Over the past several years, USY has been investing in a simple but powerful idea: what happens when a community has a dedicated professional whose job is to engage teens, build relationships, and strengthen connections between synagogues and young people?
The answer is clear: the USY Community Director and Community Advisor model is working.
Today, dedicated Community Professionals are helping build vibrant Jewish teen communities in Vancouver/Lower Mainland, Los Angeles, San Diego/Orange County, Midbar, Emtza, CHUSY, and HaNer. While each community is unique, they share a common goal: creating more opportunities for teens to connect, lead, learn, and build lasting Jewish relationships.
CHUSY provides perhaps the clearest example of the impact a dedicated Community Professional can have. Prior to JUF’s investment in 2019, CHUSY was engaging roughly 200 teens annually. Today, that number is regularly around 800.
That growth has been driven by consistent professional leadership, stronger partnerships with local synagogues, expanded community-wide programming, and a focus on creating meaningful opportunities for teens at every level of engagement.
What began as an investment in one community has become a model for how USY can strengthen Jewish teen engagement across North America.
The Lower Mainland experience demonstrates what can happen when professional investment is paired with a clear vision for community growth.
When the Community Director model began in 2024, the goal was to build a stronger, more connected USY community across Vancouver and the surrounding Lower Mainland. In just two years, the community has seen nearly 400% growth in engagement, transforming the size and reach of the local teen community.
Today, Lower Mainland USY has far surpassed even our original goals, having grown from a community of around 60 teens when we started the initiative two years ago, to one of over 260, far surpassing even our original three year goal. The community has also significantly expanded its reach to teens who had never previously participated in USY, as well as young people who are not members of local synagogues.
But the success in the Lower Mainland is about more than numbers. The focus has increasingly shifted toward deeper engagement, teen leadership, and building a sustainable pipeline from younger youth programs into USY. At the same time, Lower Mainland teens are becoming more connected to opportunities across the broader USY movement, participating in regional and international experiences and taking on leadership roles beyond their local community.
The result is a community that is not simply larger—it is more connected, more engaged, and better positioned for long-term growth.
The three communities of Los Angeles, San Diego/Orange County, and Midbar demonstrate how the Community Professional model can strengthen local communities while maintaining the power of regional connection.
Each community now has dedicated professional leadership focused on building relationships, strengthening local programming, supporting teen leaders, and working closely with local congregations. This allows each community to respond to its own needs and develop programming that is meaningful and accessible to the teens who live there.
At the same time, the three communities continue to come together for larger experiences, including conventions, Shabbatons, and other immersive programs, as Far West.
This approach honors the strong tradition and relationships that have defined Far West USY while recognizing that the way teens engage with Jewish community has changed. Rather than requiring every community to function in exactly the same way, the new model gives each local community the professional support it needs to grow while preserving the larger regional experience that makes Far West special.
It is not a choice between local and regional. It is both.
Teens can build a strong Jewish community close to home while also becoming part of something much larger.
Emtza and HaNer demonstrate another important strength of the model: the ability to create connections across geographic boundaries.
In communities where teens may be spread across multiple cities and congregations, a dedicated Community Professional provides the relationships and infrastructure needed to bring them together. Community-wide programs, leadership opportunities, conventions, Shabbatons, and shared experiences allow teens to connect beyond their individual synagogue or chapter.
The result is a stronger sense of belonging—and an opportunity for smaller local communities to participate in something much larger.
The model is also beginning to take shape in New Frontier, Northern California. The community currently has a volunteer Community Director who is working closely with USY to begin building the foundation for a stronger local teen community.
This volunteer leadership is helping us start the work now, building relationships, exploring programming opportunities, and creating momentum, while we work together to develop the funding needed to bring a dedicated professional to the community.
New Frontier demonstrates that community building does not have to wait until every piece is in place. We can begin building today while working toward the professional infrastructure needed for long-term growth.
The success of these communities has created momentum for continued growth.
This year, USY is excited to launch new Community Professional initiatives in Colorado and Atlanta, bringing the model to additional communities and creating new opportunities for teens to connect, lead, and build Jewish community.
And this is just the beginning.
USY plans to continue exploring opportunities to expand the Community Professional model to additional communities across North America. The goal is not to create one-size-fits-all programming, but to work with local partners to develop the right structure for each community, one that strengthens local engagement while connecting teens to the broader USY movement.
The Community Professional model works best when USY, local synagogues, community leaders, volunteers, and funders work together around a shared vision for Jewish teen engagement.
If your community does not currently have a USY Community Professional and you believe this model could help strengthen teen engagement where you live, we want to hear from you.
Reach out to Marc Sender, Director of USY Communities, to explore what it could look like to bring a Community Director or Community Advisor to your community and how USY can work with local partners to make it happen.
Together, we can build stronger communities, empower more teen leaders, and create a more connected Jewish future, one community at a time.
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