2022-23 Impact & Outcomes

2022-23

IMPACT & OUTCOMES MISSION Moving Traditions emboldens Jewish youth to thrive through the pursuit of personal wellbeing (shleimut), caring relationships (hesed), and a Jewish and feminist vision of equity and justice (tzedek).

ABOUT MOVING TRADITIONS Moving Traditions’ philosophy for helping Jewish youth thrive rests on three interconnected outcomes:

“All of the teachers and clergy found the activities from your Israel at War guide to be thoughtful, educational, and engaging. It met the teens where they were that week and helped us as clergy and educators not to have to scramble for quality materials on the current Israel conflict.” — Partner Educator

SHLEIMUTSHLEIMUT

SHLEIMUT

93% of educators reported that teens in our Jewish youthprograms increased their skills, learning pursue knowledge or awareness to pursue self-knowledge and personaland wellbeing. wholeness

Jewish youth pursue knowledge and personal wholeness

HESED

TZEDEK

Jewish youth cultivate a commitment to inclusion, equity, and justice rooted in Judaism

88% of teens in our programs experienced HESED Judaism and Jewish community as vibrant, meaningful and relevant.

Jewish youth

develop supportive TZEDEK and healthy 87% of teensand in our programs felt inspired by relationships their Jewish and feminist learning to make a connect to their positive difference in their communities. communities

HESED

TZEDEK

Jewish youth develop supportive and healthy relationships and connect to their communities

Jewish youth cultivate a commitment to inclusion, equity, and justice rooted in Judaism

“Rosh Hodesh saved my life in many ways so I knew that I wanted to continue being a part of Moving Traditions. It brings me so much joy knowing I am making a difference in the lives of adolescents through such an incredible organization.”

— Kulam leader and former Rosh Hodesh participant

“Being at this family education session almost moved me to tears.

You should really continue this for kids and parents who may not get the chance to connect and talk openly with one another about their relationships and communication.”

— B-Mitzvah Preteen Participant

GROWTH TOWARD OUR GOALS Last year, Moving Traditions released our latest strategic plan with the aim to double our impact by 2025 through three ambitious goals.

GOAL 1: REACH MORE TEENS

GOAL 2: BUILD AN ECOSYSTEM OF SUPPORT In 2022-23, Moving Traditions engaged 185 partner institutions across North America to deliver our programs to teens, an increase of 10% over the previous year. We trained 199 educators at 110 organizations to effectively run these programs. Additionally, we trained 343 professionals at other organizations to better serve their youth through CultureShift.

For parents of Jewish youth, our Raising Up Teens webinars engaged 1350+ unique individuals in five webinars in the last program year: Helping Boys Thrive Light the Way: Parenting for Wellbeing Antisemitism & Teen Wellbeing The Science and Power of Spirituality Who’s Invited to YOUR B-Mitzvah?

When the world changed dramatically on October 7, we pivoted quickly, creating resources to help thousands of parents, educators, and teens process the complicated news. We shared poems to spur thoughtful reflection; a deeper discussion guide that educators used to provide teens with safe spaces to process; and a parent webinar to foster meaningful conversations around the kitchen table about Israel – even when teens and parents may not see eye to eye.

GOAL 3: SECURE RESOURCES To meet these ambitious goals, Moving Traditions has been working hard to secure the resources necessary to maintain high quality as we scale up our efforts.

In 2022-23, Moving Traditions partnered with 185 synagogues and Jewish institutions to engage a total of 6,295 Jewish youth in our programs, including: 4,046 in B-Mitzvah Family Education, for 5th-8th graders and their parents to explore becoming and parenting a teen 1,134 in Kulam, a dynamic plug-and-play curriculum for Hebrew High School students 1,056 in Teen Groups, transformative and inclusive communities including Rosh Hodesh for girls, Shevet for boys, and Tzelem for LGBTQ+ and nonbinary teens 46 in The Meyer-Gottesman Kol Koleinu Teen Feminist Fellowship for 10th-12th graders to build community and gain agency as Jewish feminist changemakers 13 in our inaugural pilot of Kumi: An AntiOppression Teen Leadership Experience for 10th12th graders to explore to interlocking issues of identity and build skills to create community and disrupt racism, sexism and antisemitism.

In 2022-23, our fastest-growing program was Kulam, which increased by 66% over the previous year.

Our staff has grown 50% in the last year and a half, from 21 to 31 staff members across the US. Moving Traditions continues to be a great place to work, scoring consistently higher than average across the board in our annual Leading Edge Employee Experience Study.

Our annual expenses increased in FY23 by nearly 10% to a projected $3.8 million, at the same time as we saw the end of government pandemic funding, requiring us to raise more than $1 million in new money to implement our new strategic plan.

HELP US MEET OUR GOALS You can help Moving Traditions grow to meet our goals by becoming a program partner, finding a program in your community, or supporting Moving Traditions.

Learn more at MovingTraditions.org.

Read more in our latest annual report!