Christine Katzman first became interested in Israel in high school, where she was co-founder of her school’s Holocaust and genocide education project.
As part of the project, Katzman and other students used the early internet to communicate with people in countries like Israel and China to ask about their experiences.
“It was definitely very interesting for me to be involved in that, and basically having daily interactions with people from Israel,” Katzman said.
In a case of life coming metaphorically full-circle, Katzman married a Jewish man, started raising a Jewish family, and in 2022, joined the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati as a community building associate.
Katzman now runs Cincy Journeys, a grant program administered by the federation and funded by the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, started in 1999 to help Jewish kids and young adults visit Israel. In 2011, Jewish summer camp grants were added to its offerings.
(Editor’s note: Cincy Jewfolk is supported by a generous Reflect Cincy grant from the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati.)
Cincy Journeys has administered over 5,603 grants since its inception, and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
“Our goal is to give children, teens and young adults a greater connection to their own Jewish identity…and to Jewish Cincinnati, as well as to the Federation, Foundation, and Israel,” Katzman said. “We’re also helping them become future Jewish leaders by [keeping them engaged in Jewish life].”
For Katzman, it’s been a bit of a winding road to working on Cincy Journeys.
Katzman founded, and for 14 years led, a publishing company working on music and education publications like Halftime Magazine, covering the world of school marching bands.
Part of the magic of publishing for Katzman was working on print products. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Katzman did away with print and made her publications online-only, but the work wasn’t as fulfilling.
Looking out for new job opportunities, she encountered the opening at Cincy Journeys and felt it was a perfect fit.
“My older child had gone to Israel and my younger child was enjoying an overnight Jewish camp using the [Cincy Journeys] grants, so I was already very familiar with this program,” Katzman said. “I felt I was already promoting the grants through social media and talking to friends. So I thought, ‘Oh, this is really perfect for me.’”
Now, Katzman gets to leverage her experience working in the education space and with kids, as well as her many hours spent volunteering at Jewish institutions like Wise Temple, where Katzman and her family belong.
Her tenure at Cincy Journeys has also brought with it some new initiatives, like the camp counselor and staff fellowship. The fellowship offers a stipend and professional training to help with an issue at many Jewish summer camps: Staff retention.
A 2022 survey from the Foundation for Jewish Camp reported that staff retention took a serious hit in the wake of the pandemic, with the retention rate at overnight camps going from 66% in 2019 to 44% in 2022.
That’s where the Cincy Journeys fellowship came in. Its 2023 inaugural cohort supported 27 staff, and this year, 41 staff received grants across 11 summer camps serving the Cincinnati community.
“I think it’s amazing, I really enjoy working with these young adults,” Katzman said. “The camps have definitely told me, anecdotally, that [the fellowship] has helped them with recruitment and retention. So that’s been wonderful to hear.”
The fellowship has also had some unexpected successes: One participant from last year, who worked as a point person for Israeli staff at one camp, decided to make Aliyah and move to Israel.
Cincy Journeys also has a variety of Israel trips in the works, though Israel travel requires a new approach after the devastation caused by the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war.
This summer, Katzman had to pivot Cincy Journeys to offer trips that weren’t Israel-focused.
“We knew that it would be difficult for people to make the decision to travel to Israel, and we offered the opportunity for them to travel with other Jewish immersive programs to destinations beyond Israel,” Katzman said.
“That was a really cool expansion of Cincy Journeys that we didn’t originally anticipate, but became a necessity because of the current climate,” she said.
Participants went to countries ranging from Spain and Portugal, to Costa Rica and Greece.
But it’s still important to have opportunities in Israel, even amid unrest. To address that, Katzman was recently on an iCenter Israel trip for educators.
“We wanted to go see what it was like post-Oct. 7, to help inform our future trips,” Katzman said. She had gone to the Israel Educational Travel Alliance convening in March, and came away feeling the need to understand Israel’s current moment before any further Israel trips were put together.
Despite the difficult times, Katzman still holds the initial wonder and love for Israel she felt in high school and on her first trip to Israel in 2016 on a Cincinnati community mission trip.
“Israel was just an amazing experience,” she recalled. “Everything about Israel was beautiful, and I really enjoyed all the activities and places we visited. It was a great connection.”
