As a way to address the critical shortage of early childhood education teachers, Jewish Federation of St. Louis has joined the second cohort of cities to roll out ElevatEd, an initiative working to transform early childhood Jewish education (ECJE) by recruiting, training, mentoring and supporting more than 400 new teachers in 14 pioneer communities across North America during its first three years.

The first cohort was extremely successful, impacting 48 schools and recruiting nearly 100 educators in the cities of Boston, Mass.; Denver-Boulder, Col.; East Bay, Calif.; Houston, Texas and Long Island, N.Y.

In St. Louis, the program’s recruitment and retention strategies will be supported locally by ElevatEd Community Coordinator Laura Fields in her new role with Federation. As community coordinator, Fields will manage recruitment and onboarding of emerging educators and mentors for many of the Jewish early childhood centers in the St. Louis area.

Fields will serve as liaison for the national ElevatEd initiative in addition to working closely with the 11 participating early childhood centers in the St. Louis Jewish community. Fundraising efforts are already underway locally to support this project and in collaboration with Jewish Community Centers Association of North America, Jewish Federations of North America and the Union for Reform Judaism.

“As an educator for many years, my passion for this project comes in large part from a desire to help teachers and early childhood directors be successful in a profession that is frequently overlooked,” said Fields.

By investing in emerging early childhood Jewish educators, ElevatEd hopes to unlock the potential of ECJE as a driver of deep, long-term family engagement in the Jewish community.  The $12-million project is funded generously by the Jim Joseph Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies and the Samuels Family Foundation and by Federations, foundations and philanthropists in participating communities. Learn more at Elevated.org.