The Florence & Chafetz Hillel House at Boston University

Student Strategic Plan

Version 1.0: 11/29/12 Presented by: Joel Udwin

STUDENT PLAN

What Hillel Does Well:

- Creating a Pluralist Community Boston University Hillel has a strong and vibrant sense of pluralism as opposed to other college campuses. In order to ensure that pluralism on campus remains strong, certain traditions should be kept. The mingling time after Shabbat services Friday night contributes to a sense of unity, after divided services. Additionally the requirement that 50% of a minyans activities be open to everyone at Hillel ensures that there are no barriers to friendship. To further improve Hillels thriving pluralist community the RLC should plan intrafaith events, which allow student to gain knowledge, and discuss their own connections to, the different streams of Judaism. - Having Available Staff If you have been to Hillel you know the staff are always available. From the Rabbis to Susan Sloane there is always an open door policy. The staff provides guidance and perspective to all students. - Accommodating a Diversity of Interests Hillel is great at providing for a diversity of interests to the many students in the community. From intramural sports teams to a capella and everything in between Hillel supports students extracurricular endeavors. We should continue these traditions, while making it easier for students to begin and get funding for new activities through Hillel.

What Hillel Could Improve:

Creating an Engaging Community Creating an engaging community means we need to have leaders that engage everyone. People are not engaged via programs, people attend programs. But community is fostered by the interaction of people. To this end I believe we need to drastically shift the focus of Hillel from a programming model, to that of peer engagement. For more information on this initiative please see the section Brining Hillel to The Next Level.
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- Leadership Training & Individual Growth Opportunities Our community has a need for lots of leaders. Yet, besides Freshmen Council there are not many leadership training initiatives. I believe it is necessary to encourage a culture at Hillel where it is normal for students to pursue outside fellowships. Whether these are Israel fellowships, or fellowships related to particular Jewish viewpoints they will provide individual students with the training necessary to be an effective Jewish leader. Leaving 213 Bay State Road

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We all know Hillel has a beautiful building. Too often we measure our success as how many people enter our building. But, our building is not our community. We can, and should encourage activities outside of the Hillel building. We should encourage students to have Shabbat dinner outside Hillel, invite new people, and we should fund it. Additionally we should move other activities outside of Hillel. For example Krav Maga should be in west campus at Fit Rec. By leaving 213 we will engage students who dont want to make the trek, and who dont feel comfortable venturing in the building yet.

Bringing Hillel to the Next Level:

Shift from Programming to Peer Engagement Our community has overly emphasized programming. We judge our success as a community as how many people came to that program?. This approach and idea of success is not right, and its not working. We should be emphasizing engaging our peers and building a community network. Our success should be measured by how many people feel connected to our community, not just who comes into the building. To this end I propose that we fall in line with the new Hillel International model by shifting from a programming focus (while still maintaining our favorite programs) to a peer engagement focus.
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I will not explain in detail peer engagement, but here are a few links: 1) http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/hillel-building-the-jewish-socialnetwork/?utm_source=Mon+Nov+19&utm_campaign=Mon+Nov+19&utm_medi um=email 2) http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2012/oct/Peer_Engagement_Jewish_Learnin g_Promote_Jewish_Growth.htm 3) http://www.campusinitiative.org/peer_network In order to accomplish this task I would like to change the Hillel Ambassador program into more of a peer engagement model. Hillel Ambassadors would be a year round activity. Each ambassador would be tasked with making 20 25 unique connections. With 45 ambassadors this would grow our community by 1,125 people. These ambassadors would receive funding to plan activities for their connections, and to simply take them out for coffee. This will create a hub and spoke model, where the ambassadors are the hubs. When they attend Hillel programs or events the peers they have engaged with, and built relationships with will be more likely to attend as well. ** This document is not complete. If you have suggestions or comments please email them to Joel Udwin at: judwin@bu.edu

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