Welcome to Sophia Adler Varon, our new Manager of Strategic Initiatives

September 2024 – The Bronfman Fellowship is pleased to welcome Sophia Adler Varon as its new Manager of Strategic Initiatives. In this role, Sophia will oversee The Bronfman Fellowship’s pilot program for Jewish college students, Campus Commons: Building Bridges with Jewish Wisdom. Made possible through a seed grant from UJA-Federation of New York, this free program will empower young leaders to use Jewish values and wisdom to enhance social cohesion on their campuses and beyond.

Sophia has extensive experience in building vibrant Jewish community for young people. Before joining the Bronfman team, Sophia served as the Assistant Director of 4Front, a platform dedicated to empowering and amplifying the voices of Baltimore’s Jewish teens. She led the expansion of 4Front’s Gesher Teen Board Members program, placing young leaders on the boards of Jewish non-profits. Prior to this, she was the Program Director of the Diller Teen Fellowship at the JCC of Greater Boston, where she guided cohorts of teens through experiences that fostered Jewish identity, leadership, and social impact. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and is pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration. Read more about Sophia here.

“I’m so excited to be joining the Bronfman team and leading the implementation of Campus Commons,” Sophia said. “As campuses get increasingly polarized and divided, learning how to build bridges is a crucial skill for today’s college students. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring The Bronfman Fellowship’s expertise in talking across differences to a new and diverse population.”

Becky Voorwinde, CEO of The Bronfman Fellowship, said, “Campus Commons seeks to enable Jewish college students to be a powerful catalyst for change. Sophia has a track record of empowering young people to bring their Jewish values and their talents into action. We are thrilled to have her on The Bronfman Fellowship team!”

Designed in response to the rise in polarization, social instability, and isolation on college campuses, Campus Commons will give participants the opportunity to explore core Jewish ideas and texts related to pluralism, as well as the latest research in social psychology, communication, and conflict management. The program draws on the Fellowship’s 38 years of experience cultivating the pluralistic leadership of Jewish teenagers and young adults, and on its conception of Positive Pluralism – the understanding that a person can learn and grow from relationships with those who are different from them, and the recognition that this ability can and should be nurtured. Most importantly, it’s the knowledge that therein lies the key to a better future.

Fifty participants will be selected for the first cohort of Campus Commons. This all-expenses-paid program is open to full-time college students who identify as Jewish and who have completed at least one year of college. The cohort of Bridge Builders will be student leaders who are and are not formally involved in Jewish life on campus. For this pilot year, early preference will be given to students who are from New York and/or who attend a New York college.  The deadline to apply is October 21, 2024, and admission is rolling.  Students can learn more and apply at campuscommons.bronfman.org.

The Bronfman Fellowship hopes to expand the Campus Commons pilot program to other locations across the country over the next three years. For more information and to apply, please visit www.campuscommons.bronfman.org/. For questions about the program, please contact campuscommons@bronfman.org.