Prior to participating in AJC’s Leaders for Tomorrow (LFT) program, Blue Valley West sophomore Eli Maker said he “came into LFT partially uneducated on prominent issues surrounding Israel and antisemitism.”
Because of the LFT program, he said he now feels “confident standing up against anti-Zionism and antisemitism with an intellectual understanding of the history behind it and how I can help.”
Maker is one of the 18 students in the 2021-2022 Kansas City LFT cohort who completed the seven-session program in May. In their monthly sessions, the cohort demonstrated their commitment to Jewish advocacy and leadership, and they recognize the impact the program will have on their lives moving forward.
Leaders for Tomorrow (LFT), AJC's national education program for high school students, is designed to empower the next generation of young Jewish leaders to advocate on behalf of the Jewish people and Israel. LFT’s goal is to provide teens the knowledge, confidence, and passion to serve as positive changemakers among their peers, in their communities, and beyond.
Recent Kansas City LFT graduate Yael Gillath said that LFT helped her “in a myriad of ways,” and the program connected her “to an organization that will always look out for me and my people.”
“[LFT] helped me gain more perspectives and learn more about Israel and its complex history,” Gillath said. “It gave me confidence in facts, opinions, and in knowledge — the greatest tool I could have gotten.”
After conducting sessions virtually during 2020-2021, Kansas City LFT returned to in-person sessions for 2021-2022. Throughout their sessions, the cohort discussed the definition of Zionism and what it means to be a Zionist, learned about the complexities and nuances of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, examined contemporary examples of antisemitism, and practiced responding to the ansemitism and anti-Zionism that they might encounter in school, online, and on their future college campuses. Kansas State Senator Ethan Corson joined the cohort for their final session and spoke with the students about advocacy and coalition building.
Graduates from our Kansas City cohort plan to stay engaged with AJC as they become part of a nationwide network and are invited to participate in special alumni programming across the country.
2022-2023 LFT cohort applications
JCRB|AJC is currently accepting applications from outstanding high school sophomores, juniors, or seniors for the 2022-2023 Kansas City Leaders For Tomorrow (LFT) cohort, beginning in Fall 2022.
During the 2022-2023 school year, students will meet monthly on Sundays for interactive, student-centered sessions to learn about and unpack the most pressing issues affecting today’s Jewish teens.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and interested students are encouraged to apply quickly — as of June 1, the cohort is already half full. Participants will be selected based on their application and a phone interview. There is no cost to participate.
Those interested in applying for the 2022-2023 cohort and learning more about Kansas City LFT can go to jcrbajc.org/what-we-do/education/students.html.
Sarah Markowitz, JCRB|AJC’s Assistant Director of Education and Programs, can be contacted with questions regarding the program at g.
