For 19 years, Jewish Learning Venture has enabled Jewish communities to provide access to the full range of Jewish experience to individuals with special needs and their families. With Whole Community Inclusion, we prepare Jewish professional and volunteer leaders to embrace people of all abilities.
meet regularly to share their inclusion best practices in the Jewish Special Needs/Disability Inclusion Consortium of Greater Philadelphia
are supported by JLV
synagogues received consulting services provided by Jewish Learning Venture, customized to make their educational programs more inclusive of individuals with disabilities
www.jkidaccess.org
Whole Community Inclusion launched a brand new website on June 10th to help families and educators find direct access to resources designed for children with disabilities.
With a grant from the Covenant Foundation, we are training educators to use these resources with families in their organizations.
participated in the 4th annual JDAIM Shabbat Across Philadelphia, reaching more than 1,500 members
Disability inclusion specialists from 5 congregational schools participated in 40 hours of professional learning and networking and served 89 children with special needs
“As parents of a child who is easily over stimulated, it means so much to me and my husband to have sensory-friendly programming to bring him to."
“You gave us so much insight into each of our personal learning and teaching styles, as well as what we can do better as an institution. I know we will be able to reach more students because of it!"
“TAP has changed how I view people with disabilities immensely…and how I view people and situations as a whole."
“The workshop made me think about the actual seder that I have and how we can better engage my son with special needs. I realized that we need to engage him as much as possible so he feels like he's truly a part of the seder."
“The training gave me tools for reframing learning challenges and also concrete takeaways to use with my students. I will now make space and time to engage parents on through the B'nai Mitzvah process."
“As both an agency professional and the chair of a local synagogue Inclusion committee, I have found belonging to the JLV Consortium invaluable. The connections I have made strengthen my work, focus my thinking, and help to bring all of us working in this arena closer together."
“Working with people who are different from me has helped me harness a great deal of empathy."
have been trained to support and advocate for students with disabilities in the Reta Emerson Fellowship/Teen Assistant Program since its launch in 2004
participated in 8 sensory-friendly Jewish programs
taught parents to adapt Jewish rituals for their children's specific needs
participated in seminars or received personal consultations on how to connect with community resources and learn to serve as home-based Jewish educators for their own children
