(photo from NCJW)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCorenblum\u2019s first job out of university was as a youth director at Congregation Beth Israel, where she met a 14-year-old Segal. They have remained tight ever since.<\/p>\n
Corenblum, who is a career youth worker, said she had been urging Segal for some time to create something that educates and encourages women to get more involved in politics. With<\/p>\n
Segal launching Beyond a Ballot last year and Corenblum taking over the local branch of National Council, a partnership was a cinch.<\/p>\n
Segal holds a master\u2019s in law and worked on Parliament Hill with Conservative members of Parliament, ministers and senators. She has extensive broadcast experience in TV and radio and is a commentator on CBC\u2019s Power and Politics<\/i>. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Victoria, she was president of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students and she has worked with the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee. She has served as senior director of the BC Liberal party.<\/p>\n
Segal\u2019s podcast cohost, Alvaro, who lives in Toronto, runs a communications agency and has also worked as a political advisor for provincial and federal Liberals. She is a regular commentator on CBC TV\u2019s Power and Politics<\/i> and appears regularly in national print media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cFor a generation, we\u2019ve been talking about putting your name on the ballot,\u201d Segal said. \u201cWe need more women in the Legislature. We need more women in the House [of Commons]. But nobody was ever talking to the women who didn\u2019t want to put their name on the ballot, [who] just wanted to be more engaged. I decided to launch this company, which uses media product, educational product and the building of community to try to talk to women differently about politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is for every woman in Canada to have a daily touch point with politics, whether that means having a conversation with your girlfriends, talking to your kids about something in the news, reading a news story or maybe that means deciding to run,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe podcast has been \u201castronomically successful, beyond belief,\u201d Segal said. \u201cAmanda and I put hours and hours a week on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Future plans for Beyond a Ballot include developing a mentorship model that allows women to engage in smaller, more intimate groups, and hosting national conferences to give a platform to women in politics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cNothing like that exists right now in this country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Beyond a Ballot is all about multi-partisanship and that comes through in the podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t care what your position is, just that you have one,\u201d said Segal. \u201cAmanda is from the Liberal side, I\u2019m from the Conservative side, but we have a really interesting conversation, where it is not divisive. We don\u2019t go after people based on their political positions. It\u2019s really about education above all else.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Segal started Beyond a Ballot from scratch last year, Corenblum took over as the new face of an established organization already in progress.<\/p>\n
The Jewish community has a long history of women\u2019s philanthropic and leadership organizations, which have had huge impacts over more than a century. Social changes \u2013 not least the increase in women working outside the home in the past several generations \u2013 have had an impact on these groups. Moreover, as happens in any volunteer agency, leaders burn out or simply weary of the commitment.<\/p>\n
Local leaders approached Corenblum, who had not been involved previously, and urged her to take a role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who had been involved in the leadership for decades were all stepping back,\u201d said Corenblum. \u201cThey were looking to the next generation and courting me and my friends and really flattered us and said, we need you young people to be involved. When you\u2019re in your mid-40s and somebody\u2019s calling you young, it\u2019s flattering. We\u2019ll listen to anything they have to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relevance of National Council, she said, has not diminished, as there is backsliding on some of the issues facing women. More than many other women\u2019s groups of longstanding, NCJW has always been deeply engaged in political issues, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of overlap between this vast array of Jewish women\u2019s groups,\u201d she said. \u201cThe unique piece about National Council is that it is specifically focused on social justice work. They have a long history of being involved in political advocacy.\u2026 The entire focus of the organization is about social justice and engagement of women in tikkun olam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corenblum and the mix of new and experienced local leaders are conscious of the embarrassment of riches the Jewish community has in terms of organizations doing good works.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThere doesn\u2019t need to be another organization that is doing programming,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to get in and continue to offer more, because our community has so much to offer. What we really want to focus on is collaboration with organizations that are doing work or have values that are aligned with ours and doing things with them and supporting them in their work.\u201d<\/p>\n
One new NCJW initiative is working with Jewish Family Services on a garden-to-table project where they join with families planting vegetables in a community garden, then nurturing and harvesting the produce and cooking healthy meals.<\/p>\n
Ideas sometimes fall into their laps. A thread on an online Vancouver Jewish moms group indicated that several families were coming to Vancouver from Israel for a respite from the chaos there. People were asking for car seats, warm clothing, highchairs, toys and other needs for families visiting for a few weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith National Council support, we were able to create a new local program called Warm Welcome,\u201d Corenblum said. Before long, they had more donations than they could handle.<\/p>\n
Ongoing projects the group runs include Books for Kids.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s about getting kids books to families and institutions that don\u2019t necessarily have access to new beautiful books for families and children to take pride in,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn January, as a local part of a national fundraiser, NCJW organized a games day that raised $8,000 in Vancouver alone to support a counseling service in Israel that has been overwhelmed with demand since Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that I love about this organization is that it so incredibly flexible,\u201d said Corenblum. \u201cPeople who are doing small projects around BC can apply to us for funding to help with whatever projects that are going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
She calls on anybody who has a passion project or is excited about an idea to reach out and make it happen together. \u201cWe really want this to be a grassroots organization for things that matter on the micro scale \u2013 and sometimes on the macro scale,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Corenblum acknowledged that her own politics do not mesh with those of the guest at the live taping her group is sponsoring \u2013 but that dialogue across divides is precisely the point, she said.<\/p>\n
For Segal, Clark is a great get.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristy was on our A-list for our dream conversations,\u201d Segal said, \u201cso she very kindly agreed to do this one not only with us, but in person, which is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The partnership with NCJW is an opportunity to reach new audiences, Segal added. \u201cThey approached us with this idea,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s pretty awesome that they\u2019ve recognized the importance of this conversation and they have been incredible partners and hosts for this event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Segal said that, as a Jewish woman in the current climate, finding a supportive community is important.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe saw everything with Selina Robinson on the provincial level, we\u2019ve seen international issues, and I think there\u2019s a lot of women who are feeling like they want to do more,\u201d she said. \u201cBeyond a Ballot aims to provide women with that opportunity. Engaging with us and knowing that you have a community across the country that is here to support whatever issues are important to you, and give you the tools to be a better advocate for your community, is what women across Canada should know about Beyond a Ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tickets for the March 25 event, at 7 p.m., are $18 and available online at eventbrite.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cIf you\u2019re going to go and engage in Women\u2019s Month events, please consider putting this one on your calendar because it may not be the sexiest of all topics, but it is definitely the one that impacts your life every day,\u201d Segal said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amanda Alvaro, left, and Rachael Segal cohost the podcast Beyond a Ballot, on which they will interview former BC premier Christy Clark live on stage at the Waterfront Theatre on March 25. (photo from NCJW) International Women\u2019s Day is marked today, March 8, and this month one of Canada\u2019s oldest women\u2019s organizations is partnering with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9914,23023,1724,4304,23024,579,1667,3597,19859,3021],"class_list":["post-43680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-amanda-alvaro","tag-beyond-a-ballot","tag-christy-clark","tag-democracy","tag-jordana-corenblum","tag-national-council-of-jewish-women","tag-ncjw","tag-politics","tag-rachael-segal","tag-women"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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