Innovation as an Orientation 

Pandemic Response 

During the peak of the pandemic, the Jewish Bruin community bonded closer than ever (despite physical distance).  Then and now, Hillel’s entrepreneurial spirit guides our efforts to meet students where they are and evolve to recognize and meet their needs.  Our digital programs, creative adjustments to food service and individual outreach ensure that students are seen and nourished.  Among the lessons that the pandemic has taught us, it is affirming Hillel’s agility - our values promote the cultivation of a creative mindset geared toward adaptation and innovation in service of our ever-evolving Jewish Bruin community.  

Some of Our Programs:

• Online wellness events
• One-to-one check-ins/pastoral care
• Multi-week, cohort based learning by Zoom 
• Virtual Shabbat services and to-go meals
• Hillel care packages sent by mail
• Restaurant relocation (to the first floor outdoors, providing uninterrupted Kosher lunch service) 
• Outdoor face-to-face meet ups and meals

Mental Health

The number of UCLA students reporting loneliness, anxiety, and depression has spiked significantly over the past five years and particularly as a result of the pandemic. Guided by research and professional healthcare advisors, Hillel integrates mental health support into virtually all of our student programs, explicitly addressing physical health (exercise, sleep, nutrition); mental health (addiction, anxiety, mindfulness, depression, distortion); executive functioning; adulting; and intimacy and sexuality (consent, safety, vulnerability).

Some of Our Programs:

• Provide access to free, confidential individual therapy
• Chai on Life outdoor experiences
• Weekly movement classes
• Jewish Learning Fellowship focused on intimacy and relationships
• Creating sensory soothing spaces during crowded and loud programs
• One-on-one pastoral care/counsel
• Collaborations with UCLA and other Jewish institutions to enhance services/access
• Wellness Chair on Student Board
• Dignified access to free meals for students facing hunger