JCF interns hit their stride

Our crew of interns are hard at work this summer, working up a sweat with a slew of projects that are key to Federation's success. No pressure! Paula is helping the International Diller Teen Initiatives achieve lift-off with its summer events, while Gary is busy pitching ads in the Marketing department. Here's more about their current work in their own words:

Paula Reves is ensuring success

Paula Reves

Paula here again! We are about half way through the program and well underway with work. I have been working on all different sorts of projects, both long and short term. I have been working with both of the programs that the Diller Teen Initiatives has to offer, Diller Teen Fellows and the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards.

Working on the alumni network has been fun since I was personally a Diller Teen Fellow in high school. I have been trying to maintain what was started last summer and in turn make the alumni network more sustainable than it was before. There are three main aspects to my work on this alumni network. The first one is direct contact with the alumni, I sent out an email to anyone who has completed the Diller Teen Fellows program asking a series of questions and whether or not they want to join the alumni task force which we are trying to create. This alumni task force is another large part of what I have been doing with the network. I created a handbook for its members to help them help us create a more self-sustaining alumni network. The handbook had all different tips to help them do all the cool stuff they do in a short 10 pages. Lastly, I have been updating the Facebook group on a regular basis.

As far as the Diller Teen Fellows program goes, I am moving toward putting together content from the Israel Summer Seminar blogs from this year. I have been doing more work with the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, but all smaller projects. The awards luncheon is approaching quickly at the end of August! I have put together different materials for the award winners this year, and working with recipients of the award to send in their video footage. I have been helping to do some of the preparation for this year’s events in other ways as well. I am also going to be doing some work on the Facebook presence for the awards in the coming weeks.

I have been doing a little bit of everything and I am constantly doing new things and keeping busy! For the Diller Teen Fellows program, my work is a little more focused while the Tikkun Olam Awards my work is more fluid since there is a lot of person to person contact whether it is over the phone or email. There has been a ton of follow-up work making sure people are turning in all the things we need to make sure our programs are a success.

Who's the ad wizard? Gary Podvalny.

Gary Podvalny

I'm currently involved with a variety of interesting projects ranging from helping create marketing materials in the Jewish Teen Foundations (JTF) to researching how other Federations market their work in Israel. I'm learning a great deal from my supervisors.

My thought process regarding communication efforts has really grown. I now see my tasks not just for a particular event or program but as an expression of the Federation’s brand. I also started catching myself looking at ads on the street and trying to put myself in the shoes of the person who created it as well as who the ad is really targeting. I recently had my first meeting with the Jewish Teen Foundations and I think it went well! They liked two of my ideas and will hopefully decide to go ahead with them. It still needs some work but I believe we'll be ready to present a final draft soon. Because it wasn’t so long ago that I was a teen, it was easier for me to put myself in the shoes of the target audience. Overall this was a fun and interesting project.

Dealing with various online tools happens frequently. Programs like wordpress, excel, and smugmug are utilized constantly by the marketing department. I am by no means an expert at using these tools but I believe by the end of the internship I will be very comfortable with all of them. I feel very fortunate to be able to experience these tools in a professional setting and see how they apply in the work place.