Jewish Federation of Ulster County (UCJF)

This semester I will be working at the Jewish Federation of Ulster County (UCJF).  This is a non-secular organization that tries to spread Jewish culture throughout the Hudson Valley.  They are a community-building organization that tries to enrich Jewish lives in Ulster County, on a national level, in Israel, and throughout the world.  They do this by helping people in need and fostering Jewish values for the greater good. The Jewish Federation of Ulster County is under the Jewish Federation of North America (JFNA), which represents 153 Jewish Federations and over 300 Network Communities.  UCJF, in its 40 years, have helped numerous causes and continue to give with their events such as their Fall for Art fundraiser, annual campaigns and many more. Additionally, in the Summer of 2018 they opened The Reher Center For Immigrant Culture and History, focusing on the Hudson Valley.  

My specific tasks for the Federation will be more secretarial type work.  I will help them organize all of their “Kolenu’s,” which is their newsletter that comes out four times a year.  This newsletter was started in 1979 and is still made to this day. So I will be going through all of these newsletters that they have kept, to see what is out of order and what is possibly missing.  I will then have to ask the Board members who have been around since the beginning of the Federation, and see if they have any of the missing ones. Throughout my time here I will have to constantly talk to the Board members and the officials so this will be a good experience.   Later on in the internship I will help them scan and digitize all of the meeting minutes so that they can look back and have a coherent and easy to navigate system. These tasks may seem tedious but overall it will help me get an understanding of archival studies, as that is what I want to go into.  The most important project I will be working on with the Federation is for their annual meeting, this year being their 40th anniversary. I will be going through photos the Federation has compiled over their years of operation. I am to decide which photos will invoke happiness to the viewers and bring back memories of their rich history.   

A main problem I have noticed about the Federation is its lack of younger people involved.  They are also having a problem getting the younger crowd to get involved in their events. As I learn more about their events it is easy to understand why this is the case.  Their annual Fall for Art event seems to be a great way to get a community involved and see artwork from all around the Hudson Valley, however, there is an entrance fee of $50.  Personally, I know I do not have that type of money to go to an event like this, but it would be something fun to go to otherwise. My advisor, Arlene Gould, who is also the Coordinator of the Federation has expressed to me their concerns of having a hard time reaching out to younger Jewish families and Jewish students, so during my time interning I hope to help.