How to Use Aleinu
Aleinu is designed to be an easy-to-navigate roadmap of Best Practices that contain customizable resources for improving any Jewish organization’s youth safeguarding efforts.
Content Overview
We encourage you to copy and adapt any resource that will help you introduce youth safeguarding concepts to your community and implement training, policies, practices, or protocols. When copying or adapting resources, we ask that you please include this statement on your materials: “These materials were developed utilizing resources from Aleinu: Safeguarding Our Youth, a program of Sacred Spaces.”
Each Best Practice is broken down into goals with corresponding resources. In each resource, you will find an information box that explains which Best Practice the resource supports, the goals and objectives for using it, the key audience for whom it was designed, and the estimated amount of time it will take to use it. These are some of the most common types of resources included:
Guides
Reading materials that outline foundational concepts, questions, and principles
Guides
Worksheets
Interactive teaching documents with questions, charts, or suggested tasks for implementation
Worksheets
Videos
Trainings, definitions of key concepts, and role plays to practice what you’re learning
Videos
Handouts
Tools to help your team plan next steps, facilitate necessary conversations, and share your work with a broader audience
Handouts
Samples
Communications, presentations, prayers, policies, and implementation plan templates for your team – we’ve done the hard work for you!
Samples
Guides
Reading materials that outline foundational concepts, questions, and principles
Worksheets
Interactive teaching documents with questions, charts, or suggested tasks for implementation
Videos
Trainings, definitions of key concepts, and role plays to practice what you’re learning
Handouts
Tools to help your team plan next steps, facilitate necessary conversations, and share your work with a broader audience
Samples
Communications, presentations, prayers, policies, and implementation plan templates for your team – we’ve done the hard work for you!
Where To Begin
There is no right pathway to navigate through the platform. Each organization can determine its starting point based on needs and priorities. Some organizations implement the Best Practices in the order they appear on the site. Others select one Best Practice that needs attention or is most relevant to their organization’s current priorities.
If you have questions about where to start, use this tool to help identify your next step:
Who is Aleinu for?
Aleinu is a toolkit for all individuals who support Jewish youth-serving institutions. Whether you are an employee, volunteer, board member, or contractor, these resources can support your organization in creating safer environments for the youth in your organization’s care.
What if I don’t work or volunteer at a Jewish youth-serving organization but I am a community member who cares about youth safeguarding efforts?
We’re thrilled you’re here. Jewish communities can only solve the problem of youth maltreatment when all members become educated on the issue and commit to modeling safe behaviors in their interactions with youth. Every community member can become an ally in these efforts! Here are some actions you can take:
- Speak to your youth-serving organization(s); tell them about Aleinu and encourage them to use its resources.
- Use Best Practice 9 to educate yourself on how to empower the youth in your care. Best Practice 9 has resources for parents/caregivers and community members.
- If your organization decides to implement Best Practice 1, consider joining its Youth Safety Committee or asking Committee members how you can help.
How long does it take to use Aleinu?
Your organization will determine your pathway, pace, and progression through Aleinu. Some organizations spend about two years working through all of the resources. Others spend a few months to a year dedicated to one Best Practice.
Does Sacred Spaces offer certification or accreditation for using Aleinu?
No, Sacred Spaces does not offer a certification or accreditation program for use of Aleinu. Sacred Spaces does celebrate the steps in youth safeguarding that organizations have taken. Celebration of specific organizations on our site is not an endorsement from Sacred Spaces and is not a statement about their current or past youth safeguarding processes, policies, or practices. It is our hope that by opening access broadly, organizations of all kinds — whether they are current leaders in child protection or not — may utilize our resources to improve. Our theory of change for Aleinu relies on organizations taking manageable steps forward. Protecting children is not “all or nothing.” No matter an organization’s track record, there is always something they can do to improve.