A safe space today

Towards a future tomorrow

JTAP PROVIDES MEANINGFUL SUPPORT FOR BALTIMORE'S JEWISH TEENAGE GIRLS MANAGING THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF TODAY.

About JTAP

With mentorship, support, and year-round programming, JTAP provides a true safe space for our girls to develop positive lifestyle choices in a warm, non-judgemental setting, empowering them to become healthy young women and well-adjusted members of the Jewish community.

I love JTAP because it’s not just another one of those programs. At JTAP, everyone knows each other and we’re all friends. The adults there care about you and they aren’t trying to change you, they just want to be there for you.

JTAP Girl

What JTAP Offers

Mentorship

Carefully selected mentors provide girls with love and a safe space through close lifelong relationships, modeling healthy life skills and a positive Jewish identity.

The House

Supportive independent living for young women, and a dedicated location for programming and drop-in open hours as a haven for girls to hang out and be themselves.

Trips, Shabbatons, & Summer Programming

JTAP organizes safe, fun-filled experiences for girls that encourage creative self-expression and the opportunity for connections between the teens and mentors.

Holidays & Shabbat

For holidays and Shabbat, JTAP provides a relaxed, non-judgmental environment that allows girls to celebrate together and appreciate the beauty of Judaism in a positive light.

Educational Opportunities

Education builds our girls up and empowers them towards advancement in the form of a GED program and a variety of workshops that focus on specific issues that teens face.

Support Services

Acting as a liaison, JTAP provides case management to create a support network with those closest to each teen. JTAP’s therapy program matches girls with therapists best suited to help them, and subsidizes therapy for those who need it.

Services

The devotion and dedication of JTAP to the young ladies of our community is literally lifesaving. The warmth and sincerity of their exceptional staff is evident in the lives of those whom they support with love, structure, and a place to be. Having seen and interacted first hand with JTAP, its programs, and the wonderful people they serve, I strongly encourage our community to generously support their great work.

Rabbi Menachem Goldberger

Kehillas Tiferes Yisroel

Devorah's Story

Part I
When I was just ten, I was “asked to leave” my school. Coming from a dysfunctional home, this wasn’t the first time I experienced hardship. Being kicked out of school was just another reminder to me that I wasn’t welcome in the community. By the time I was in middle school, I distrusted anyone who called themselves frum. I was looking for any escape from my pain – boys, drugs, alcohol, you name it. JTAP isn’t scared of those kinds of girls. The mentors took me in and reminded me how good I was, even while I was doing “bad” things, and their homes eventually became my escape.
Part II
With JTAP, I saw that beautiful healthy homes do exist. But JTAP isn’t about making girls frum or being their therapists. They developed connections in a fun, chill way by meeting us where we were and showing us unconditional love. It was the trips, the shabbatons, the shabbos meals, and just hanging out. My mentor helped me realize that I did go through a lot. Eventually, she encouraged me to go to therapy and helped me find the right fit.
Part III
Now, baruch Hashem, I’m worlds away from where I was as a lost teen. I’m married, a teacher in a local Bais Yaakov, and I mentor girls who are where I was at their age. JTAP showed me that I have a place in the community just as I am, a balanced young woman who is continually working on myself, no matter my background. They modeled for me what a healthy frum person looks like, and they gave me the love, support and tools to bring me to becoming one myself.

When I was just ten, I was “asked to leave” my school. Coming from a dysfunctional home, this wasn’t the first time I experienced hardship. Being kicked out of school was just another reminder to me that I wasn’t welcome in the community. By the time I was in middle school, I distrusted anyone who called themselves frum. I was looking for any escape from my pain – boys, drugs, alcohol, you name it. JTAP isn’t scared of those kinds of girls. The mentors took me in and reminded me how good I was, even while I was doing “bad” things, and their homes eventually became my escape.

With JTAP, I saw that beautiful healthy homes do exist. But JTAP isn’t about making girls frum or being their therapists. They developed connections in a fun, chill way by meeting us where we were and showing us unconditional love. It was the trips, the shabbatons, the shabbos meals, and just hanging out. My mentor helped me realize that I did go through a lot. Eventually, she encouraged me to go to therapy and helped me find the right fit.

Now, baruch Hashem, I’m worlds away from where I was as a lost teen. I’m married, a teacher in a local Bais Yaakov, and I mentor girls who are where I was at their age. JTAP showed me that I have a place in the community just as I am, a balanced young woman who is continually working on myself, no matter my background. They modeled for me what a healthy frum person looks like, and they gave me the love, support and tools to bring me to becoming one myself.

How can I help?

To be a part of JTAP is to know what it means to be fully accepted for who you are and to have a place where you can just be, without judgement, without agenda, just unconditional love and support.