When the crisis in Ukraine began in February 2022, Vadim Farber — director of the JDC-supported Solomonika Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Dnipro — quickly jumped into action, coordinating evacuations, arranging emergency accommodations for internally displaced people (IDPs), and distributing humanitarian aid.

The 46-year-old said it was his longtime participation in JDC leadership programs that helped prepare him to respond quickly when it mattered most.

I no longer see my life without the things that JDC has instilled in me — compassion, kindness, the ability and desire to help, and the commitment to developing Jewish life in Ukraine.”

Vadim Farber

Solomonika JCC Director

“It became my driving force, giving me the chance to realize my potential and help uplift the Jewish community,” Farber said.

Her work speaks to a powerful evolution taking place across the FSU — dynamic volunteer initiatives and exciting new programs that are expanding the menu of community- based solutions to welfare needs.

His story is emblematic of JDC’s robust investment in Jewish leadership not only in Ukraine but throughout the former Soviet Union (FSU) — from early connection points like Active Jewish Teens (AJT), the JDC youth program in partnership with BBYO that reaches more than 2,500 teenagers in seven countries, to fellowships for mid-career professionals like the Kaplan Leadership Initiative, of which Farber is an early alumnus.

“For a young person, it was a unique opportunity to prove myself, make a difference, help others, and create something,” said Farber, who became Solomonika’s director in 2014 after five years at the helm of Dnipro’s JDC-supported Jewish Family Service. “Step by step, these many years have flown by, each one inspiring me not to stop but to keep doing something new and meaningful — to develop, to improve.”

A group of Jewish communal professionals pose for a photo at PROKachka.

With a changing Jewish communal landscape in the region, including some institutions becoming increasingly self sustainable, JDC’s strategic focus has also evolved — a transformation embodied by PROkachka, a first-of-its-kind professional development conference that brought together more than 200 people from over 35 Ukrainian cities.

What made the event — where participants explored topics like Jewish education, children’s programming, marketing, and time management — even more striking was that it was developed by the Ukrainian Jewish community itself. When a group of young leaders pitched the idea to JDC and other partners, we were proud to help bring it to life.

“Our role was much wider than simply funding this grassroots initiative. Once we learned about PROkachka, we worked with local leaders to help plan the program, bring key JDC professionals as speakers and moderators, and secure the involvement of both the Jewish organizations we support and ones we’re not directly connected to,” said Anna Grigolaya, who leads JDC’s community development efforts in Ukraine.

It’s an important new model of community cooperation and support — meaningful both for our organization and for our local partners.”

Anna Grigolaya

Community Development Director, JDC Ukraine

The event’s success — not just the conference alone but the creativity and spirit of innovation that sparked it — epitomizes the FSU young leadership pipeline that JDC has cultivated over decades.

Now the director of KEDEM Jacobs JCC in Chișinău, Moldova, Daria Pavlovschi’s leadership journey began with AJT, grew through time spent as the coordinator of her city’s Haverim teen club, and took her to Hungary, where she served as a unit head at Szarvas, the JDC-Lauder international Jewish summer camp.

The 29-year-old is now a current Kaplan Fellow, joining FSU peers from ten cities across Georgia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine. The initiative also has cohorts in Europe and Latin America.

“I am proud to say that today, every member of the program department leadership team at our JCC grew up in the community — through youth, volunteer, and family programs,” Pavlovschi said.

Our strength lies in our people, and programs like AJT and Kaplan help us lay the foundation for our future by nurturing and empowering the next generation.”

Daria Pavlovschi

KEDEM Jacobs JCC Director

And for emerging leaders in small and isolated Jewish communities — like Marina Karpova, 44, a current Kaplan Fellow who leads the JDC-supported JCC in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan — JDC’s global approach connects them to something bigger than can be found at home.

“JDC has given me the space to explore, to learn, and to continuously grow — along with the invaluable feeling that I am not alone in my desire to strengthen the Jewish community,” she said. “JDC believes in the potential of local leaders and helps turn ideas into living, impactful change. Because of that, I feel part of a greater story and a global movement that makes Jewish life resilient, vibrant, and meaningful, even in the most remote corners of the world.”

KEDEM Jacobs Jewish Community Center

Cultivating Bold Jewish Leadership to Meet Tomorrow’s Challenges