BBYO is not your typical youth group. It’s a worldwide teen movement, bringing together high school students from all over the globe, with all types of interests and from all types of Jewish backgrounds. Your BBYO experience can be whatever you want it to be. Looking to make new friends? Need to improve your leadership skills? Want to make a difference in the world? Love to play sports? Enjoy traveling to new places and meeting new people? Then you’ve come to the right place.
Over the course of 87 years, the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jewish teens have been shaped by BBYO; value systems strengthened, leadership skills honed and friendships formed. With 30,000 teens involved, BBYO is the world’s leading pluralistic Jewish teen movement. No other organization offers the same range of involvement and depth of commitment.
BBYO is active in more than 60 communities across North America and operates programs around the world, including in Israel and Europe. BBYO’s endless number of individual success stories—from politicians and top business executives to Jewish communal leaders and cutting-edge entrepreneurs—have been built on a proven model of exceptional identity enrichment and leadership development experiences, and research shows that BBYO participation leads to powerful Jewish connections, attitudes and practices later in life.
BBYO’s renowned leadership model of experiential democracy, with teens leading other teens and creating their own BBYO programs under the guidance of adult volunteers and staff, is carried out through AZA chapters (for young men) and BBG chapters (for young women). Teens are given real responsibilities and develop leadership skills that relate to their everyday lives. By practicing public speaking, program planning and community organizing, BBYO teens build the skills that not only make them more confident and capable of navigating the challenging teen years, but also prepare them to make positive contributions to the world around them as adults.
BBYO members organize and participate in leadership development conferences and Jewish identity programs as well as social activities like movie nights, dances and sports tournaments. Additionally, the PANIM Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, a division of BBYO, offers compelling content and experiences focused on service, advocacy and philanthropy, ultimately creating a movement of young activists ready to take on the challenges facing society and the Jewish community.
Over the last three years, BBYO has re-invented and expanded its approach to teen engagement to include opportunities outside of its traditional chapter-based membership model. Through this marriage of tradition and innovation, BBYO has emerged as an organization revitalized to meet the needs of today’s teen audience.
BBYO’s strategic plan, focused on creating an innovative brand that appeals to teens, developing sound, efficient infrastructure, and partnering with community leaders who are committed to securing a strong Jewish future, has enabled the organization to more than double the number of teens involved in its Toronto-area programs over the last three years.
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Staff & Advisors | Board of Directors | Teen Leaders
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