Connect with like-minded people!
JCC Denver’s Adult Programs is the hub for premiere socialization, recreational, and cultural programs for adults of all ages and abilities in the greater Denver community.
Young Adult
Build your community.
Young Adult programming at JCC Denver is here to provide opportunities for adults between 22 and 45 to explore interests, make new connections, and build community through shared experiences.
We want to hear from you! What Young Adult focused programming do you want to see at the JCC? Take a few minutes and let us know your thoughts. If a meeting or a phone call is more your style, reach out to our Young Adult Program Manager, Daniel Siegel at dsiegel@jccdenver.org or 303.316.6418
Take the JCC Denver Young Adult Interest Survey: Take Now!
________________________________
Young Adult Programs
How to “Adult” Series
How to “Adult” is a series of events focused on providing opportunities to learn how to do those things that we all wished someone had taught us! Each session is taught by an expert in the field. Class sizes are limited to keep the experience as hands-on as possible. Make new connections and learn how to “adult” in a welcoming and safe environment.
Upcoming Sessions:
How to “Adult”: Understanding Personal Taxes with Adam Laarsen, CPA
January 19, 2022
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Location: Wolf Room
Cost: FREE
Nothing feels quite as daunting and “adult” as filing your taxes. It can be intimidating and confusing! For the first installment of How to “Adult” we brought in an expert to help us understand the basics of personal taxes. Just in time for tax season! We promise it will be more entertaining than trying to learn it all on YouTube. Schmoozing after the event is optional, but highly encouraged! Beverages and light snacks are provided.
About Our “Adulting” Expert: Adam Laarsen
Adam has been living in Colorado since 1992 and continues to love everything this state and the Jewish community has to offer. A CPA since 2013, he has been practicing accounting since 2008 and recently started his own firm. Adam graduated from Metropolitan State University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Adam loves live music (anything loud and fast), reading (mainly science fiction and economics), golfing (badly), and other more off-the-beaten-path activities.
How to “Adult”: Greening Up Your Living Space with EKAR Farm
February 16, 2022
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Location: Perlmutter Room
Cost: $30 Member / $35 Non-Member
Adulting isn’t all paperwork and hard decisions, it’s also creating fun in your self-determined life! Not only is having plants in your living space fun, having plants in your living space also helps reduce your stress and improve your mood. Moving into a new place and want to green it up a bit? Maybe you’ve had a plant, but never seemed to keep it alive very long? Or maybe you have a couple of plants and want to learn how to make them flourish? Join us as our adulating experts teach us how to maintain healthy plants indoors. Each participant will take home a plant of their own!
About Our “Adulting” Expert: EKAR Farm
Ekar Farm is an organic community farm located near Alameda and Monaco.
From Ekar’s “Most Important Things”: Ekar Farm connects people to community, and community to the earth. We grow sustainably produced fruits and vegetables so that all who are hungry can come and eat. We nourish body, heart, mind and spirit on an urban farm in Denver, Colorado that serves as a commons on which to repair the food system, and the environment. Rooted in the Jewish vision of creating a more environmentally sustainable, socially just, and spiritually connected world, we believe these values and these tasks are EKAR, “the most important things.”
________________________________
Get Outdoors with the JCC Denver
Colorado is a state full of adventures! Get outdoors and join other young adults in exploring what the state has to offer. An experienced staff member or professional guides lead outdoor experiences with the JCC Denver. Activities will be available for all skill levels to feel welcomed!
Upcoming Events
High Ropes Course Experience
Come climb around for a day on the high ropes course at JCC Ranch Camp in Elbert, CO. The high ropes course includes climbing walls, traverses, and a zip line! Transportation, kosher dairy lunch, equipment, and facilitation are all included! Make sure to be prepared to be outdoors all day rain or shine! Bring appropriate closed-toed shoes and a water bottle.
Sunday, April 24, 2022
More details to come.
________________________________
Adult Programs Around the J
________________________________
The “Tight Five”: Standup Comedy Writing for Grown-Ups
Age: 18+
Member $160; Guest $200
Have your friends and family constantly been telling you how funny you are? Or that you should take your dad-jokes on the road? Or that your particular brand of comedy is destined for greatness? Or…the opposite?
Well, here’s your chance to prove everyone wrong (or right)! This class will lead participants through guided comedy writing sessions, led by JCC Mizel Arts and Culture Center General Manager Rich Cowden and weekly special guests, and culminate in each wannabee comic performing a “tight five” minute standup set at the Elaine Wolf Theatre in front of those same friends and family. All proceeds from the night of standup will go directly to scholarships for young people to attend Wolf Theatre Academy classes and productions, so you can feel confident that even if you bomb, you’re bombing for the cause!
Rehearsals: Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, March 3 – April 14
Performance: Thursday, April 21
________________________________
The “Tight Five”: Standup Comedy Writing for Grown-Ups
Age: 18+
Member $160; Guest $200
Have your friends and family constantly been telling you how funny you are? Or that you should take your dad-jokes on the road? Or that your particular brand of comedy is destined for greatness? Or…the opposite?
Well, here’s your chance to prove everyone wrong (or right)! This class will lead participants through guided comedy writing sessions, led by JCC Mizel Arts and Culture Center General Manager Rich Cowden and weekly special guests, and culminate in each wannabee comic performing a “tight five” minute standup set at the Elaine Wolf Theatre in front of those same friends and family. All proceeds from the night of standup will go directly to scholarships for young people to attend Wolf Theatre Academy classes and productions, so you can feel confident that even if you bomb, you’re bombing for the cause!
Rehearsals: Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, March 3 – April 14
Performance: Thursday, April 21
Pivot Policy: JCC Denver programming staff is doing everything possible to maintain the level of programming that you’ve come to expect while maintaining the safety of our community members and staff. As such, our staff reserves the right to pivot any in-person programming to a virtual, or another alternate, platform. If this should happen, staff will notify all participants via email, add a notice on the website, and signage whenever appropriate.
________________________________
Beginning Mahjong
We are excited to offer this 6-part series, ‘Beginning American Mahjong’ class supported by JEWISHColorado, where you’ll learn new skills alongside peers and friends. This class includes learning the tiles, reading the National Mahjongg League card, doing the Charleston, selecting a hand, and playing the game to obtain a 14-tile hand from the NML card. By the end of the 6 classes, you’ll be able to play either online or in-person, or both. We encourage members of the class to form groups to continue playing to perfect their abilities. We also host recreation time on Tuesdays in the Mizel reception room from 12:30 – 4:30 pm so you can shift into playing your games after this class. For questions reach out to Rachel Seiger at rseiger@jccdenver.org
Instructor: Barb Trotsky
DATES & TIMES:
Tuesdays, February 8 – March 15
12:30 -3:00 pm
LOCATION:
The Social Hall at the JCC Denver
COST: 6 Sessions
Tier 1: $55
Tier 2: $70
Tier 3: $85
Full Price: $100
Plus material purchase of Mahjong card, through the instructor: $10
________________________________
Storying Your Life: The Stories that Sustain Us
Come enter the world of Storying Your Life. This six-part series, supported by JEWISHColorado, opens you to share stories of your names, great stories from your life, family tales, tools for preserving stories, and let you share one of your stories with JCC friends!
Instructor: Cherie Karo Schwartz
DATES & TIMES:
Wednesdays, February 9 – March 16
1:00 – 2:00 pm
LOCATION:
The Mizel Reception Room at the JCC Denver
COST: 6 Sessions
Tier 1: $55
Tier 2: $70
Tier 3: $85
Full Price: $100
________________________________
Arts & Culture Series
In partnership with Kavod on the Road
Join us for our monthly sessions as we collectively explore Jewish creativity, dive into stimulating sensory experiences, and enjoy the art of play!
DATES, TIMES, & TOPICS:
Wednesday, January 19, 1:00 pm
Jane Hillson Aiello – VIRTUAL EVENT
Local author Jane Hillson Aiello will offer a poetry talk and hands-on workshop to get your creative juices flowing!
Art in Hand, sponsored by the Denver Art Museum
Thanks to the Denver Art Museum, we will explore the art of Monet through their Art in Hand custom boxes. Each participant will receive a “Nature as Muse” box and together we will learn and create waterlily suncatchers. All materials will be provided and no artistic talent is required. This is an opportunity to be creative and have fun! Please register as soon as possible so we can secure enough boxes.
DATES & TIMES:
Wednesday, February 16, 10:30 – 11:30 am
LOCATION:
The Mizel Reception Room at the JCC Denver, unless otherwise noted
COST:
Members: Free; Guests: Free
________________________________
Senior Lunches
In partnership with Jewish Family Service
JCC Denver hosts weekly Senior lunches in partnership with Jewish Family Services. This is an opportunity to eat a nutritious kosher meal, socialize with friends, meet new people and enjoy being active at the J. To be as safe as possible, we are requiring masks in all common areas when you are not eating or drinking. If you’d prefer a grab-and-go meal option, those are also available. For more information, you can reach Rachel B. Seiger at rseiger@jccdenver.org. See you soon!
DATES & TIMES:
Tuesdays – Fridays from 11:30 am — 12:30 pm
LOCATION:
Lunches will be offered as “Grab-n-Go” in the Mizel Arts & Culture Center parking lot until further notice
COST:
Donation Based
________________________________
Mahjong & Poker
The JCC is happy to offer Recreational space for new and existing players. Be sure to bring your mahj and poker sets. We’ll provide the space and tables!
DATES & TIMES:
Tuesdays from 12:30 — 4:30 pm
LOCATION:
The Mizel Reception Room at the JCC Denver
COST:
Members: Free; Guests: Free
________________________________
Current Events & Schmooze
Led by community members, Current Events & Schmooze is a weekly, informal gathering where folks gather to engage in relevant, timely discussions on books, politics, climate change, music and so much more. All political backgrounds are welcome. Come join us and schmooze with folks during and after. Coffee included! When we have a presenter, the gathering shifts to a presentation, with a talk-back to follow.
*Have a fun topic or passionate project you’d like to present to the group? If you are interested in speaking at Current Events, please contact Rachel Seiger at rseiger@jccdenver.org to learn more.
DATES & TIMES:
Fridays from 10:00 — 11:30 am
LOCATION:
The Mizel Reception Room at the JCC Denver
COST:
Members: Free; Guests: Free
________________________________
