For the past five years, The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s Young Leadership division has presented the SpringBoard Leadership Series. Designed by Rob Dolin, YLD board chair, and Cameron Levin, director of YLD, the program has graduated more than 60 people. I took the 2009-2010 sequence, becoming an alum of the program in May. I applied to take SpringBoard because I wanted to feel more involved in the community.

SpringBoard participants are introduced to the Seattle Jewish community and trained on how to serve on Jewish non-profit boards or committees. I’ve done non-profit work since I was a kid, but I figured it was worth pursuing anyway. If there was a chance I could connect with other Jews near my age, I was willing to leap for it. I was working with Jewish children and families at the time, and felt out of place as a young, childless divorcée.

The program began with a tour of Seattle’s Jewish history — it was on this tour I felt most right about SpringBoard. It was cold; we were crowded together outside the bus on the sidewalk under blue-gray skies, waiting to be motioned inside our next destination. One of the historians on the tour with us was able to narrate his experiences as a child in this particular beautiful building. The Islamic School of Seattle, located on 25th Ave. in the Central District, is a building with a long history.

Long before I was born, the school administered to Jewish students. The historian had even attended Orthodox school here. Now the building is used as a school for Islamic students. It was meaningful to me that the building changed populations, but not purpose. It continues to be a place of education and community for a whole new generation of children.

“SpringBoard accomplishes our leadership development goal within Young Leadership,” Levin told me. “Something that we really strive to do is train and develop future leaders, not just for the Federation, but for the entire Jewish community.”

The past SpringBoard sequence saw a wide variety of activities and speakers. Beginning with the guided tour, our 2009-2010 cohort saw sessions facilitated by Rabbi Will Berkovitz, then of Hillel at the University of Washington, Michael Novick of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Rivy Poupko Kletenik, head of school at the Seattle Hebrew Academy, and many other speakers.

The Novick and Kletenik talks were among my favorites. Novick’s work with the JDC was fascinating. He held the room, and engaged it, explaining how the countries so many of our families came from — some as refugees — still have Jewish populations, and how the JDC is aiding those populations and helping to train their own young leaders.

Kletenik beautifully explored a piece of Torah with our cohort. She supplied handouts in Hebrew and English, carefully opening the words and meanings to examination. I’m not a literate Hebrew reader or speaker, but Kletenik’s ability with language and instruction made her session open to everyone there, regardless of their literacy level in Hebrew.

When it came to studying the nuts and bolts of operating on a board and engaging in philanthropy, it was essentially a refresher course for me. But for someone with no prior experience, SpringBoard would be a great way to familiarize with fund-raising and non-profit leadership.

“For non-profits to exist, they need to not just succeed in their mission, but establish a team of strong solicitors and fundraisers,” Levin said. “Students may not come out of the program fist-pumping excited to fundraise, but in SpringBoard we have open and honest conversations about this type of work. I think students become less intimidated by it. They also learn how to work with staff professionals and other board members as a functional team.”

There was a moment in a session when the guest speaker emphasized why board members need to put money into the organizations they lead. I’m a college student, so I’m one of the first people to know about financial difficulties. But if you can’t put your money where your mouth is and give something — anything — monetarily to the places where you already give your sweat and labor, the message you send is that you’re willing to help, but only to a point.

I found the program to be hard work, and that to get anything out of it, I had to put my time in. There was reading to keep up with, sessions to attend, and, beyond that, the need to be more than physically present at events. Not all of the homework was new to me, but it inspired something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Sitting in a pizza parlor, on the bus during the guided tour, in laughter-filled moments in dark rooms watching Power Point presentations, I felt a sense of possibility.

SpringBoard alumni are encouraged to use their experience as a stepping stone to further involvement in the Seattle Jewish community. Levin told me that a year ago, SpringBoard conducted a demographic survey of SpringBoard graduates, finding 60 percent of the alumni went on to serve in community volunteer positions.

As I progressed through the program, I felt that future in the many different people all in one room, together, seeking what was best for their community. Just like I’m doing, I know they’re out there, working to make this community a stronger one. That’s making a difference.