CASJE: a lab for research in Jewish education at the George Washington University is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2026 Small Grants Program. This cycle’s awards followed an open and competitive Request for Proposals, which drew many strong submissions and reflected significant interest in applied Jewish education and engagement research. CASJE granted two awards totaling $90,600. The selected studies will illuminate how Jewish families navigate identity, belonging, and meaning making in contemporary American Jewish life. All research will be completed by July 2027 and will be shared broadly with the field.
The CASJE Small Grants Program supports studies of Jewish educational processes and outcomes. These grants are intended to stimulate research that investigates Jewish education and its effects, and that is well-positioned to inform practice. Small grants are especially well suited for small-scale, exploratory studies that look closely at educational processes or well-defined phenomena. Previous Small Grants projects have investigated learning across the wide variety of settings where Jewish education happens and focus on learners of any age across the lifespan.
The 2026 grant recipients and their research projects are:
Belonging, Representation, and Cultural Socialization: Partnering with Parents of Black-Jewish Children in Early Childhood Education
Dr. Janean Dilworth-Bart, Michal Avera Samuel, and Shahanna McKinney-Baldon, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Dr. Erika Bocknek, American Jewish University, and Dr. Iheoma U. Iruka, The University of North Carolina at Chapel
This study examines how Black‑Jewish parents support their children’s identity and belonging in early childhood and will offer practical guidance for creating inclusive curricula, family engagement strategies, and professional learning, helping Jewish early childhood build more inclusive and affirming learning environments. In addition to researchers Dr. Janean Dilworth-Bart, Shahanna McKinney-Baldon, Dr. Erika Bocknek, and Dr. Iheoma U. Iruka, the study will be led by Michal Avera Samuel, recent recipient of the Arevim Fellowship at American Jewish University (AJU) where she is currently a doctoral student in Early Childhood Education and Leadership.
Talking Across the Divide: Intergenerational Interactions as a Site of Learning in American Jewish Families
Dr. Sharon Avni, BMCC, CUNY
This qualitative study examines intergenerational negotiations over Israel between American Jewish parents and their emerging adult children (ages 18-28), exploring how these interactions — conducted face-to-face and across digital platforms —continually constitute family members' Jewish identities and function as sites of Jewish learning.
Upon completion of the research, grantees will share their research with the broader field of Jewish education at conferences and in other writing. Additionally, CASJE will make available data generated by awardees for secondary analysis by other researchers.
“The insights generated by these projects will help educators cultivate learning spaces that are more inclusive, more responsive, and better attuned to the realities facing today’s families” says Dr. Susan Kardos, CASJE Advisory Board Co-Chair. “CASJE is proud to support research that responds so directly to the questions and challenges facing educators and communities today.”
About CASJE
CASJE's mission is to strengthen Jewish education through the development and use of high-quality applied research. We strive to make research more rigorous, meaningful, and usable by cultivating partnerships, building capacity, and advancing professional learning.
CASJE’s core operations are supported by the Jim Joseph Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, and The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation.