Tamara Zishuk is the Senior Manager of Development and Programs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Raleigh.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend FedPro. Hosted by Jewish Federations of North America, FedPro is a biannual conference where Federation professionals come together to learn best practices, strengthen our networks, and engage honestly with the issues facing our global Jewish community. It’s equal parts professional development, community‑building, and collective visioning.

As a part of my first FedPro, I wore two hats at this conference, and each one shaped the experience in its own meaningful way.

Hat One: Catalyst Cohort Participant

This was the reason I was able to attend FedPro in the first place. A few months ago, I was selected as a part of a small national cohort in partnership with Jewish Federations of North America and Repair the World. The cohort is a six-month intensive that equips Federation professionals with training, funding, and community‑building opportunities to create young adult programming rooted in Jewish learning and volunteerism. At the end of the cohort, we pick a volunteer initiative to support in our local community, and design a plan of action for how Federation will support that local need.

As a Catalyst cohort participant, my focus at FedPro was on experiencing service learning first hand, and then using this experience to bring the knowledge back home. Most of my breakout sessions explored how we integrate Jewish values into service, and how text study can inform meaningful, ethical community engagement.

One of the most impactful parts of the program was a day of volunteering with the local community. We partnered with Arizona Jews for Justice and Valley Beit Midrash to support an already existing initiative of providing essential goods to the local unhoused community. The 11 of us in my cohort hopped on a brightly colored bus filled with sandwiches, snacks, and waters, and stopped in densely populated areas where we delivered food, had conversations, and just sat with people to listen to their stories and hear what they needed. We were offering dignity to this community in small, human ways: serving meals, listening to stories, sharing genuine conversation and meeting multiple needs at once - helping a community meet the basic needs of physical nourishment, while also attempting to nourish through connection and conversation.

Hat Two: Greater Raleigh’s Local Federation Representative

This hat is the reason FedPro exists, to share the work we all do within the Federation world and bring back our learnings to our home communities. The way I saw it, my job at this conference was to be a sponge, and absorb as much information as possible to take back to our Federation. I feel lucky that I was able to represent our community, and I think we all deserve to benefit from the learnings.

The breakout sessions were meaningful, but the real impact often came from the in‑between moments: the spontaneous “let’s follow up” after hearing a great idea from another Federation professional, the instant recognition of shared communal challenges, and the constant meeting and idea sharing with new thought partners every coffee break. Each interaction offered a fresh insight, a new perspective, or a sparked an idea that we can bring back to Greater Raleigh.

And attending simply brought visibility of Greater Raleigh on a national stage. Just by being there, other professionals see that we are a part of the broader Federation movement shaping Jewish life across the country. That visibility became especially real when Federations CEO Eric Fingerhut recognized our Federation, alongside the other North Carolina Federations during the main plenary for our work standing up against hate and for collaborating on an open letter denouncing antisemitism. Moments like that reminded me that what we’re doing at home resonates far beyond our small community.

FedPro reminded me that while our work is rooted locally, we’re part of a national movement that shares challenges, celebrates wins, and sparks relationships and ideas I’m excited to bring home and pursue side by side with our team and our Greater Raleigh community.

Wearing Two Hats at FedPro: A Reflection