Cultivating the Next Generation of Jewish Leaders
A nine-month, highly selective, paid fellowship for outstanding Jewish college graduates ready to make an impact. We bridge the gap between potential and practice by offering direct access to top-tier leaders, active mentorship, and a clear roadmap to lead with confidence in civic and communal life.
A future where emerging Jewish leaders step into their potential with clear direction and strong mentorship, recognized as a pool of dynamic, inspiring, and educated future leaders in Jewish organizations, professional industries, and civic spaces.
The Pattern We're Seeing
Graduation marks a quiet crisis for Jewish communal life. High-potential Jewish student leaders — the ones who led campus Jewish organizations, organized advocacy efforts, and built community from scratch — step off campus and directly into a void, arriving in cities with fragmented Jewish ecosystems and no mentors to help them find their footing. The result is a talent loss the Jewish community can't afford: a generation of capable young leaders quietly drifting from communal life, not from apathy, but from the absence of intentional on-ramps built for this exact moment.
Every year this gap persists, we lose leaders who might otherwise have become the next generation's board chairs, philanthropists, educators, and communal architects — simply because no one met them at the door. The Jewish Leadership Accelerator (JLA) exists to close that gap — meeting emerging leaders at this inflection point, before disengagement becomes permanent, and giving them the mentors, networks, and structure they need to turn early promise into lasting communal leadership.
Our Guiding Values
We believe Jewish leadership is the single most critical determinant of the future of Jewish life over the next hundred years.
JLA exists to convene and inspire that next generation: bringing together exceptional young Jewish leaders, connecting them with mentors and with each other, and giving them the relationships, tools, and confidence to lead.
How It Works
Monthly Dinners with Jewish Leaders
Fellows moderate and lead intimate, exlcusive conversations with local Jewish leaders spanning tech, business, government, and civic life.
Mentorship and Shadowing Opportunities
Beyond the one-on-one relationship, fellows get access to shadowing opportunities with leaders so they can see firsthand what leadership actually looks like day to day.
Retreat
Fellows engage in a day of reflection at a special location grounded in Jewish text and tradition.
Community Night
Fellows share what they've learned, where they're headed, and how we — a room full of engaged local leaders and philanthripists — can help each of them achieve their goals.
Two Founding Cohorts
“The future of the Jewish community depends on the strength of our leaders. JLA is designed to ensure young adults have the mentorship, network, and conviction to lead with confidence. Each fellow who steps into a JLA cohort is a future leader of a vibrant, joyful, and strong Jewish community in America.”
— Laura Lauder, Founder & President
Interested in Joining the Next Cohort?
Applications are highly selective and open to exceptional recent college graduates.