The Ark’s Chicago office is now open at 6450 N. California Ave. Learn more.

Support the community

Community Groups

We can partner with your group for creative, educational programs that help our community.

Learn From Us

Our Education and Outreach Team has been working to develop updated curriculum that can be adapted for your group. We offer programming that includes education, hands-on activities, and a volunteer experience for kids and adults of all ages. Are you looking for a way to incorporate The Ark into your next lesson or unit on tzedakah, what it means to give back, social justice, or tikkun olam? We’d be happy to make a plan that fits the needs of your group.

One goal of our community programs is to help to diffuse the sense of “us and them” when it comes to people needing help from their community, and from The Ark. Knowing that any individual or family could be faced with a significant challenge at any time, our community educators facilitate activities and discussions to highlight some of the reasons that someone may need help, and often without warning. We do this by engaging participants in conversation about some of the real challenges that many in our local Jewish community are facing. 

Examples of programs: 

  • Talking about Helping and Being a Helper 
  • Working in the Pantry to sort, organize and shelve food 
  • Learning about Food Insecurity and Planning a Food Collection Drive  
  • Navigating an interactive budgeting game with high school students while discussing difficult choices that people must make with their spending 
  • Decorating Food Collection bags while learning about Food Pantries for all ages 
  • Creating meaningful crafts or cards for our clients while hearing some of their stories 

Contact Dawn Lieberman, Director of Community Engagement and Programs, at dlieberman@arkchicago.org