Narrator Gideon Buddenhagen: The 2026 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award recipients are not waiting for someone else to step up. They’re leading, creating, and inspiring. Turning challenges into action and empowering their peers join them. Helen Diller believed that teens could lead the way in building a better world. These 15 extraordinary Jewish leaders are demonstrating that young voices do spark lasting change.
Susan Mall: I am so honored to be a member of the selection committee. These extraordinary awardees are leading projects that are innovative, imaginative, and compassionate. They are solving real-world problems, impacting their communities and beyond, and are so committed to the Jewish values of tikkun olam. Helen Diller would have been incredibly proud of these leaders who have already accomplished so much at a young age. This inspiring award gives us all hope for the future of Jewish leadership in helping to repair our world.
Danielle Boodman: To me, tikkun olam is a call to action. Our Jewish values are only as good as how they’re practiced and lived out in our day-to-day life. Tzedek League partners with synagogues across the country to organize and empower young people to create service projects that impact their local communities. Whether it be in New York City, LA, or San Diego, high school-aged initiative leaders are working with nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity and the Humane Society, as well as one of our most special volunteer partners, Father Joe’s Villages in San Diego.
Every month, a group of Tzedek League volunteers serves meals to those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. We also run a variety of other projects, including making blessing bags to distribute to congregants in need and writing letters for children living in Shahar Negev, San Diego’s sister community in Israel. With each service project, our young people are learning more about what it means to be an effective leader, to put their values into action, and spark real change in the community.
Jacob Schaul: I enjoy coding because it’s a really cool way to not only solve problems, but also share something about yourself and how your mind works. And with a subject like computer science, there’s always new things to learn. Mode to Code brings technology education to students of all backgrounds and generations. We teach students from middle school to assisted living homes.
In working with seniors, we focus on practical technology that benefits their independence, such as transportation apps, video conferencing with family and friends, and online banking. A big part of our work with students is emphasizing the opportunities that come with learning computer science and coding. We’ve worked with over 1,500 students across 12 countries, partnering with over 30 institutions.
One of the ways I’ve grown this into an international program is through news interviews, social media outreach, and getting the word out on as many platforms as possible. As technology continues to change and expand, I’m excited to keep growing Mode to Code to empower students of all ages with independence and opportunity through technology.
Ava Weissman: Spending quality time with seniors means so much to me because I’ve been able to create mentorships, learn from new perspectives, and just grow as a person. Unfortunately, a big challenge for seniors is they face loneliness and isolation. I created Pickleball for a Purpose, to create a sense of community between older adults and teenagers, and to raise money for charities that benefit seniors. At every tournament, there’s community members, there’s sponsors, everyone is talking to new people, creating new connections. It’s smiles all around the court.
Beyond the fun and the bonding, Pickleball for a Purpose has raised over $55,000 and expanded to 15 chapters. One of the ways I’ve really grown the organization is through creating partnerships with over 35 sponsors such as AARP and professional hockey teams like the Florida Panthers. What’s most important about Pickleball for a Purpose is the friendships created, the smiles, the laughter, and all of the joy that goes far beyond the court.
Drew Mendelow: When I was 13 years old, I was diagnosed with type one diabetes. The scariest part is managing insulin dosages. You have to do the calculations yourself and too much insulin could put me into a coma, too little can send me right back to the hospital. I thought there has to be some kind of app make all of this easier. When I got home from the hospital, I just got to work.
T1D1 is the first FDA-cleared over-the-counter insulin calculator. The app removes the stress of managing type one diabetes by calculating insulin dosages, tracking your daily data, and sharing insights with your medical providers. T1D1 is free for anyone to download, and over 55,000 people are using the app today. Getting FDA clearance took five years of hard work and perseverance, but it was a very important milestone, because it gave doctors and patients the confidence that the app is fully safe and accurate. At the end of the day, what means the most to me is to see a young person managing their diabetes feeling confident, empowered, and living life to the fullest.
Julia Promoff: My passion for nature and for environmental conservation and education really stems from the connection that I feel when I’m walking around in naturetaking the time to really appreciate the small things that are given to us naturally.
4 Green Futures is dedicated to providing the next generation of environmentalists with the passion and tools that they need to protect the natural world. We have eight chapters across Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. And some of the key topics in our curriculum include deforestation, global warming, the importance of recycling, and learning about local species. One of the strengths of our program is teens are really given the chance to step into their roles as leaders and take on executing their own workshops. I also do a lot of coordinating with our local schools, administrators, and teachers to expand our program. Our goal is to inspire these kids, teach them about conservation, and foster their lifelong connection to nature.
Laura Jablonover: Track is a really big passion of mine. When it’s time to go, I know that I have to trust my training, give it my all, and push myself to my max. Sports has always been a huge part of my life, but knowing a lot of students in my community didn’t have access to that, I decided I wanted to make a change.
Project Happy Feet donates athletic equipment and shoes to low-income schools to help all students have equal access to play sports. Being fully female-run is really empowering. Our volunteers bring a great energy; whether it’s cleaning and organizing shoes or painting boxes for donations, we have so many volunteers across 13 states getting involved. I really love being there on donation days to see the firsthand impact that we’re having. I could never imagine something I started in my own garage could turn into something that we take globally, but recently Project Happy Feet was able to expand to the Philippines.
Part of being Jewish is completing a mitzvah a day and helping those in need, and it’s truly a great feeling seeing so many young people excited to make an impact on their community.
Jake Davidson: Each year, millions of American adults fall victim to cybercrime. In fact, the AARP estimates last year over $60 billion was lost just from senior citizens. And with the rise of artificial intelligence, it’s only getting worse.
So that’s exactly where CyberAware comes in. We are a nationwide organization that works to educate, inform, and empower individuals to identify and avoid digital scams. A huge part of CyberAware is all of the incredible high school-aged volunteers giving presentations and workshops in their local communities. I like to think of everyone involved with CyberAware as a co-founder. And from our communication to the way we train our volunteers, it’s taught me so much about growing an organization on a national scale. CyberAware is absolutely my passion. I just love helping each person and being able see them become more confident in an ever-changing digital world.
Charlotte Kofman: My generation has inherited a country where intense political polarization is the norm. This us-versus-them mindset means that conversations between people with opposing viewpoints barely occur. Let’s Talk Unite is dedicated to stimulating constructive dialogue across the political spectrum by giving teenagers the tools to engage in civil discourse. Walking into one of our workshops, whether it be in Florida or in France, you’ll see teens deep in conversation. We really emphasize that the key is not to go with the intent of winning, but with the intent of understanding. And we create spaces where teenagers are actually practicing conversations.
In addition to our workshops, we host conferences where we bring in speakers ranging from politicians to professors to educate young people on the real-life ramifications of polarization in our government, schools, and current events. While our country often feels divided beyond repair, I feel hopeful that my generation can bring healthy political discourse back into our national conversation.
Emmie Wolf-Dubin: To me, tikkun olam goes back to Rabbi Heschel’s concept of praying with your feet. I believe that every moment that I march, every moment I speak up for what I believe in, that is how I engage with my Judaism. The mission of State of the Students Tennessee is to empower young people with the tools to turn their passions into practical civically engaged actions. With our work, we’ve engaged thousands of students across Tennessee on issues ranging from gun violence prevention, to education access, to advocacy for immigrants and teachers and nonpartisan voter registration.
One of my favorite parts of organizing is the one-on-one work and seeing the moment where the switch kind of flips and people realize, yes, I have a place here, my voice matters, and I have the power to make a change. In addition to my organizing, I’ve also advocated for what I believe in through speaking at national conferences and writing dozens of op-eds on youth in civics. In my home state of Tennessee, there are so many things worth fighting for, and young people are passionate, leading the way.
Ela Patel-Euler: In some of the more rural areas in Ethiopia, only about 35% of girls complete lower secondary school. And access to the internet and modern technology is extremely limited, so a lot of girls never used the computer before. Girls Growing Education establishes computer-based learning labs across Ethiopia. One really important aspect of our computer labs is that they operate completely offline using a small edtech device preloaded with educational resources, such as the entire Khan Academy curriculum and one device can hotspot an entire classroom of learners.
Traveling to Ethiopia was an extremely special experience. I felt such a deep connection to the girls, and it was really inspiring to see the impact were making on the community. Another big highlight was an edtech summit that we organized, and it featured members from The World Bank, UNICEF Ethiopia, and we talked about ideas to empower female students. My dream for these young women is that they will use the confidence and curiosity as a catalyst for the trajectory of their lives.
Jacob Shoag: Growing up with dyslexia, I struggled with reading Hebrew. If you’ve ever seen a page of Talmud, you would know letters are squished together, and some of them look very similar to each other. I started thinking, dyslexia friendly fonts exist for English; why not Hebrew?
Dyslex-Kriah is the first-ever Hebrew dyslexic-friendly font. I designed the font myself. I learned a lot about design software and typography. I also consulted with rabbis and other learning specialists to make sure the Hebrew letters are accurate. As a final step, I worked with over 200 participants and conducted a randomized controlled experiment to evaluate Dyslex-Kriah’s effectiveness. Through all this work, my research was published in the International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies. And I am now partnering with groups like Alephbeis, one of the most prominent Hebrew learning platforms. Seeing students become confident through their work with Dyslex-Kriah brings me a lot of joy. My mission is to make learning Hebrew more accessible for everyone.
Leah Mordehai: My Jewish ancestry traces back generations to Ukraine. Much of my family perished during the Russian Revolution. And then again came under violence during the Holocaust, and so Ukraine holds the graves of my ancestors, and its culture is with me every day.
This family history motivates the work I do, aiding Ukraine’s freedom and independence with Slavic Voice for Ukraine. We mobilize hundreds of volunteers across 16 state chapters to advocate with elected officials, organize educational seminars and workshops, and through our journalism, we give youth in Ukraine a platform to share their experiences and stories. A highlight of our work has been passing legislation in the city and county of San Francisco creating a day in solidarity for Ukraine.
I also had the incredible honor of presenting key issues Ukraine is facing directly to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I felt so proud to advocate for Ukraine on the global stage.
Ilana Zimmerman: The idea of modifying toys for students with disabilities came out of my interest in circuitry and technology. I love to just take things apart and understand how the circuit board works, where the wires are going, and this passion is really what led me to start Adaptive Tech Club.
The controls on commercial toys are often not accessible to kids with disabilities, because require fine motor skills in order to interact with them.So, we take apart toys and create custom modifications with more accessible features. Whether it be replacing a remote control with a joystick or adding one large button, we really reimagine the controls. I’m really proud of the community that I’ve built in Adaptive Tech Club. We have over 60 members now, working together adapting these toys. And in partnership with the Oakland Unified School District, we’ve created a lending library of over 200 custom devices. Seeing the toys in action is just so special. These devices are not only giving these kids joy, but they’re also a huge motivation to learn and engage. I’m so happy to see them just have fun and learn to interact with the world.
Ella Bat-Ami: When I was in foster care, I felt really hopeless at times. I just felt cut off from the whole world, so tikkun olam and my Judaism have really been everything for me, because even before I had a notion of the Foster Youth Bill of Rights, I had an idea that I can take anything that I’m experiencing and use it to make hope for the people that come behind you.
The first draft of the bill really just kind of came out at me. I just started writing about all of the things that I wanted to fix in the system. And over the course of a year, I shared my story with legislators, testified at committee hearings, and advocated in the media. Tennessee is very divided, but this was something that garnered support on both sides of the aisle. When it passed, I… that was one of the best moments of my life. I really got to watch people connect over a shared cause and a shared love and that was so beautiful and so powerful and really affirmed for me you can make a difference. Across the state of Tennessee, this law now protects every foster youth with access to education, safe housing, medical care, and the ability to report abuse and neglect.
Sumner Silver: On July 4th of 2022, my hometown of Highland Park, Illinois was shook by a mass shooting. Unfortunately, many people in my Jewish community were deeply impacted by the tragedy. After attending the memorial service of a beloved congregant and friend, I realized how critical it was to be prepared to act during an emergency.
Hope Kits provides portable compact stop the bleed kits and hands-on training to communities impacted by gun violence. Oftentimes, everyday people are the first responders before paramedics arrive at the scene. Our Hope Kit trainings empower people to know what steps to take. If you’re able to act quick, that can truly save lives. One of the ways that Hope Kits has grown is by working closely with fire departments and other first responders. We’ve also partnered with organizations such as the Chicago Institute for Non-Violence. Given the rise of anti-Semitism, I’m proud that we’ve helped people in the Jewish community and beyond feel safe, joyful and present when gathering together.
Narrator Gideon Buddenhagen: Through their commitment to tikkun olam, these young leaders aren’t waiting for a better future, they’re shaping it today. The 2026 awardees now join a network of 219 past awardees in tackling tough challenges and turning bold ideas into action.