Youth Director Scores Jewish Education Project Young Pioneers Award

Lindsay Ganci, director of youth engagement at The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, received the Jewish Education Project Young Pioneers Award 2015.

The award celebrates five educators who are redefining how Judaism is taught, learned, and lived.

Ganci “has changed the culture of youth programming at The Community Synagogue having created a sustainable model for teen engagement that is a gold standard for the field,” according to a press release from the synagogue.

Ganci has enhanced and enriched youth engagement before, during and after B’nei Mitzvah. She developed the synagogue’s youth group, POWTY, which serves three age groups: pre-teens in grades 4-6, older teens in grade 7-12 and those in grade 7, catering to their needs alongside their B’nei Mitzvah commitments. She also teaches some of the older teens about philanthropy and facilitates their grant giving through her teen philanthropy program in partnership with the Jewish Teen Funders Network.

Under her leadership, the synagogue has seen an increase in post-B’nei Mitzvah attendance at Shabbat service. Her former students regularly visiting from college to attend her POWTY programs. Social media and technology play a central role in her programming to further promote engagement in these teen communities and to promote POWTY events. She continues to develop programming at the Community Synagogue by reaching out to other networks, most recently participating in The Jewish Education Project Operation Gamechanger initiative, which aims to empower teens in their Jewish education past the age of B’nei Mitzvah. Ganci engages teens both through her personal relationships and by setting up sustainable structures and programs that can be replicated by others in the community and field.

Ganci will be recognized at a celebration to benefit The Jewish Education Project held at Current, the new venue at Chelsea Piers on May 13 at 6:45 pm. The celebration will also honor philanthropists Diane and Howard Wohl. Learn more by visiting JewishEdProject.org/celebrate.