NCSY, the national youth organization of the Orthodox Union, recently held its annual four-day Regional Directors Conference for the 12 Regional Directors and 15 Assistant Regional Directors and city coordinators of NCSY Regions located throughout North America. The weeklong event was held in Tenafly, NJ.
Rabbi Steven Burg, OU Managing Director, stated, “At NCSY, we are committed to investing in our talented staff. Running a conference like this allows us to improve our level of professionalism, which has a direct effect on the Jewish teens that we see. The workshops and sessions strengthen leadership, management, team building and fundraising skills in order to more effectively serve the 30,000 teens NCSYers throughout the world.”
Workshops and sessions were led by NCSY executives and outside presenters on a wide range of topics in development, programming, and organizational teamwork. They included:
“Defining for Ourselves and our NCSYers the Jewish Notion of Prayer,” by Rabbi Steven Weil, Executive Vice President of the OU; “The 30-Second Pitch and Marketing an Orthodox Organization in the Secular World,” by Rabbi Glenn Black, CEO of NCSY Canada; and “Teaching Teens How to Make a Case for Israel,” by Brad Gordon, Director of Policy and Government Affairs at AIPAC.
The keynote event was a Leadership Workshop with Al Amador, author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” and consultant for The Table Group, which is committed to helping companies achieve exponential growth through improved organizational effectiveness and team-building.
Everyone who participated came away with useful tips and ideas for programming and helping make their NCSY Region run in the most efficient and successful way possible.
Rabbi Rocky Caine, Assistant Regional Director of Atlantic Seabord NCSY, declared, “I loved the conference – it shows that the OU cares about each Region’s development and is willing to put forth the time and effort into our growth. I came away with a better understanding of teamwork and learned a lot from other NCSY officials from all over the country.”
Marc Fein, Assistant Regional Director of Upstate New York NCSY, agreed, stating, “The most beneficial part of the program was meeting my talented and inspirational colleagues from across the country. I am further inspired to work for such a mission-driven organization that cares enough to continually develop its staff.”
Rabbi Shimon Vinger, who recently arrived from Chile NCSY to become the Regional Director of West Coast NCSY, declared, “Working for the OU, an organization that invests time and money in such development programs, convinces me that the work that the OU and NCSY does is critical for the future of the Jewish people. The conference was top-quality all around.”