JCC Maccabi Games® 2024 Unites Over 2,600 Jewish Teens Across Detroit and Houston for Epic Display of Sports, Jewish Peoplehood, and Pride

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 21, 2024
CONTACT:
Lauren Magy, PR Specialist, JCC Association, [email protected]

JCC Maccabi Games®2024 Unites Over 2,600 Jewish Teens Across Detroit and Houston for Epic Display of Sports, Jewish Peoplehood, and Pride

Largest Organized Jewish Sports Event in North America Celebrates 42 Years

The JCC Maccabi Games®-the largest organized Jewish sports event in North America-brought together over 2,600 Jewish teen athletes, and more than 10,000 volunteers and spectators this month in Detroit and Houston for the 42ndannual Games. A signature program of JCC Association of North America, the Games are a transformative Olympic-style sports and Jewish identity-building experience designed to strengthen Jewish teens' connections to global Jewish peoplehood, while building community in a joyful celebration of Jewish pride.

Hosted by the JCC of Metropolitan Detroit and the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC of Houston across two weeks from July 28-August 9, thousands of Jewish teens participated from more than 80 delegations representing JCC communities throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as international delegations from Argentina, Great Britain, Hungary, Mexico, Ukraine, and an expanded Israeli delegation, including athletes from Sderot, who represented Gaza Envelope communities affected by the October 7 attacks. The successful 2024 JCC Maccabi Games operated at full capacity once again, meeting the increased demand year after year and proving the continued need for meaningful moments of Jewish pride and connection, particularly in our current climate.

"Now, more than ever, we need to provide our younger generations with safe, positive, joyful Jewish experiences where they can explore and strengthen their connection to Jewish community, peoplehood, and Israel," saysSamantha Cohen, senior vice president and director of JCC Maccabi. "The JCC Maccabi Games, as one of the largest gatherings of Jewish community in North America, do just that year after year, uniting thousands of teens for a transformative event though sport, service, education, and Jewish values, providing connections and experiences that will last beyond those available in their local communities. JCC Maccabi is a unique and powerful platform that delivered JCC Maccabi magic at a much-needed time. We must continue to unite around positive Jewish connection to build for our Jewish future."

JCC Maccabi plays a vital role in offering Jewish experiences to Jewish teenagers who otherwise would not have access to them. Sixty-four percent of teens involved in the 2024 Games are not engaged in other Jewish youth programming and the transformative JCC Maccabi experience is their primary link to Jewish life. Beyond sports, athletes engaged in volunteer and community support activities through JCC Cares, the service arm of the JCC Maccabi experience that brings to life the JCC Maccabi value of tikkun olam(repairing the world). Athletes also engaged with shlichim, or Israeli emissaries, from Maccabi World Union in Israel who led informal Jewish and Israel educational programming, connecting Jewish teens from across the globe.

Another timely component of the 2024 Games was the JCC Maccabi yellow ribbon medal campaign in which athletes who won medals in their competition dedicated a special medal to the hostages being held in Gaza and raised awareness about the Bring Them Home Now campaign.

The 2024 Games marked the evolution of the JCC Maccabi Accesspilot from an experimental component to a regular feature at every set of the Games. This initiative provides Jewish teens and young adults who have cognitive and developmental disabilities with a meaningful and integrated JCC Maccabi experience. The three-year pilot has been a successful expansion of the JCC Maccabi experience, involving nearly 50 participants thus far, and continues to develop a strong foundation to be built upon for years to come.

Throughout the last four decades, the JCC Maccabi Games have engaged more than 510,000 people-positively influencing not only Jewish teen athletes' lives but also those of spectators, coaches, and volunteers and host families of the communities that make the Games possible each year.

The success of JCC Maccabi following the COVID-19 pandemic is the result of an unprecedented investment of over $6 million from a growing number of foundations, philanthropists, and JCC Association board members who share in the Games' vision and understand its transformative effect on all those involved. The Marcus Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, RootOne, Seed the Dream Foundation, Samueli Foundation, and the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism are some of the first to invest in this platform while supporting the future of JCC Maccabi and its plans over the next five years to grow substantially, expand reach, and deepen engagement and impact throughout the JCC Movement.

At the Games' conclusion, JCC Association officially announced the host cities for the 43rdJCC Maccabi Games®in 2025. The Tucson JCCin Arizona will host the JCC Maccabi Games and Access from July 27-August 1, 2025, andthe JCC of Greater Pittsburghin Pennsylvania will host the inaugural JCC Maccabi Campus Games in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh from August 3-8, 2025.

The events next summer will mark 25 years since the Tucson JCC first hosted the Games and will celebrate the 70thanniversary of the JCC, including 36 years on its current campus. The JCC of Greater Pittsburgh will return as host of the Games for the fourth time, partnering with the University of Pittsburgh to pilot the JCC Maccabi Campus Games. In this first-of-its-kind campus model, athletes will compete at the University of Pittsburgh in an Olympic Village-style atmosphere that includes housing, athletic competition, social and educational programming, and dining.

# # #

About JCC Association of North America

JCC Association of North America leads the JCC Movement, the most expansive and inclusive platform for Jewish life in the U.S. and Canada, which comprises more than 170 Jewish Community Centers and Jewish Community Camps (JCCs). By virtue of its size and scope-serving more than 1.5 million people weekly, in person, and online-and with guidance and support from JCC Association, the JCC Movement dynamically influences efforts to create Jewish community, vibrant Jewish life, and intentional and measurable Jewish outcomes in local communities and across the continent. Learn more at JCCA.orgor on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Please note that JCC Association of North America should not be referred to as JCCA or the JCC Association but initially as JCC Association of North America and as JCC Association in subsequent references.

About JCC Maccabi

JCC Maccabi®, a signature program of JCC Association of North America,is one of the continent's preeminent Jewish youth-serving and community-building platforms and is crucial in inspiring Jewish identity building, strengthening communal connections, and serving as a key leadership development pipeline. For over 40 years, the JCC Movement has engaged more than 3,000 Jewish teen athletes, 600 coaches and delegation heads, and an additional 12,000+ family members, spectators, and volunteers annually through the Olympic-style sports competition of JCC Maccabi, one of the greatest Jewish peoplehood projects of our time. For the majority of JCC Maccabi athletes, 63% of whom report being otherwise unaffiliated with any other Jewish youth organization, JCC Maccabi remains their primary connection to the Jewish community, global Jewish life, and Israel-creating a remarkable and unmatched opportunity for engagement, support of their Jewish identity, and a lasting impact on their lives.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.