Our Good Service Model

What is “Good Service”?

Good Service is our name for The Good People Fund’s Service Learning initiative and framework.  We developed it as an adaptation with permission from the BBYO/Panim JustAction model.

What’s involved?

There are five core components to Good Service:

1. Service (direct service, volunteering, client encounters)
2. Philanthropy (tzedakah, fundraising, designated giving, donation of items, securing in-kind support)
3. Advocacy (political action, policy impact, activism, justice work, petitioning)
4. Community Engagement (recruitment, engaging others, gathering support, creating avenues for communal involvement)
5. Education (learning core/system issue history and impacts, gathering background information, collecting stories, developing Jewish values connections, raising awareness in others, developing personal relevance)

How does the Good Service model get transferred to learners?

There are two primary ways that people come to understand the multiple facets of the Good Service model:

1. Good Training
2. GPF Core Curriculum

What is the direct connection between The Good People Fund Grantees (the Good People) and the Good Service model?

We believe that by connecting educators and learners to our 70+ Good People and bringing them into the deep relationship we have built with the grantees, that individuals will find new and creative ways to delve into personal and communal tzedakah.

Imagine for a moment that you are having an in-person or Skype meeting with one of our Good People. You and your learners spend quality time hearing what inspired them and how they took the first step to changing their corner of the world. You learn about the challenges they face in their work and come to understand what they have learned about the societal issues that created the need.

How might you then develop an encompassing Good Service project that captures all five of our components? How would this substantial information from a personal encounter (or from one of our Good People written profiles) lead to a different kind of tikkun olam experience than what you have had before? How could this Good Service plan create longer lasting commitments to tzedakah?