The 2026 Tikkun Olam Awards

The 3rd Annual Tikkun Olam Awards are over.

Honored were Michelle Bobrow, Dr. Kevin Bott, Ari Fox, Diller Teen Fellows & Iris Teen Advisors, Project HEART Newark, and Clinton Hill Community Action.

Michelle Bobrow has had a varied career as both a professional and volunteer.  She was a Vice President of Voter Service for the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, and has been an officer of the Maplewood League of Women Voters since the 1970’s. She was chair of the National Council of Jewish Women, NJ State Public Affairs Committee for eight years, overseeing NCJW’s legislative and advocacy agenda and speaking for the 7000 members and their families in New Jersey, on issues affecting women, children and families. For almost 30 years she has served as an advocate for abused and neglected children for Essex County Court-Appointed Special Advocate. Her community service was recognized with the Hannah G. Solomon Award by NCJW and Maplewood’s Civic Association Maple Leaf Award.  

She is also a parliamentarian, serving on local and state association boards and teaching courses on parliamentary procedure and running effective meetings.  She became an advocate for eminent domain abuse reform in New Jersey, with a special interest as a threatened homeowner.

She is interested in open government and citizen participation in government, and attends local governing body meetings.   She served on numerous boards, including the Maplewood Local Assistance Board.  As an accomplished knitter, she shares the work of her hands with charitable organizations, providing warm hats, scarves and sweaters for less fortunate clients as well as teaching knitting at the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School. 

She served as Board member and President of the Miriam Sisterhood of Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange, and is an enthusiastic supporter of women’s organizations and women’s education.  In her work on the Essex County Election Board, she oversees the polling sites in Maplewood as serving as the Super Poll worker.

She and her late husband Harold founded the Bobrow Family Oheb Shalom Kosher Food Pantry over 35 years ago, to meet the needs of the recently arriving Former Soviet Union refugees.  The Pantry is thriving today and serves the needy local population.

She was married for 55 years to Harold, and is the proud mother of Lauren, mother-in-law of Scott and grandmother of Raelyn.

Dr. Kevin Bott is founder and artistic director of Ritual4Return, Inc (R4R). In 2006, Kevin began facilitating prison theater workshops for the non-profit, Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), and in 2007 became RTA’s first director of education. In 2019, Kevin was named the “Blade of Grass-David Rockefeller Fund Joint Fellow in Criminal Justice.” In 2024, R4R was awarded the Katz Prize for Excellence in Public Humanities and in 2025 was awarded first place in the “Arts Advancing Social Justice” category by the National Organization for Arts in Health. he is currently leading R4R projects in Newark and Camden, and mentoring teams in Boston and the Twin Cities. With Jan Cohen-Cruz, Bott co-edited the volume, Performing Emancipatory Rites of Passage, which was published by Routledge in February 2026.

Kevin is the director of Rutgers Arts Online, the online division of Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Previously, Kevin served as Dean for Civic Engagement at Wagner College and, prior to that, was Associate Director and Director of Cultural Organizing at Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children.

Ari Fox says that “Tikkun Olam has always been a through-line in my life — a sense of responsibility to leave things a little better, a little more connected, and a little more hopeful than I found them. After surviving my own journey with cancer, that belief sharpened into a deeper commitment. I shifted my focus toward Tikkun Olam more intentionally, both personally and professionally — so much so that I even had those words tattooed on my arm.

“What I’m most proud of isn’t any single project or outcome, but the consistent effort to build things that matter in places that are often overlooked. Professionally, that has meant leaning into complex, long-term initiatives — revitalizing spaces, creating platforms for innovation, and aligning capital with purpose. I’ve been drawn to work where the upside isn’t just financial, but human: where success is measured by opportunity created, access expanded, and communities strengthened.
A big part of that journey has been embracing the idea that impact and ambition are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I believe the most meaningful work sits at that intersection — where bold ideas meet real needs. Whether it’s reimagining underutilized urban spaces, supporting entrepreneurs, or building ecosystems that allow others to thrive, I’ve tried to focus on creating durable structures that outlast any one individual effort.

“Outside of work, I volunteer with initiatives through the Jewish Federation of Greater Metrowest, including the JCRC and the Coalition for Jewish and African American Unity. On a personal level, I’m most proud of the example I’m setting for my family — especially my daughters. I want them to grow up understanding that success isn’t just about what you achieve for yourself, but what you contribute to others — that the most meaningful legacy is not just what you build, but who you empower.

“There is still a lot of work to do, and I don’t see this recognition as a milestone so much as a reminder — to keep pushing, to keep building, and to keep asking how the work can go deeper. Tikkun Olam is never finished. It’s a continuous process, and I’m grateful to be part of it.”

Federation’s, Diller Teen Fellows & Iris Teen Advisors focus on making the world a better place through Tikkun Olam. Each year the teens bring the values of Tzedakah into action with hands on service-learning opportunities to make our community a better place. This past December for the Holiday of hanukkah, they spread light in Newark! The teens packed 50 bags of cereal, canned food, snacks, and more, which they then distributed outside the synagogue. We had a blast spreading light by handing out donuts, hot chocolate, and bags of food to community members as they stopped by. Parents volunteered in the synagogue, helping to clear space for a future play space for young children. In making a difference for those in need, the teens and parents felt a tremendous impact on themselves. Having these teens give of their time and treasure to the underserved in our community is a blessing and we are honored to recognize them.

Project HEART (Help End All Racist Thinking), an anti-bias program rooted in the Arts for K-2 students, was founded by Millburn High School student Olivia Shidler. Committed to building identity and community in the hopes of helping to shape a more just world, Olivia and her Newark teammates, Mary Ojo and Jade Toseafa, seniors at Newark Arts High School — supported by mentors Dr. Devonne De Nose, Director of Visual and Performing Arts at the Newark Board of Education, and Dr. Larissa Skinner, Department Chair of the Department of Music, Visual Art, Cinematography & Media at Arts High School in Newark — launched Project HEART Newark in February. Olivia, Jade, and Mary have since visited six Newark K-2 classrooms on multiple occasions and taught about 120 students in the Newark Public Schools about appreciating our differences, which make us unique and special, and coming together as one humanity. They accomplish this through the Arts: reading picture books by authors like bell hooks; guiding the students on how to draw their own self-portraits that reflect their inner and outer selves; and singing songs that foster an appreciation for diversity and inclusion. Olivia is thrilled that Ahavas Sholom has partnered with her to help bring the program, which originated and is still going strong at Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, to Newark.

Since its founding in 2019, Clinton Hill Community Action (CHCA) has become a cornerstone of Newark’s South Ward, transforming the neighborhood through a model of resident-led revitalization. CHCA is a community development organization that operates under the guiding principle: “Nothing about us, without us, is for us.” While their work spans housing justice, food security, the arts and advocacy, their core strength lies in bridging the gap between institutional resources and the lived experiences of Clinton Hill residents. This includes building on the history of the neighborhood. That history is being recorded by a team of residents and local historians, who are digging into the roots of the neighborhood’s story over the years. We are chronicling the time when the neighborhood was largely Jewish, and as that transitioned highlighting the relationship between African-Americans and Jews at pivotal moments in Newark and the nation’s reckoning with race and social justice. We are proud to be home of B’Nai Abraham Temple once led by Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who spoke at the March on Washington with Dr. King and even hosted King at the synagogue when he visited Newark. Our Executive Director Khaatim Sherrer El has been an active member of the Black-Jewish Dialogues convened by NJ Performing Arts Center, where he hopes to extend these conversations and opportunities to break bread with current residents and former Jewish residents to deepen the pride in our history of allyship and a shared story for freedom as we work together to revitalize the Clinton Hill neighborhood.