About Us

AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps engages young people in direct work on the causes and effects of poverty in the United States. Participants in our service Corps program live out and deepen their commitments to social change and Jewish life through a year of full-time work at anti-poverty organizations in Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and Washington, DC. This work brings important resources to low income communities and equips Corps members to emerge as lifelong agents for social change, whose work for justice is rooted in and nourished by Jewish values. After participants complete this intensive one-year program, AVODAH's partnership with American Jewish World Service provides a broad platform for long-term leadership in social change and Jewish life.

About Our Programs

• One-Year Program
  

  Each year, AVODAH recruits people in their 20s from across North America and from the full spectrum of Jewish life to spend a year working on urban poverty issues as full-time employees in local non-profit organizations in Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and Washington, DC. During their year of service, participants live and study together, forming an intense and diverse community of people making a connection between social activism and Jewish life.

  Corps members help bring housing, education and other basic services to thousands of people each year, and save each organization we partner with $18,500 dollars in staffing costs, since Corps members live on a basic stipend during their year of service.

• Alumni Program
  

  AVODAH strengthens the impact of our one-year program by supporting alumni after their term of service has ended. The AVODAH Alumni Program provides participants with opportunities to acquire the skills needed to establish themselves as leaders in the workplace and in their communities, as well as professional networking and relationship-building through on-line resources, Jewish celebrations, issue-focused educational sessions, advocacy campaigns, and service opportunities.

  Through a new partnership with the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), we are significantly expanding the reach and impact of our alumni efforts. With staffing in New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC we now engage thousands of Jewish service alumni and their peers.