Tishrei 5770
September 2009
Dear Friends,
Rosh Hashannah marks a time of accounting when, according to the classic kabbalistic view, a tally is made of the nitzotzot, or “sparks,” that we have each collected and redeemed through our efforts. Each spark is a building block toward the ultimate goal and responsibility of tikkun olam, the repair of the world. As we are told by the mishnah in Avot, we should not expect to complete this mission, but neither are we excused from it.
As we at Hidden Sparks reflect collectively on this past year, we feel privileged and proud to be partners with schools in our effort to help improve the landscape for struggling children. Now entering our fourth programmatic year, our coaches are working with teams of teachers in twenty-one schools and building school-based expertise to strengthen school capacity to reach and teach all students, especially those with learning and behavioral difficulties who are frequently misunderstood.
This past year saw the expansion of Hidden Sparks to seven schools in the Boston area through our partnership with Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, and to six additional schools in New York through a pilot program with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, supported by a generous grant from UJA-Federation of New York’s Partners in Caring program. We are also pleased to report that 330 educators linked into Hidden Sparks Without Walls classes from across the United States and Canada in its first successful year.
Looking ahead, Hidden Sparks is thrilled to report a far-reaching collaboration with New York’s prestigious Churchill School and Center to develop a new, comprehensive curriculum for understanding learning behavior and children’s social-emotional development. When completed, this curriculum and training will be available for dissemination to Jewish day schools and public schools nationwide. We are deeply grateful to the Milstein Foundation for their vision and generosity in providing a seed grant to support this initiative.
We also eagerly look forward to our second SCALE program for school principals in participating Hidden Sparks schools, to our third Internal Coach Program cohort this Spring for continuing and new schools, and to another exciting year of Hidden Sparks Without Walls webinars, enabling access for all to leading experts in the field.
On behalf of the Hidden Sparks leadership, we extend our warmest wishes to you and your loved ones for a כתיבה וחתימה טובה: May you be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year, and may each of the hidden sparks we reach in the coming year bring us closer to the goal of tikkun olam.
Shana tova,
Debbie Niderberg
Executive Director
