Eighth Annual “Slingshot” Guidebook Names 50 Most Innovative Jewish Nonprofits in America

(New York, NY) – November 5, 2012 Hidden Sparks has been named one of the nation’s 50 most innovative Jewish nonprofits in Slingshot ’12-‘13, a resource guide for Jewish innovation. Hidden Sparks is being recognized for its creativity, leadership, and impact across the spectrum of mainstream and special education in the Jewish community.

Slingshot organizations grapple with concerns in Jewish life such as identity, community, social justice, and tradition, each with different missions, perspectives, and strategies. The Slingshot resource guide is distributed to 7,500 funders, foundation professionals, and organizational leaders annually, in addition to tens of thousands of online downloads. Readers use Slingshot to identify the most inspiring and trail blazing organizations, projects, and programs in the North American Jewish community today. Since its inception, Slingshot has highlighted 173 innovative Jewish organizations in North America.

Selected from among hundreds of nominees, Hidden Sparks was chosen as a finalist based on its strength in four areas: innovation, impact, leadership, and organizational efficiency. Pleased to be among the leading organizations in the field of innovative Jewish education, Hidden Sparks strives to help children with learning differences reach their full potential in school and life. Through a series of professional development programs for Jewish day schools in the tri-state region, and now Baltimore and Chicago, Hidden Sparks helps to increase understanding for teaching to diverse learners.  Its Hidden Sparks Without Walls program (HSWOW), a resource for educators nationwide, has offered 43 webinars with close to 900 participants, and now it’s newly launched HSWOW Parent Connection series will be a national resource for parents.

Debbie Niderberg, Executive Director of Hidden Sparks, explained, “Our core curriculum and approach introduces the skills, strategies, and sensitivities of special education into mainstream classes. We believe this enhanced understanding positions both teachers and students for greater success. By using a mentoring and school-based delivery model and by training “Internal Coaches” in diverse learning, we believe that the program will have the greatest and most sustained impact over time on the students, teachers, and school culture.”

According to Julie Finkelstein, Program Director of Slingshot, “Slingshot is a celebration of those Jewish organizations and projects successfully breathing new energy into Jewish life. The guide highlights both newly formed organizations and innovative projects happening at established Jewish institutions, all making an impact by meeting the changing needs of today’s Jewish community. This year, we received more applications than ever before, making the evaluation and selection process highly competitive.”

Inspired six years ago by Slingshot, a group of next-generation philanthropists launched the Slingshot Fund, a collective giving mechanism to support innovative Jewish life. In just six cycles, 58 members of the Slingshot Fund have contributed more than $2.1 million to innovative Jewish organizations.

Sarah Gelman Rueven, Slingshot Board member, shared, “The Slingshot Guide promotes organizations that are pushing the boundaries and negotiating what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century, while at the same time, promoting transparent business practices and strong leadership. The Slingshot guide is important because by supporting Jewish innovation, we are really investing in the continuity of the Jewish people.”

Slingshot ’12-’13 was released on November 5, 2012. The community will meet on May 6th in New York City at the annual Slingshot Day, where over 250 not-for-profit leaders, foundation professionals, and funders of all ages will engage in candid conversations about philanthropy and innovation in the Jewish community.

About Slingshot
Slingshot was created by a team of young funders as a guidebook to help funders of all ages diversify their giving portfolios with the most innovative and effective organizations and programs in North America. This guide contains information about each organization’s origin, mission, strategy, impact, and budget, as well as details about its unique character. Now in its eighth edition, Slingshot has proven to be a catalyst for next generation funding and offers a telling snapshot of shifting trends in North America’s Jewish community. The book, published annually, is available for free in hard copy and as a download at www.slingshotfund.org.

About Hidden Sparks

Hidden Sparks, a nonprofit organization, develops and supports professional development programs for Jewish/ yeshiva day schools to help increase understanding and support for teaching to diverse learners, with the goal of building long-term capacity within schools. Using a coaching model, its core program works within mainstream Jewish day schools and provides them with tools and strategies for teaching children with social, emotional, and learning differences. It nurtures “Internal Coaches” in each school and aims to catch the children who might have otherwise fallen through the cracks, while increasing the understanding and tools for teachers that will impact all of the students. Hidden Sparks has seen a strong direct impact on participating teachers and students, and believes this is the strongest approach to deepening school capacity to address the needs of struggling learners.

Currently active in 24 schools in New York and New Jersey, Hidden Sparks recently received a Covenant Foundation grant to expand its program to Baltimore and Chicago area schools. Additionally, the ICP Satellite program has provided training to coaches in Jewish day schools in Nashville, New Orleans, Hollywood and Tampa, Florida. As a service to teachers nationally, Hidden Sparks offers Hidden Sparks Without Walls (HSWOW), which brings free audio and online hour-long classes to educators to enhance their knowledge of the field of diverse learning. For further information about our webinars for parents and teachers, or other Hidden Sparks programs, log onto www.HiddenSparks.org.