About Us

Mission

Jewish Volunteer Connection engages volunteers to meet vital community needs and live with purpose through meaningful service.

Vision

Strong, connected communities supported through purposeful and committed volunteering.

Description

We are the hands-on volunteer branch of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore.

We enable volunteers to fulfill the values of their Jewish faith in meaningful and impactful ways. Like a match-maker, we develop relationships within both the Jewish and general community, identifying vital community needs and connecting volunteers with opportunities to make a difference.

We connect volunteers with organizations throughout Greater Baltimore (nonprofits, schools and service agencies) based on their interests, skills and needs of the organizations.  Recognizing a fundamental gap between organizations that need consistent commitments from volunteers and most volunteers’ difficult in making a long-term commitment, we developed innovative strategies to connect volunteers to the on-going needs of the community while making it accessible, easy and flexible for the volunteer.

Our goal is for people to be inspired by each volunteer experience and to be motivated to build on their service over time.

Values

  • Nurture passionate engagement.
  • Respectfully listen, learn, and collaborate.
  • Fulfill needs.
  • Innovate, analyze, and improve.
  • Be open, honest, timely, and thorough.
  • Be an expert.
  • Take ownership, be supported, have fun.

History

Growing with the needs of the Baltimore Jewish community, Jewish Volunteer Connection (JVC) has evolved from serving as a clearinghouse for interested volunteers to playing a vital role in engaging individuals and groups in volunteer opportunities and developing volunteer programs. JVC works to infuse each volunteer experience with Jewish values and leadership development.

Founded in 2001 to address the findings in the 1999 Baltimore Jewish Community Study that a significant portion of the Jewish community felt disengaged from Jewish life, JVC seeks to connect community members to the Jewish community and their own Jewish identity through meaningful acts of service.

In 2012, JVC redeveloped its mission, vision, and goals to include innovative strategies to connect volunteers with vital needs in the community and to provide the flexibility and inspiration that volunteers need, while recognizing that consistency and commitment are critical to our community partners that use volunteers.

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