Participants enjoy Dad’s Night Out. Credit: Rabbi Dan Ain 

Participants enjoy a Play and Paint Event. Credit: Allison Granet  

By Allison Granet and Rabbi Dan Ain 

In the last several months, young family engagement has grown rapidly, and Shalom Austin is delighted to share some initial findings from its new parent and family life engagement initiative.   

Beginning in the fall of 2023, Rabbi Dan Ain began reaching out to dads and parents to begin to identify needs in the community that extend beyond the gates of the Dell Jewish Community Campus. In the spring of 2024, The Tepper Foundation recognized the work and provided a grant to Shalom Austin to expand on this initiative and strive to strengthen Jewish life among parents of young children in Austin by connecting them with Jewish traditions, culture, texts, holidays and community.  

  Towards that end, in the summer of 2024, Allison Granet was brought on board as the Family and Community Connector and has been gathering groups in Jewishly underserved neighborhoods in North, South, East, West and Central Austin. She has hosted events in each of these areas and has put on eight total events. Her programming so far has already reached close to 100 families seeking connection and meaning.   

Granet has found through her programs and one on one meetings with families that there is a huge need for family engagement outside the walls of the JCC. Many families would like to get connected to the Shalom Austin community, however they live too far away. Granet’s role focuses primarily on engaging young families in specific target zip codes where there has been an identified need for connection to the Shalom Austin community. Some examples of events Granet has put on include splash pad and pops, picnic in the park, play and paint, happy hours, and coffee convos.   

Rabbi Ain’s role has also expanded beyond running his successful Dads Night Out and into holding office hours both online and in-person to local parents looking for rabbinic consultation as to how to navigate Jewish offerings in Austin, as well as their own personal religious and spiritual issues. In addition to connecting with individual parents, Rabbi Ain has also worked to arrange and gather groups of Jewish seekers and families south of Austin who are looking for alternative spaces and expressions of Jewish life.  

This initiative is continually evolving as the landscape of Jewish Austin evolves. For those who have not yet had the opportunity to connect with either Granet (allison.granet@shalomaustin.org)or Rabbi Ain (ple@shalomaustin.org), they can reach out and share their location and perspective so that efforts can continue to iterate in a way that best serves the needs of the community.