As the Orthodox Union’s Chief Innovation Officer, I get the opportunity to work on innovation-oriented initiatives that our program staff involved in the daily whirlwind of outreach and engagement work don’t have the luxury of time to do. Over the last several months, I’ve been privileged with the task of exploring the different approaches used to engage GenZ and their parents in order to develop a 5-year plan for NCSY’s family programming. 

Since 1954, NCSY has dedicated its efforts to connect, inspire and empower Jewish teens and encourage passionate Judaism through Torah and Tradition. While our mission remains the same, we have found a shift in strategy necessary with each new generation of Jewish teenager. 

Looking back, we can now say with confidence that the switch from synagogue-based programming, designed for GenX (born 1960-79), to community and school-based programming was crucial for retaining participation of GenY and Millennials (born 1980-94). Similarly, we have realize the need to adapt our paradigm yet again, this time to include parents, if we want to engage GenZ (born 1994-2010).