Two  staffers at the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford have been accepted to The Catalyst, a program of Jewish Federations of North America and Repair The World.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz, director of Federation Emerging Leadership, and Max Beede, program associate for Community Connections, are among 15 Federation professionals from across North America who will embark on The Catalyst’s year of learning to design and deliver programming grounded in volunteerism and Jewish learning for the Federation’s next-gen community members.

A native of West Hartford where she currently lives, Lenkiewicz attended Connecticut State University where she majored in communications. She is also a graduate of Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford and William Hall High School. Professionally, she has held leadership positions at the Mandell Jewish Community Center, Pearlstone Retreat and Conference Center in Baltimore, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  

Like Lenkiewicz, Beede, who lives in Hartford, attended Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford. As a teen, he also participated in United Synagogue Youth and as a counselor at Camp Ramah of New England. A graduate of Binghamton University, he served as an educator at Park Avenue Synagogue, the Jewish Journeys Project at the Marlene Meyerson JCC of Manhattan, and JTConnect in Greater Hartford. He is a board member of Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford, active in Moishe Pod West Hartford, and participates in Young Leadership programming with the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford.