Formerly known as the Office of Innovation (OOI) within the Hillel movement, Assembly is reintroducing itself to the Jewish world with a new name, brand and an expanded set of offerings to build new ways to gather in community.
“At Assembly, we see the potential and brilliance in so many leaders in the Jewish community—and we help leverage that to make the ways organizations work smarter and stronger,” said Dan Smokler, CEO at Assembly. “This expansion of our work allows us to take everything we’ve learned through our innovation studio and apply it to organizations who need new ways to meaningfully reach Jews in their 20s, 30s and 40s.”
Building on its successful track record of innovation—OOI was the launching pad behind Atra, Base, Civic Spirit and more—Assembly is now offering its expertise and proven methods to help existing Jewish communities radically strengthen their engagement efforts.
Assembly focuses on three key areas of boosting the Jewish community:
- Incubating/Innovating: We start totally new projects. We build new forms of Jewish life (like Atra or IYUN) that “spin out” of our venture studio once they’ve scaled (like Base).
- Coaching & Partnership: We share our community-building expertise with other organizations. We build bespoke training and curriculum with our collaborators (like PJ Library).
- Entrepreneurship: We support “unicorns” growing the Jewish communities of the future with our guidance and mentorship.
“Assembly is poised to become a key partner in the important work of Jewish community-building,” said Aaron Katler, CEO of UpStart. “Their expertise will bring deep Jewish content and exceptional teaching. We are eager to explore the many ways we hope to collaborate in the dynamic Jewish innovation ecosystem and look forward to finding new ways to support and strengthen each other in this critical work.”
“It’s critical that the Jewish world invest aggressively in innovative practices and projects in order to create thick, meaningful and relevant Jewish experiences and communities. Assembly and its team members have an excellent track record of delivering exactly that kind of impactful innovation, both for Hillel and the broader Jewish world. I look forward to continued opportunities to partner with and benefit from Assembly’s evolving initiatives,” said Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International.
For more information about Assembly, visit: assembly.community or reach out to Assembly’s executive director, Erica Frankel (erica@assembly.community).
About the name Assembly: Assembly comes from the Hebrew word Edah (עדה), the full community of the Jewish people. Assembly has two definitions: a gathering of people, and a process of building. And that’s what we’re here to do: to create deeper, thicker forms of Jewish community.
