40 Under 40: Kelly Cohen
Kelly Cohen, 37, is the director of JumpSpark.
Kelly Cohen is the director of JumpSpark, an innovation initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and a part of the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative.
JumpSpark connects the community and collaborates to create more meaningful and defining moments for Jewish teens in Atlanta. Since its inception in 2017, Cohen has led JumpSpark to reach thousands of the Jewish community’s teens, parents of teens and Jewish educators through innovative programming and learning experiences.
“It is because of defining moments I had as a teen that I have dedicated my life to the Jewish community,” Cohen said. “Now as an educator and parent in Atlanta, I love being part of our community’s efforts to prioritize our teens and to build a strong Jewish future.”
Through JumpSpark Spark Grants, Cohen oversaw a $275,000 strategic investment in strengthening and growing the teen landscape in 2019. She has spent her career building meaningful, dynamic Jewish experiences for children, teens and adults. She has a wealth of experience working in camps, day schools, synagogues and Israel travel.
Before JumpSpark, Cohen served as the lower school Judaic studies coordinator at The Davis Academy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern and Judaic studies from Brandeis University, a master’s degree in Jewish education from Hebrew College and is a graduate of the Pardes Educators Program.
Cohen was also recently named a Jewish Education Project Generation Now Fellow. She is also the creator of Parsha Storybook Project, an online resource for early child- hood Torah literacy.
She is passionate about creating opportunities for people to live and experience their Judaism and has dedicated her life to this work. She is married to Drew Cohen, director of music at The Weber School and URJ Camp Coleman, and has two children, Joss and Emmet.
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