When Ali Zidel was planning to move to Colorado from her home of 25 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, she googled two words.
“I’m Jewish, and I was moving to Colorado,” she says with a laugh. “I googled Jewish and Colorado to find out what the Jewish community is like because my Jewish identity is an important part of who I am.”
No surprise that Zidel’s Google search produced the result “JEWISHcolorado.” On the Jco homepage, Zidel found a form to help her make connections in her new home.
On the receiving end of the form that Zidel submitted was Dina Silverman, the driving force behind JEWISHcolorado’s Newcomers Program. Silverman connected Zidel to Cindy Altberger who was helping open doors for newcomers in the community.
Ali Zidel (left)
“Cindy was wonderful,” Zidel says. “She spent time on the phone with me when I was moving here, and when I got here, she invited me to events and to her home. I met a warm, welcoming community with kind, friendly people.”
On an October evening, Zidel joined nearly 50 others at JEWISHcolorado for the latest social gathering of the Newcomers Program. After a few introductory remarks from Silverman and representatives from JEWISHcolorado, most of the evening was spent schmoozing (and eating). The group varied widely in age and backgrounds—some, like Zidel, had recently moved to Colorado. Others have lived in the area for decades and were looking for new ways to connect with the Jewish community. Some were newly retired and, with time on their hands, were looking to get more involved. Most of them have one thing in common.
“The majority are looking for social connections,” Silverman says. “I am a non-romantic matchmaker for people who want to find Jewish friends.”
‘You can think of me as a funnel’
The Newcomers Program had long been an idea discussed by JEWISHcolorado’s Women’s Philanthropy Committee, but it wasn’t until spring of 2024 that Dina Silverman was able to officially launch a program aligned with her vision. Key to its success, she believed, would be a place on Jco’s website where visitors could answer basic questions about their interests.
“When the form went live on the Jco website, we thought we might get 40 submissions in a year,” says Silverman. “Since May of 2024, we have received 200 inquiries. The program has become much bigger than we ever dreamed.”
Initially, Silverman’s intent was to match each newcomer to a well-established ambassador from the community like she did with Ali and Cindy. But as the program grew significantly, Silverman pivoted, taking on personal responsibility for handling all the inquiries and providing strategic responses tailored to the individual.
“Some of them are easy—people live in Dallas, and they have basic questions that typically come with a big move – about schools, synagogues, or areas to live,” Silverman says. “Some are more involved, so I make an effort to invite them to social events or connect them to the correct people or organizations based on specific interests.”
Silverman also created a private WhatsApp group exclusively for the Newcomers Program where she can share events from different Jewish organizations, and members of the group can ask questions or find someone to accompany them to events.
Increasingly, she has received the JEWISHcolorado form from people in cities outside the metro area—Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Boulder. In those cases, she makes a point to connect the person with Jewish resources in those markets, including local synagogues.
Dina Silverman (right)
“The synagogues are really happy to have people who are interested,” she says. “Even if they don’t initially want to become a member, they are welcome to be part of their broader community through events with the possibility of joining in the future.”
In a number of cases, she has connected people to JEWISHcolorado programs, including the Young Adult Division (YAD) or PJ Library for young families.
At the Newcomers Program social events, she invites two or three representatives from Jewish organizations outside of Jco to educate newcomers about the wide array of options for involvement with Jewish organizations in Colorado. In October, she invited Liz Lebeaux Vantine Deputy Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and Rabbi Menachem Lehrfield from JOI (Jewish Outreach Initiative).
“You can think of me as a funnel,” Silverman says. “All the forms come to me, and I try to funnel them in the most efficient way. If we already have a program at JEWISHcolorado, I leverage existing resources because there is no need to reinvent the wheel. At our social events, JEWISHcolorado serves as another funnel, informing people about different Jewish organizations in the state.”
Newcomers Program has been hosting social get-togethers in a variety of venues every few months. That’s what brought Anna Slavkin and Ben Davis to JEWISHcolorado on that October evening to socialize with dozens of others.
‘This program should be a model’
Anna Slavkin has lived in Denver for 20 years. She worked in IT testing software and took care of her mother. When she retired and her mother passed away, she found that she had more time on her hands. She came to the first Newcomers get-together, and she is back again a year later, “to participate and meet new people who have the same view of the world I do.”
At the gathering, Slavkin is rubbing elbows with Ben Davis, who grew up in Kansas and recently moved to Denver from Kansas City. He describes himself as “a single guy in his thirties looking for the next step.” When he saw mention of this Newcomers gathering on JEWISHcolorado’s Instagram, he put it on his calendar.
“I want to build my community, my social group, and I love socializing in the Jewish community,” Davis says. “I’m also networking and looking to make professional connections, so this has been a great opportunity to meet new people.”
One year after making her move to Colorado, Zidel has settled into her new life. She lives close to her two adult children, and she is busy with her academic coaching business. Through JEWISHcolorado, she has found ways to connect Jewishly in her new home.
“I am so thankful this program exists,” she says. “I do miss my Jewish community in California, but when I go back, I tell them that incredible things are going on in Denver. I really think this program should be a model for every city. I built my Jewish community in California over 25 years, but there is no program there that feels as ready-made and welcoming as this one. This is special.”