Media Contact:
Mitchell Slepian
mslepian@hadassah.org
NEW YORK, NY — Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America, is proud to announce the second class of Evolve Leadership Fellows, a two-year program launched in 2022. The goal of the fellowship is to identify young women who are dedicated to Hadassah’s mission — to ensure Israel's security, combat antisemitism and advocate for women's health care — and have the skills needed to lead the organization into the future. To be selected for the program, each fellow has gone through an extensive application and interview process.
"We are thrilled by the success of the first class of Hadassah Evolve Leadership Fellows and delighted to welcome the second," said Hadassah National President Rhoda Smolow. "Especially during this time of crisis for Israel, we look forward to the positive impact our new fellows will have on Hadassah's future as we work toward tikkun olam, the repair of the world."
The new fellows are women in their 20s, 30s and 40s from around the country who work in a diverse range of professions, including fashion, civil litigation, elder care, engineering, marketing, risk management and Jewish communal life.
Said new Evolve fellow Sarah Popper, "As the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I feel passionately about advancing the critical causes Hadassah stands for. I hope the new skills I will learn through the fellowship will enable me to make a positive impact as a Hadassah leader in the future."
During their first year, the new fellows will meet with Hadassah's national leaders and experience Hadassah's programs and initiatives firsthand. The fellows will also participate in a series of leadership development workshops led by Hadassah's senior management team that will focus on how to inspire others to help advance Hadassah's mission.
The fellows are currently slated to travel to Israel in February. There, they will visit the Hadassah Medical Organization, the Israeli hospital system founded and owned by Hadassah, and hear from physicians working in various specialties. The group will also spend time with the residents of Hadassah's two youth villages, Hadassah Neurim and Meir Shfeyah. The campus-like communities, which provide a home, education and a wide range of support services to at-risk youth in Israel, have embraced Israeli families forced to flee their homes because of the war as well as teenaged refugees from Ukraine.
In the second year of the Evolve Leadership Fellows program, each participant will commit to taking on a leadership position or special project in her Hadassah chapter. Members of the previous class of Evolve fellows have met with local legislators to advance Hadassah's public policy priorities, created social media campaigns to encourage younger women to get involved with Hadassah and helped to produce chapter events. Other members of the previous class have spoken at Hadassah chapter and region board meetings and represented their chapters at community events, and three have joined Hadassah’s speakers bureau.