UNITED STATES
The Jewish Week
[Jewish Funders Network program]
03/29/16
Steve Lipman
Staff Writer
A Los Angeles-based Jewish think tank will unveil an innovative approach next week to help reduce the problem of sexual abuse in the Jewish community, The Jewish Week has learned.
Jumpstart, a “philanthropic research & design lab” launched eight years ago, will announce on Sunday a Funders Pledge that will commit at least a dozen influential philanthropists to support only those Jewish schools and camps that take specific steps “to prevent, report, and investigate sexual abuse of minors.”
The announcement, to be made at the Jewish Funders Network annual conference in La Jolla, Calif., follows a study conducted over the past year about policies and procedures of Jewish day schools and camps to prevent sexual abuse.
According to the survey’s preliminary findings, directors of day schools and overnight camps “report an uneven patchwork of policies and procedures to prevent and respond to incidents of child sexual abuse.”
The Jumpstart study was conducted by sociologist Steven M. Cohen and abuse expert Shira Berkovits in consultation with the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) and the RAVSAK network of community Jewish day schools. It did not seek to measure the extent of sexual abuse in those Jewish institutions, but rather asked about their awareness of the problem and acts they have taken to combat it.
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