Teaching 5,000 youth.
03/10/2023
Reaching & Teaching 5,000 Youth in Troubling Times
Teaching Artist, Elijah Alexander, presenting The Mitzvah Project to students at Arvada West High School (CO).
The Mitzvah Project has set an ambitious goal of reaching and teaching 5,000 young people about the Holocaust this year with our unique combination of theater, history lecture and interactive Q&A.
In these early months of 2023, more than 1,500 high school students have already been engaged and transformed in their understanding of prejudice, antisemitism, and racism.
Through the Mitzvah Project, they gain knowledge and empathy and are empowered to be leaders in creating more tolerance in their schools, communities and in our country.
We are able to move so boldly on our mission this year thanks to The Mitzvah Project Teaching Artist Program – our new and growing company of engaged actor-teachers who are investing their commitment, talents, personal and family connections to the Holocaust into bringing the powerful themes of the Mitzvah Project to young people in their schools.
Elijah Alexander is the first of our inaugural Teaching Artist team to hit the road.
At the end of January, he gave his first MP presentation to over 200 students, parents, faculty, and staff at Vail Christian High School in Colorado, followed by presentations at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, CA, California High School in San Ramon, CA, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, NC and Arvada West High School in Arvada, CO.
Vail Christian’s Head of School, Steve O’Neil, said this about the impact of Elijah’s presentation: “…Not one person left the auditorium unchanged. [He] pierced the soul and gave voice for what we all know deep down inside – stereotypes, prejudice, racism, hatred, and demonization of ‘the other’ are flat out wrong!”
For additional Educator comments, click here.
For selected Student comments, click here.
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Ramping Up Even More
Recent studies have revealed the extent of ignorance of the Holocaust in America, especially among young people.
And, the disturbing rise in antisemitic, racist and other hate driven crimes is making the need for the The Mitzvah Project even more urgent.
Later this month, Elijah will be giving four presentations in Ojai CA, and I will be performing and teaching at Sonoma State University and Arizona State University in early April.
In the coming months, Teaching Artists Rolf Saxon and Victor Talmadge — who are being guided and trained by my Mitzvah Project co-director, Nancy Carlin — will join Elijah and me in taking The Mitzvah Project out to young people across the country.
We are currently in discussions with several schools and school districts — including those in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Michigan and New York City.
Our plan is to present The Mitzvah Project at 24 schools by the end of this year – more if possible.
And, to introduce the Mitzvah Project to high school or college leaders (principals, teachers, parents, student representatives) in your community, please reach out to us.
Funding The Mitzvah Project
One thing to know about The Mitzvah Project: we never charge public schools a penny and heavily subsidize our presentations at colleges, private and parochial schools. So, our Mitzvah Project supporters are very, very special.
A Special Night
In February, Sean and Jennifer Jeffries, longtime friends of Teaching Artist, Elijah Alexander, hosted a friend and fundraiser at their lovely San Francisco home. The gathering of 50 friends and neighbors featured an intimate Mitzvah Project performance and talk by Elijah – and raised $10,000. We are deeply grateful to the Jeffries and our other new supporters for their generous “mitzvot.”
And, I was thrilled to host Karl Pfeiffer, Grace Cavallaro, Michael Willis, and Regina Lackner from the Excelsior German Center of Oakland at the March 6th Mitzvah Project presentation at California High School. Excelsior has been a generous funder of The Mitzvah Project, increasing their support to $15,000 in 2022.
The Mitzvah Project is once again a proud partner of NYC’s Museum of Jewish Heritage on the occasion of their Annual Gathering of Remembrance, Sunday, April 16 at 2:00pm ET.
How You Can Help
In 2023, The Mitzvah Project is raising $150,000 to fund our outreach and to support the work of our Teaching Artists in bringing the Mitzvah Project to 5,000 young people by the end of the year.
Please consider making an online tax deductible donation of $18, $180, $360, $1,800, $3,600 or more.
Or, you can send a check payable to Playground (please add Mitzvah Project in the memo section) and mail to Playground, 3286 Adeline Street #8, Berkeley, CA 94703-2485.
Click here to find out about hosting an in-person or virtual (on Zoom) friend and fundraiser.
Thank you for partnering with us to open up more hearts and minds!
Warm regards.
Roger Grunwald, Founder, The Mitzvah Project
