An important aspect of this Fellowship was the visit to the Centro Deportivo Israelita of Mexico City, an inspiring Jewish Community center on 16 acres with 18,000 members of the local community participating in all manner of Jewish cultural, artistic and athletic activities.

At this Fellowship, the NGF Alumni Leadership Development Seminar was introduced. Twelve alumni of previous programs participated in a leadership track within the context of the larger Fellowship, aimed at helping them grow as Jewish leaders, and emphasizing tangible facilitation and leadership tools to help them deal with current challenges they are facing in their professional lives.  We look forward to expanding the alumni leadership seminar at our upcoming program.

Another innovation at this Fellowship was the introduction of ‘peer-led’ activities. This was introduced with the clear aim of empowering the Fellows, utilizing their vast knowledge and skills and creating a greater sense of ownership of the program.

The Shabbat ‘Open Spaces’, first introduced 3 years ago, continues to be a very popular, powerful and a welcome addition to the formal program.

Saturday night saw another NGF first, with the introduction of ‘ChaiPowered at the NGF’ – a Jewish version of TEDTALKS, but with only 18 slides, each lasting 18 seconds. This was very powerful, with 8 Fellows choosing to present on a range of topics.