Interventions

Presence as a Leader

I talked to over 70 Jewish students one-on-one, becoming the face as the leader of the RSJ community.

My presence also enabled the wider Jewish community to refer RSJ to me upon meeting them.

Group chat

I added everyone to one group chat on Whatsapp where students were able to communicate meet ups, share projects they worked on, relate over common identity. It grew to 38 participants within a year.

Events

I planned 5 events throughout the year, 10 group meet ups.

Events included a talk by historian, volunteer activity, shabbat dinner with food from Former Soviet Union countries.

Impact of Solutions

Those three interventions a create successful student experiences by crafting events that created a sense of belonging.

• Brought culturally similar people together who would not otherwise know other Russian Jews on campus

• Students were engaged in conversations about Judaism and their post-Soviet Union heritage

• People felt seen and understood with their unique identities

• Helped students find their own identity through others

Generative Research.

I started by using a range of communication channels to find Russian speaking Jewish (RSJ) students who are children of immigrants. I established a presence as the leader of this community in the Jewish Center on campus through my role as a Bronfman Center Engagement Intern (BCEI).

Stakeholder Mapping

To get a better understanding of the stakeholders of establishing this service, I created a stakeholder map showing all the people and organisations involved in the process. I mapped out their relationship to each other and the overall community to understand how to prioritise my communication and outreach efforts.

Network mapping

I created a network of people in my network to reach out to and identify how I could find people to build a community with.

In-depth Interviews

This enabled me to get funding for coffee chats with students. This enabled me to conduct one-on-one in-depth interviews of the students. Over two semesters, I talked with over 70 students. During those conversations I asked students about:

• Their academic background (year, major, career interests)

• Their cultural and ethnic background (relationship to Russian speaking or Former Soviet countries)

• Their relationship to Judaism and the Jewish community

• Grasp of their social network

• Their interest in a Russian-Speaking Jewish community

The interviews not only allowed me to get an in-depth understanding of the students, but it also gave them a go-to person for any questions regarding the wider Jewish community.

Insights from Interview

• Students communicated that they could not relate to the experience of other Jewish students due to their background, however, still felt that Judaism was a big part of their identity.

• Jewish students feel disconnected to the wider Jewish community as they view Judaism as more of an ethnic and cultural group. Most students did not practice religion at home

• I found patterns of similarities and significant differences among the RSJ students which I will take into account when building the community

User Persona

Through the conversations with the students, I was able to create a persona of the typical student who became a part of the RSJ community.

Brainstorming

Now that I knew my audience, I brainstormed how I could make this community happen.