Jewish youth groups foster a sense of belonging, giving teens a safe place to explore their identity through shared cultural traditions, social activities, and leadership opportunities. Teens in the Tucson area have several youth group options. Long-established groups such as BBYO and USY have local roots going back to the 1950s, while new groups such as Chabad’s CTeen have been added to the mix in the last few years.
BBYO is the largest pluralistic Jewish youth group in the United States. Tucson’s BBYO chapters, Abba Gadol AZA for boys and Kadimah BBG for girls, meet Monday evenings at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. BBYO is open to teens in grades eight through 12.
There are about 40 members of each local chapter, with a core of 18-20 in each group who participate regularly in the teen-led weekly programs, says Davis Hubbell, Tucson city director for BBYO and director of teen engagement at the J. Meetings often include Jewish holiday presentations along with community service projects, leadership development, and fun activities such as a “sip and paint” event with flavored sodas.
Hubbell commends the teens’ leadership skills. “I feel lucky that when I came in, we had a position on the regional board, and then we’ve retained that in the last four years. We’ve had a person elected to regional board president either on the girls’ or boys’ side or both. I’m very impressed with our participants for being able to [get the votes], because Phoenix has so many more chapters.”
Tucson is part of the BBYO Mountain Region, which includes Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Regional events include a fall convention and spring conclave.
BBYO started an alumni association two years ago, Hubbell notes, and he’d love to connect more with the local parent network. “I do know there’s a lot of BBYO alums within our community.”
For more on BBYO, click here or contact Hubbell at [email protected] or 520-299-3000, ext. 6147.
Congregation Anshei Israel hosts a monthly USY program for grades 7-12, with meetings usually held on Saturday evenings, plus a Kadima program for grades 4-6 one Sunday afternoon per month.
Nichole Chorny, Anshei Israel’s education and youth director, emphasizes that USY is open to all local Jewish teens, regardless of whether their families are members of Anshei Israel.
The teen-led programs include religious, spiritual, educational, and social activities. Anshei Israel’s youth center is equipped with a pool table, foosball, ping pong, air hockey, and other games and recreational equipment, as well as an outdoor basketball court and a gaga (Israeli dodgeball) court. Programs are also held at outside venues such as a bowling alley and there are several travel opportunities each year.
One annual highlight is a trip to Disneyland. This year, the Labor Day weekend trip is open to BBYO members as well.
Tucson’s USY is a member of the Far West region, spanning Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Hawaii.
This year, a local USY member was elected to the USY Far West Board as Midbar Community vice president of outreach and engagement. The Midbar USY Community serves Jewish teens across Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Southern Nevada.
Participation numbers fluctuate from year to year and event to event, says Chorny, who notes wryly that she began working with Tucson’s USY in 2020, just in time for the pandemic.
For more information on USY, click here or contact Chorny at [email protected] or 520-745-5550, ext. 227.
Chabad Tucson’s CTeen club is starting its third year. The group, which is open to students in eighth through 12th grades, is coordinated by Rabbi Arik Shemtov.
Events are often held at outside venues such as Top Golf or The Breaking Point, which offers a rage room, an escape room, and more. In the rage room, Shemtov explains, the teens, wearing protective suits, get to shatter glass and other objects. CTeen’s opening event will be held at Roadies on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m.
Other social events include activities such as a honey cake bake with shofar-making, a Hanukkah party, and a trip to Phoenix to attend a basketball game along with teens from Chabad Oro Valley and Phoenix CTeen groups.
Last year, Shemtov taught a class through CTeen U, in which students earned college credits for learning Torah, in partnership with Yeshiva University.
Shemtov estimates some 20-25 teens, “maybe a bit more,” will participate this year in Chabad Tucson’s CTeen events, which are held monthly or more frequently, when Jewish holiday programs warrant extra meetings.
There is an annual CTeen Shabbaton in New York with over 4,000 teens from 60 countries, he says. The weekend features a dedicated subway on Saturday night to take the CTeen kids to Times Square, which is blocked off for the group, with CTeen messages playing on the iconic digital billboards.
Shemtov also occasionally gives presentations at BBYO, and the two organizations clue in their members about the other group’s events.
For more information, click here or contact Shemtov at [email protected] or 520-861-2705 or [email protected].
Chabad of Oro Valley started its CTeen program for the Northwest Tucson area last year with five participants, says Adeli Zimmerman, a member of Chabad of Oro Valley’s leadership team. She is eager to meet more local teens at the CTeen OV kickoff event on Sunday, Aug. 23 at noon, a graffiti party to create a custom sign for the chapter, and throughout the year.
The Oro Valley CTeen club meets monthly, usually on Sunday afternoons. Events have included a MasterChef-style competition, a game truck filled with video games, and an “Escape from Egypt” pre-Passover escape room adventure.
A “Stump the Rabbi” event was so successful – the kids had very good questions, including queries about the afterlife, Zimmerman says – that Chabad of Oro Valley is planning an adult version.
Zimmerman hopes to take local teens to the CTeen International Shabbaton in New York in February 2027. The teens “are spoiled completely” during the Shabbaton, with sightseeing trips around the city, lavish meals, educational sessions, and the Havdalah event in Times Square, which includes a concert, she says.
For more information, click here or contact Zimmerman at [email protected] or 818-793-8082.
Tucson Torah Center’s ChillZone meets weekly from November to March on Sunday afternoons at the Tucson J and caters mostly to younger kids with groups for ages 5-7 and 8-14. But the group’s coordinator, Rabbi Josh Levy, involves older teens as volunteers for events such as a Purim carnival.
Sponsored by a national nonprofit called Oorah, which provides prizes and pizzas, ChillZone includes learning groups with brief “Torah nuggets,” sports and other activities, and a weekly raffle.
For more information, contact Levy at [email protected] or 732-685-6673.
Kol Ami Synagogue doesn’t have an official youth group, but last year, Cantor Jen Benray created the “Shul of Rock” teen band program open to all Jewish teens. Read more about it here.
