Mission Critical:

USY empowers exceptional Jewish teens to create exceptional Jewish experiences. For 70 years, USY has taught young Jews the values and skills they need to become exceptional leaders in their religious and secular communities. USY empowers youth to develop friendships, leadership skills, a sense of belonging to the Jewish People, and a commitment to inspired Jewish living through meaningful and fun experiences rooted in Conservative Judaism’s approach to learning, spiritual expression, and social responsibility. Through year round programming and domestic and international travel opportunities, USY inspires in teens a deep sense of pride in and love for their Jewish identity. To learn more, visit www.usy.org.

Position Purpose

A key pillar of USY’s growth strategy is narrowing the focus of our staff to concentrate on a single metropolitan area with significant capacity for a vibrant community of Jewish teenagers.

The CHUSY City Director will be hired to both develop a city-wide engagement plan powered by USY and recruit teenagers to attend existing regional and international programs, while developing unique USY experiences for that specific metropolitan area. The CHUSY City Director will work directly with the local congregations to build their teen engagement programs, while establishing the USY brand outside the walls of congregations to expand USY’s reach beyond the traditional USY chapter. The CHUSY City Directors direct area of service will be Chicagoland, Wisconsin and Northwest Indiana.

Duties and Responsibilities

The position reports to the USY Branch Director who supervises staff in the midwest United States with secondary supervision by the Director of Teen Engagement Department. The position includes five areas of responsibility:

1. Grassroots Organizing and Leadership Development for USY in CHUSY: Using a community organized based-model, the CHUSY City Director will work on a daily basis to maximize touchpoints of Jewish engagement with Jewish teenagers between grades 6-12.

2. Teen Engagement Capacity Building With Conservative Synagogues: All Conservative synagogues have different teen engagement structures, and the CHUSY City Director will be responsible for developing an action plan for best serving each based on a needs assessment. The work with congregations will be guided by the principles of USY’s new Teen Advocates and EPIC Teens programs.

3. Create Initiatives to Engage Teens in New Arenas: USY is a synagogue based program, but there are teens in other settings that would benefit from the experiences USY has to offer. The CHUSY City Director would implement new engagement models to include teens in public school settings, Jewish schools, and Jewish camps.

4. Community Relationships: The CHUSY City Director will represent USY within the greater Jewish community and Build relationships and partnership opportunities with local professionals, Conservative congregations and other Jewish organizations.

5. Serve as Member of USY Branch Staff: CHUSY City Director will be an official member of the USY Branch Staff in the midwest United States, and will attend regular staff meetings with key staff and USYers, as well as staff in-person USY and Kadima programs on a regional, branch and international level once the organization deems it safe to return in to in-person programming.

The Teen Engagement Department allows team members the opportunity to develop passion projects that they believe will provide enhanced value for member congregations, and looks forward to helping this person find other opportunities to use their unique talents and skills.

Supervisory Responsibility: NA

Required Education and Experience

● Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science required.

Preferred Education and Experience

● 3 years or more relevant experience

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

● Significant knowledge of teenagers, teen engagement, and experiential Jewish education. While USY background and knowledge is a plus, it is not required.

● Experience in immersive Jewish education, whether as a camp counselor, youth group advisor, Birthright staff member, Hillel engagement position, etc.

● Build relationships and partnership opportunities with local professionals, local Conservative congregations and other Jewish organizations

● Passion for Judaism, Talmud Torah, social action, Israel, and overall Jewish engagement

● Familiarity and comfort with the principles of Conservative Judaism

Work Environment: CHUSY City Director must be based in the Chicagoland Area.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

● Full-time position

● Some evenings and weekends required, almost all of which are known far in advance

Travel:

Semi-regular travel required. Travel includes major events such as USY International Convention and branch and regional programs

Work Authorization

Other Duties
As frequent in-person interaction with USCJ teens is required for this role, the staff-member must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 within 6 weeks of start date. To perform this job successfully, the individual must be able to perform each essential duty/function with or without reasonable accommodation in accordance with applicable law.