Federations

If you are a federation that oversees or implements Jewish educational and/or communal sector programs, JESNA's Berman Center for Research and Evaluation in Jewish Education can help you build your capacities to understand, apply, and even conduct effective evaluation.  Consistent and ongoing evaluation is essential to fulfilling federations' missions to translate Jewish values into social action (through educational and communal initiatives) on behalf of millions of Jews in North America and worldwide.

Among the many professional services for our federation clients, the Berman Center:

• Helps to institutionalize program and service evaluation by building the federation's evaluation capacity
• Conducts evaluation studies of Jewish educational and communal sector programs funded and/or overseen within the federation's service area to assess program implementation and impact
• Partners with the federation to construct "logic models" that enable the federation to align its mission, resources, program activities, and desired outcomes
• Facilitates evaluation training and workshops for key federation leaders and constituent program providers

To learn more about how the Berman Center can help you maximize the effectiveness of your federation's Jewish educational and communal programs, contact Dr. Renae Cohen, Director of the Berman Center, at 212-284-6516 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Previously, the Berman Center turned its Evaluation Spotlight on foundations and funders....

Sample of the Berman Center's Current Evaluation Projects

Since it was established in 1992, the Berman Center has conducted more than 150 program evaluations, environmental scans and literature reviews, needs assessment studies, and descriptive research projects. Some of our current clients include:

• Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas
• Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York
• Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles
• Center for Leadership Initiatives, Inc.
• The Covenant Foundation (multiple 2006-2008 Signature Grant recipients)
• Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's Alliance for Jewish Education
• Jewish Educational Center of Cleveland (JECC) (multiple projects and programs)
• Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
• Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF)
• Montreal Federation CJA
  
• National Diller Teen Initiatives
• Nurturing Excellence in Synagogue Schools (NESS)
• Oraita: Institute for Continuing Rabbinic Education
• Partnership for Effective Learning and Innovative Education (PELIE)
  
• Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal (STAR) (multiple projects and programs)