Community as Creative Cohort

When I arrived, the room at “>PresenTenseLA’s second cohort. As a fellow in this latest group of social entrepreneurs, dreamers and visionaries working toward various passion projects, I was looking forward to refining my project’s concept—a providers’ list for the special needs community—and working with the other fellows in a focused way, building and launching our ideas toward the greatest possible impact.

Meeting the other 2013-2014 fellows was inspiring; each of them has such passion. From Jonathan Bubis’s enthusiasm for inspiring others through his Tefillah Transformed Initiative to Leah Weiner’s interest in decreasing the pay gap of women in leadership positions and other conversations through the Emma Project, the fellows have diverse backgrounds, but we are united by our commitment to tikkun olam. Each of us comes to PresenTenseLA with the goal of making the world a better place.

That first day of training we started at the beginning, creating a group “agreement of values.” In a display of commitment to the process as well to our fellow participants, we promised to provide support and feedback, and to communicate openly and honestly with one another. Under the guidance of Naomi Korb Weiss, the CEO of PresenTense Group, and Julia Moss, the coordinator of PresenTenseLA, the program also highlighted Jewish metaphors that corresponded with business concepts and ideas, as part of PresenTenseLA’s commitment to integrating Jewish learning into the curriculum. Connecting Jewish values with our work makes it that much more meaningful.

PresenTenseLA—supported in part by The “>Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund and through a Cutting Edge Grant from the “>Launch Night, a large community-wide event where Fellows do “fast pitches” about their ventures, and explore community responses and potential partnerships with individuals and organizations.

At 10:30 that first morning, I had nervously walked into a room, just one of 12 individuals who all wanted to succeed. But by 5:30 PM that evening, we had become a cohort, and together, we walked into another room—a kick-off cocktail reception where we met the members of the PresenTenseLA community: over 50 mentors, coaches, donors and steering committee members, all of whom are rooting for us to go out and achieve the things we are most passionate about.

In every venture, there is always the risk of failure. But the support of the PresenTenseLA and Federation communities makes this project a challenge that I’m excited to take on.

Sarah Gershfeld is the founder of