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The Ninth CandleStrategic PlanPublished June 2023

ContentsIntroduction1. Who We Are … 1 2. Purpose, Mission, & Vision … 23. Who We Serve … 34. Value Proposition … 4 Part One: The Need for The Ninth Candle1. Our New Approach to Holocaust Education … 72. Impact Since 2020 … 93. Values … 10 4. Our History … 125. Current Impact & Strengths & Weaknesses … 13Part Two: The Ninth Candle’s Strategic Plan1. Our Lead Priorities … 18 2. Who Are The Ninth Candle’s Experts? … 193. Our Strategic Plan, Phase One: 2023–26 … 204. Our Strategic Plan, Phase Two: 2026 and Beyond … 25 5. Key Performance Indicators … 26Get Involved … 27Acknowledgements … 28Appendix1. The Ninth Candle’s Team … 302. The Ninth Candle in the Media … 32

Who We AreThe Ninth Candle is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization registered as a charity in the state of Illinois. The organization was founded in 2020 with the motto, “ending antisemitism by sharing knowledge.” It is managed and operated by Dr. Luke Berryman, the Founder and CEO; and by the five members of the Board of Directors. It currently employs one paid intern.1

PurposeTo ensure that future generations understand how and why theHolocaust happened in the time and place that it did, that theyreject antisemitism, and that they embrace Jewish life as afundamental part of society.MissionTo change Holocaust education in the United States by bringingour free, customizable educational and professional developmentprograms to schools across the country – and especially tounderserved schools in states with no mandate for teaching theHolocaust.VisionTo become a leading, decentralized, nationwide collective ofexperts on the Holocaust and related topics; and to champion thetype of critical thinking that will be crucial for ending antisemitism,and for securing democracy’s survival, in the 21st century.2

Who We ServeThe Ninth Candle runs educational programs for students in grades six-through-twelve, and professional development programs for teachers.Our programs are always offered free of charge, whether the school is public or private, rural or urban, religious or non-denominational. We are especially committed to working in places where we can make the most impact: underserved schools and districts with little or no Holocaust education in place.3

Value PropositionThe Ninth Candle’s programs are unique for their student-centered, inquiry-based learning approach to Holocaust education.Beyond just stimulating their natural curiosity, we want students to experience working as historians, by getting them to ask insightful questions, research the answers, and present their findings to their peers. This process – of gathering and analyzing documentary evidence, and of using it to build historical narratives – enables them to make sense of the past, and to understand its continued relevance for today.The core content of our educational programs for students consists of three things: a presentation (or presentations), designed in collaboration with the school; questions-and-answers with students; and guided research activities. Historical documents are at the heart of these activities. They include things like newspaper articles and caricatures; Nazi propaganda materials, like posters and newsreels; and Survivor diaries and testimonies, especially those involving famous Jewish resisters. In our professional development programs, educators learn how to use such materials in their classrooms.4

But before any of that, our programs always begin with a brief consultation. We listen to teachers and administrators, and we learn about them and their school. We want to know what Holocaust education they’ve done in the past, if any; what they hope to achieve by working with us; and what they would like their program(s) to focus on. This approach enables The Ninth Candle to customize its core content for the needs and goals of every school that we visit.Schools can then incorporate our programs into their curricula and timetables in flexible ways. We have done one-day programs for a single class; whole-grade and whole-school assemblies; and series of programs spanning several weeks. We have also run professional development events lasting up to an entire academic year. We offer all our programs both in-person and virtually. So, while the core content stays the same, schools can customize their topic area(s), and the length, depth, and scale of their program(s).Analyzing and drawing conclusions from historical documents helps students to broaden their knowledge of what Nazism was and how it formed, and of the German public’s responses to it; and to deepen their knowledge of how the Nazis took their grip on power.The Ninth Candle’s programs are currently delivered by our CEO, but this strategic plan outlines a process for scaling our operations - by building and working with a team of experts to deliver more programs to more schools across the United States.5

Part One The Need for The Ninth Candle

1. Current approaches to Holocaust education are failing.American Holocaust education currently focuses on broad-brush lessons about ethics, empathy, and morality.As a result, many Holocaust education organizations try to:• Teach about events and issues beyond the Holocaust• Teach through fiction• Get emotional responses from studentsWhile none of this is without merit, it doesn’t help students to understand “the why”: why antisemitism emerged in late 19th-century Europe, why the Nazis came to power in 1930s Germany, and why the Holocaust happened. More than that, it can end up portraying Jews as an anonymous mass, inadvertently regurgitating some of the most harmful antisemitic myths in the process. Hence, in a 2023 article, the author Dara Horn asked, “Is Holocaust Education Making Antisemitism Worse?” Academics have voiced similar concerns for decades. In 1999, for example, Peter Novick wrote that “often the lessons [of the Holocaust] are very general … The problem with most of these lessons is not that they’re wrong, but that they’re empty, and not very useful.”7Our new approach to Holocaust education is needed for three reasons.

2. Schools want to improve Holocaust education, and they are keen for new approaches to it. In a 2022 interview, New York State Senator Anna Kaplan said that Holocaust education in New York is ineffective, even though a mandate legally requires schools to teach it. “We’re failing to educate our children,” she said, adding that the lack of awareness among young people about the Holocaust was “really, really disturbing.” In the 2020s, the problem of how to teach the Holocaust is being compounded by the teacher retention crisis. According to Forbes, across the United States in 2023, there are “more unqualified staff in the classroom and fewer students taught by specialists.” 3. Data shows that Jewish Americans feel less safe than ever, and that antisemitic incidents are rising.State Senator Kaplan’s comments came shortly after the New York Police Department released new statistics showing a 409 percent increase in antisemitic hate crimes in the City in February 2022, compared with February 2021. The latest findings from the Pew Research Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center show that antisemitism has been rising like this across the United States during the 2020s.8

Impact Since 2020Through its educational and professional development programs, The Ninth Candle has already served over 1,700 students in more than a dozen schools from five states: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Montana, and New York. We have also done professional development programs for educators in these states, and in other states besides. Participants have praised The Ninth Candle for “providing alternatives to rubric kinds of antisemitism work,” and for “spreading awareness of those who went unheard.”As well as running educational and professional development programs, The Ninth Candle has built bridges with other nonprofit organizations and cemented its national status. We were one of ten finalists in the 2022 “Auschwitz Indifference Challenge,” an annual competition run by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in Poland. Public events - from roundtable discussions to professional development programs for teachers - have been held jointly with groups including The Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, Facing History & Ourselves, Jewish Community Relations Councils, and others. In November 2022, The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center made The Ninth Candle one of its “Community Partners,” and we collaborated to promote an event at the Museum commemorating Kristallnacht. We have established a partnership with The Staten Island Holocaust Center, to bring new Holocaust education programs to the five boroughs of New York City. We also launched an ambitious Holocaust Education Leadership Academy in the 2022-23 school year, bringing ten educators from ten different public schools in Montana to work together on Holocaust pedagogy. The Ninth Candle has been featured in international media, including USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Daily News, The Jerusalem Post, and others.9

ValuesThe Ninth Candle and its programs are governed by six unique values.Non-aggressive LanguageUnlike many other organizations, The Ninth Candle does not describe antisemitism as an enemy to be “combatted,” “fought,” or “tackled.” Instead, we describe it as a nonsensical ideology that needs to be ended. This use of non-aggressive language helps us to lower the temperature in an era of political partisanship.DiversityAntisemitism is a symptom of bigger societal failures, so The Ninth Candle embraces a diverse range of experiences, ideas, and perspectives in its programs.No Fiction-Driven LearningNovels, movies, and other stories about the Holocaust often blend fact and fiction in ways that leave students more confused than they were to begin with. The Ninth Candle does not use them in its programs, prioritizing inquiry-based learning instead. 10

Jewish ResistanceThe Ninth Candle casts spotlights on Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, and on the internal chaos that characterized Nazism.Customizable ProgramsInstead of using one-size-fits-all curricula and filling the Internet with more content, The Ninth Candle customizes its programs according to the needs of every school that we visit. This helps us to build truly effective partnerships.CollaborationWherever we go, The Ninth Candle helps schools to form lasting partnerships with other nonprofits and Jewish organizations in their area.11

Our HistoryLuke Berryman registered the domain name <theninthcandle.com> on July 23rd, 2020. Sarah Palomobecame the first member of the Board soon after, followed by Dr. Aubrey Daniels. The Ninth Candle then registered as a 501(c)3 organization and as a charity in Illinois in the fall. We ran a pilot Holocaust education program in December. It was for a class of 8th-grade Language and Literature students at Carrollwood Day School, FL. On January 27th, 2021, The Chicago Times published an article that Luke wrote to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This article brought The Ninth Candle to international attention. A virtual launch event was held days later, on January 30th. More education programs followed in the spring and summer, at public and private schools in Arizona, Illinois, and New York. In the fall, The Ninth Candle began a search to expand its Board of Directors, eventually welcoming Tyler Duke and Both Long as regular members, and Dr. Scott Sandoval as its first President in 2022. In 2023, The Ninth Candle took on a paid intern, and we began to formalize our strategic plan for the next three-to-five years.12

Strengths• Mission clarity.o We have a strong mission statement and a clear vision for what we want our organization to become and what we want it to achieve.o We have an original idea for improving Holocaust education, and that idea has already struck a chord with schools across the United States.•Strong infrastructure and leadership, and an established process for our programs.o Strong infrastructure and leadership.➢ We have an outstanding Board of Directors with strengths and skill sets that are complementary and diverse. We know that we work well together.➢ We have a CEO with expertise in the Holocaust, and who has worked across K-12 and higher education in the United States and in Europe.o Established process for our programs.➢ We have an innovative formula for creating educational and professional development programs, and we know that these programs are impactful for students and teachers alike.Current Impact and Strengths & Weaknesses13

o Proven and well-received product and concept.➢ We always get outstanding feedback from our program participants. They appreciate the newness of our approach; the fact that our programs can be customized and built collaboratively; our championing of inquiry-based learning; and our commitment to steering away from stock-standard, fiction-driven learning.• Outstanding community engagement and impact.o There is a transformational aspect to our programs. Beyond improving Holocaust education, they create youth ambassadors who can engage in meaningful discourse with their peers. They are also helping young people to overcome the misinformation and deep-rooted stereotypes that are the cornerstone of antisemitism.o We have attracted a small but devoted circle of supporters - most of them in Chicago, our hometown. Their financial support enables us to operate as we operate now.• Expert financial guidance and support.o We have partnered with Build Accounting, to ensure that experts are managing and guiding The Ninth Candle’s finances and all its major financial decisions, now and in the future.14

Weaknesses• Constraints on resources, both financial and human.o We have constraints on our financial resources, which limits our ability to expand our impact and outreach.o We have constraints on our human capital and personnel, which limits our ability to execute our goals in fundraising, marketing, and public relations.o We lack the type of funding that would come from a foundation, institution, or other grant-giving body, which would enable us to expand on a larger scale – i.e., by building a nationwide bank of experts, or by taking on full-time employees.Opportunities• The failure of current Holocaust education.o Holocaust education in the United States is self-evidently failing. The need and demand for fresh approaches is tangible.• Our strong public platform.o Since its launch in January 2021, The Ninth Candle has built a strong public platform. This has given us the opportunity to communicate with a large audience.• Growing public interest in Holocaust education and remembrance.o The Ninth Candle’s work is timely and relevant.15

Threats• Dependence on the domestic economic climate.o The Ninth Candle’s sustainability is dependent on the generosity of its donors, and therefore on the domestic economic climate.• Changing attitudes toward education sometimes have a negative impact on Holocaust education. o The growing hostility to “Critical Race Theory” may impact schools’ willingness and ability to participate in Holocaust education programs. o We have already seen in Texas that Holocaust education can suffer collateral damage when school districts clamp down on “Critical Race Theory,” or on any other subject that they consider “controversial.”16

Part Two The Ninth Candle’s Strategic Plan

Our Lead Priorities1. Build a network of experts for The Ninth Candle.2. Provide professional development for those experts and enable them to become speakers for The Ninth Candle. This professional development will focus on getting them to make their research accessible and engaging for teenage students and education professionals –it will facilitate what’s sometimes called the “trickle-down effect.”3. Have those experts run The Ninth Candle’s school programs; evaluate the effectiveness of those programs; and refine our process for improving Holocaust education.4. Establish The Ninth Candle as a nationwide player in the field of Holocaust education through the execution of these priorities.18

Who Are The Ninth Candle’s Experts?We define an “expert” as someone with, or currently working toward, a professional qualification, such as a graduate degree, in Jewish History, the history of Nazi Germany, Holocaust Studies, Genocide Studies, or a closely-related topic. Our experts are uniquely qualified to bring inquiry-based learning to the classroom, because they have done their own research with primary sources, and because they know the secondary literature. They are inspirational figures who can answer questions from students and teachers alike with authority and clarity. They are eager to undertake professional development with The Ninth Candle because they want to make their research accessible and engaging for future generations.19

• Run more educational programs for students in our established territories.o Run educational programs for students, delivered by newly-certified experts, in each of the five states where The Ninth Candle has already established credibility: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Montana, and New York.• Staff recruitment and retention.o Begin to recruit, build, and train our bank of experts.➢ Recruit and hire experts who will deliver The Ninth Candle’s educational programs for students.➢ Design a professional development training program for these experts, and engage them in that program.➢ Have each expert deliver at least one educational program for students, either in-person or virtually, and compensate each speaker for their services.➢ Solicit feedback from participating schools to help The Ninth Candle provide further professional development for our experts, and to build our bank of participant testimonials.How we will achieve these priorities, year by yearYear One (2023-24 school year)20

o Pending strong feedback from the participating schools and the satisfactory completion of all required activities, invite each expert to become part of a “bank” of experts for The Ninth Candle, to be deployed at schools when demand arises and when finances allow.o Build The Ninth Candle’s existing team.➢ Recruit, train, and retain two part-time employees to increase the operational-side of our organization.➢ One of these employees will focus on donor relations and fundraising.➢ One of these employees will focus on communications, reaching out to schools and establishing relationships with them.•Begin preparations for success in Year Two.o Prepare to enter a further five target states by running a Holocaust Education Leadership Academy for teachers in those states, namely: Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. (These states have been chosen because they are close to Florida, one of The Ninth Candle’s established centers; and because they do not yet have mandatory Holocaust education.)21

• Expand our fundraising efforts.o Create a large-scale fundraising strategy that will serve as the model for successive years.• Expand our educational programs for students in new territories.o Deliver educational programs at schools in five new target states: Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. • Deepen our presence in established territories.o Deliver further educational programs in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Montana, and New York, building on the groundwork done in those states during Year One.Year Two (2024-25 school year)22

• Expand our team of experts.o Follow the pattern established in Year One of recruiting, hiring, and training experts; engaging them in our professional development program; having each of them deliver educational programs for students and/or teachers at schools in our target states; paying each speaker for their services; soliciting feedback from the participating schools; and, pending strong feedback, inviting each expert to become part of The Ninth Candle’s “bank” of experts.• Begin preparations for success in Year Three.o Prepare to enter a further five target states by running a Holocaust Education Leadership Academy for teachers in those states, namely: Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. (These states have been chosen because they are close to Illinois and Montana, two of The Ninth Candle’s established centers; and because they do not yet have mandatory Holocaust education.)23

• Expand our educational programs for students in new territories.o Deliver educational programs at schools in five new target states: Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. • Deepen our presence in established territories.o Deliver further educational programs in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, building on the groundwork done in those states during Years One and Two.• Continue to expand our team of experts.• Staff recruitment and retention.o Move at least one of our part-time employees to full-time status.24Year three (2025-26 school year)

Phase Two: 2026 & BeyondYears four and five (2026-27 and 27-28 school years)25• Pending the successful completion of all targets in Years One-through-Three, begin to deliver educational and professional development programs in all remaining states with no Holocaust education mandates.

Key performance indicators (KPIs)There will be five KPIs:• The number of experts that The Ninth Candle recruits, trains, deploys, and retains.• The number of educational and professional development programs executed by The Ninth Candle.• The number of returning schools and the number of referrals received.• The number of states brought into The Ninth Candle’s nationwide network.• All fundraising goals achieved if not exceeded: in order to execute this strategic plan, we will aim to raise at least $100,000 per year in donations and organizational grants.26

Get involvedDonateSupport the execution of our strategic plan and help us to improve standards in Holocaust education across the United States by clicking here, or by using the contact details below.PartnershipsThe Ninth Candle is a collaborative organization actively seeking to build partnerships with the media, museums, and other businesses, groups, and organizations who share our desire to end antisemitism.Join UsWe are always open to hearing from people who may be able to help us to execute our strategic plan, whether you’re an expert in Holocaust education, nonprofit development, social media, or something else besides.There are three ways that you can support and work with The Ninth Candle.For all opportunities and inquiries, please contact us on info@theninthcandle.com or on (312) 620-6025.27

I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to this strategic plan. Dr. Aubrey Daniels, Tyler Duke, and Both Long all worked tirelessly to bring it to fruition. Sarah Palomo played a particularly critical role in it. As our Founding Board Member, she was also critical in The Ninth Candle’s inception, and she’s been steering our development ever since. I’m also grateful to the President of our Board of Directors, Dr. Scott Sandoval, under whose leadership our organization has grown exponentially. I’d like to thank our 2023 intern, Lea Visher, for preparing the ground for this plan with some painstaking research work.Last, I’d like to thank the many people who read early versions of the plan, and who provided The Ninth Candle with invaluable expertise and critical feedback – particularly Sabrina Griffith Jackson, Principal Consultant at Griffith Consulting, LLC; James Hall, CEO at K12 Coalition; Francois Martin, VP of Marketing at Chainlogix; and Tim Walkup, Chief Human Resources Officer at Care Hospice, Inc.This strategic plan is a substantial step forward in The Ninth Candle’s work to end antisemitism by sharing knowledge. May it be the first of many still to come.Dr. Luke BerrymanChicago, June 2023 Acknowledgements28

Appendix

Dr. Luke Berryman, Founder & CEO Luke has a decade of experience in education and education management, and he has taught at universities and schools in Britain and in the United States. His PhD thesis was on the use of Richard Wagner’s music in Nazi propaganda.Dr. Scott Sandoval, President of the Board of Directors Scott is an educator and a Business Developer at Vector Solutions. He holds a BA in English and an MA in Teaching, both from the University of South Florida. He also holds an Ed.S. from the University of Florida and Saint Leo University, and a Doctorate in Educational Administration.Sarah Palomo, Founding Board MemberSarah is a Specialist in Diversity Partnerships at Bain & Company, one of the world’s leading management consulting firms. She holds a BA in Psychology and History from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MA in mental health counseling from the University of Pennsylvania.The Ninth Candle’s Team30

Tyler Duke, Board Member Tyler is a filmmaker and a digital content producer based in Montana. His work has appeared on National Geographic International, National Geographic Wild, The Travel Channel, Speed, OLN, Montana PBS, and The Outdoor Channel.Dr. Aubrey Daniels, Board MemberAubrey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions at Rutgers University. She earned her PhD in counselor education from Penn State.Both Long, Board MemberBoth is the Assistant Director of Diversity Equity & Inclusion and the Assistant Director of Athletics at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. Both studied at the UniversitatPompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, and at the Universidad Catolica Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 31

The Ninth Candle in the MediaClick the images to read the full stories online. This is only a small selection of our media work: to see more, please visit our website.32

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theninthcandle.com | info@theninthcandle.com | (312) 620-6025The Ninth Candle is a 501(c)3 organization registered as a charity in the state of Illinois. EIN: 85-3137897