ElevatEd, the national partnership to support the next generation of Jewish Early Childhood Educators, is coming to Portland.

Five Jewish preschools in the area are participating in the third cohort of the ElevatEd program, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland Director of Community Programs and Engagement, Jamie Hogland, announced at last month’s Preschool Day of Learning. The program, which is a partnership between the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America, Jewish Federations of North America and the Union for Reform Judaism, will support emerging educators from Maayan Torah’s Ilan Katan Preschool, The Gan Portland Jewish Preschool Congregation Neveh Shalom’s Foundation School, Congregation Beth Israel’s Jennifer Barnum Luria Early Childhood Center and Portland Jewish Academy Preschool.

Rachel Nelson, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s Chief Planning Officer and former Director of Educational Initiatives, explained that this program is the next step in the community’s ongoing commitment to improving professional development for early childhood educators.

“I had seen this, and it was something I was interested in,” Nelson said of ElevatEd. “We were then approached by some of our larger preschools to say, ‘Hey, we heard about this program. What do you know about it? Can we bring it to Portland?’  So I, along with [Beth Israel Executive Director] Josh Kashinsky, with [Neveh Shalom Executive Director] Marlene Edenzon, and [Mittleman Jewish Community Center and Portland Jewish Academy Executive Director] Steve Albert, we looked into what was available across the country to bring in to deepen the professional development of our educators.”

Nelson has found that, since the COVID pandemic, Jewish preschools in the area have moved strongly away from part-time instruction into full-day models, and the staff makeup has shifted from community members with a passion for younger kids to a professional early childhood educator cadre. Combined with low certification requirements for preschool teachers in Oregon and the fact that at least half of that group working in Jewish preschools is not Jewish, and the need is self-evident.

“What we’re seeing is when you don’t have that education and scaffolding, you burn out quicker,” Nelson said. “We wanted to provide opportunities to deepen that level of professional development for our educators.”

Part of that comes from the Federation’s annual Preschool Day of Learning, which just celebrated its fourth year. (See “Hichenberg highlights Fourth Annual Preschool Day of Learning,” Sept. 3, 2026, page 8) But ElevatEd is centered on a more intensive peer mentorship model between veteran teachers and emerging early childhood educators, with monthly sessions for those mentors as well as five sessions for the entire local cohort, which will be led by Hogland.

“I think this is kind of that missing link that will help people to have a passion beyond just going to the job but really feeling that support to continue to do it year after year,” she said.

Funding for ElevatEd comes from the Jim Joseph Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, and the Samuels Family Foundation, along with participating communities.

“A community puts in $100,000 over two years, and in return we get nearly $250,000 back in resources and education,” Nelson said. “We are in the middle of fundraising for this. All of our programs have agreed to commit to this, and we’re still looking for donors for elements of it. But we really do believe that this is going to strengthen our professionals and, in turn, lead to deeper connections to our Jewish community because we know if there’s consistency with high-quality educators, our families are going to want to stay in these programs, build relationships in the organizations, and that leads to longer term Jewish growth.”

Learn more about ElevatEd’s national program at elevatedtogether.org. To learn more about the Portland cohort, or to support its work, email Hogland at jamie@jewishportland.org.

PHOTO: Hogland announces the launch of the ElevatEd Portland cohort at Federation's Fourth Anual Preschool Day of Learning Friday, Aug. 28, at Congregation Neveh Shalom. (Rockne Roll/Jewish Review file)