program will begin in the East Bay later in the year. Our hope for this program is that it will bring us closer together, generate new ideas and help with retention of JCL tutors.

A list of the Lead Tutors at each site can be found at our Website:

It’s almost time for JCL’s annual Chanukah Book Drive! This year we’re launching with a bang on Sunday December 11, 2005 at 4:30 pm at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco. We will be treated to a reading by local author Joshua Braff, who will share passages from his novel The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green. Book signing, Chanukah-style appetizers and wine will follow. Admission to the party is free with one children’s book for donation to the drive. If you don’t bring one along, quality children’s literature will be available for sale and donation on site. All donated books will go to Bay Area public schools and after-school programs in need!

This event is being co-hosted by JCL, YAD of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, and YLD of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. See you there—this event is not to be missed!

In light of the enormous losses suffered by evacuees of Hurricane Katrina and the trauma experienced by countless families, the Bay Area Jewish Coalition for Literacy has launched a fundraising effort to buy books for the students who need them most.

After careful consideration, JCL has established a direct connection with schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that have opened their doors to evacuee children.

Here's how it works:

Individuals make a financial contribution to JCL for hurricane relief. 100% of these donations will be transferred to a credit account we have opened at the Barnes & Noble in Baton Rouge for the purchase of books. In Baton Rouge, our designated local representative will pick up the books and personally deliver them to schools who have opened their doors to displaced elementary school students who do not have the means to purchase books on their own.

We greatly encourage you to contribute to this book-raising effort and unique partnership with Baton Rouge schools.

Please make your checks payable to: Jewish Coalition for Literacy

Specify "Hurricane Relief" on the notes line of your check, and mail to:

Jewish Coalition for Literacy
121 Steuart Street, Suite 301
San Francisco, CA 94105

As always, your donations are tax-deductible.

The JCL staff warmly thanks the following:

• Marilyn Nebenzahl for her tremendous work creating beautiful centerpieces for our book project.
• Pamela Mann and Mark Miller for hosting the San Francisco Wine & Cheese tutor appreciation event at their lovely home.
• Stellar Somerset Gallery in Downtown Palo Alto for hosting the Peninsula Wine & Cheese event.
• Martha and Richard Pastcan and Irit and Ernie Weir of Hagafen Cellars for donating the wine we enjoyed at both the San Francisco and Peninsula Wine & Cheese receptions.
• Dani Buckwald and Elise Phillips for their fantastic work on our new brochure—which you will all receive in the mail soon!
• The teachers who run our tutor training sessions.
• Meghan Devlin, our JVS Kohn Summer Intern, for her wonderful, hard work for JCL this summer.
• Fred Strum at Peninsula Temple Sholom and Richard Heiman and Ingrid Jonas at Peninsula Temple Beth El for being instrumental in fostering our partnerships with their congregations.