Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
JCRC Board Member Selected for Prestigious JCPA Leadership Institute
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is pleased to announce that Executive Committee member Dan Rapp has been selected for the prestigious Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) Frank Family Leadership Institute for Emerging Leaders. The JCPA Fellowship is a unique mentoring opportunity for emerging leaders in the community relations field who want to be active in the areas of public policy, public affairs, and intergroup/interfaith relations at both the local and national levels.
“Younger Jews can and must play a leadership role in Jewish advocacy and community relations,” said David Bernstein, President and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “Frank Fellows are poised to become local and national leaders at a time when we need well trained voices advocating for Jewish causes, Israel, and social justice.”
A passion for Jewish community relations quite literally runs in Rapp’s blood, as his father, Michael Rapp, served as JCRC Director for nearly 30 years, and his mother was the librarian at what is now Rockwern Academy. As a child, Rapp spent seven summers at a URJ summer camp in Indiana; as a teenager, he partnered with a Soviet Jewish teenager for his bar mitzvah; and he marched in Washington on behalf of freedom for Soviet Jews. In college, Rapp was a member of the AEPi fraternity.
In addition to his more than ten years of service on the JCRC Board, Rapp is an active Jewish Family Service board member. He is a generous contributor to both organizations, as well as to the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and AIPAC. Professionally, Rapp leads the creative team at Northlich, Ohio’s top-ranked ad agency, where his ability to think strategically and communicate powerful, emotional messages has served him well. Rapp’s talents and passions have great impact outside the Jewish community as well; for the last fifteen years he has led a mentorship program where he and his Northlich colleagues volunteer at an underserved city school.
“He is a consistent source of wisdom, noble character, and original insights, untainted by any partisan perspective,” said JCRC Past President Arna Poupko Fisher. “He is passionate and caring, and conducts himself through the layered lenses of Jewish pride and obligation to the other, whether within the Jewish community or beyond.”
“We are thrilled to welcome this new select group of Frank Fellows into our fold,” said Lois Frank, a grantor of the Frank Family Leadership Institute for Emerging Leaders. “We believe that a strong community relations field means a strong and protected Jewish community. This Fellowship provides the training and hands-on experience needed to help those who are committing their time, and who believe Jewish involvement in tikkun olam is where they want to focus their leadership.” Lois Frank is a past chair of JCPA and formed this Institute with her husband Larry Frank in 2014. So far, 23 Fellows have completed the program thanks to their generosity.
The program includes a mission to Poland to visit Warsaw, Krakow, and Auschwitz/Birkenau; a Leadership Mission to Israel; attendance at JCPA 2018 in New York; and educational trainings on issues of importance to the Jewish community relations field throughout the year.
“This unique opportunity for immersive international learning in public policy, public affairs, and intergroup/interfaith relations will put Dan in an even stronger position to impact future community relations work, both locally and nationally,” said JCRC Director Jackie Congedo.
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The Jewish Community Relations Council is just one of over fifty programs and agencies funded in part by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
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