JPro25: JoC Affinity Group
2025-05-05 15:30 - 16:15 (America/New_York)
Join JoCI leadership today for a JoC Affinity Group before the opening plenary taking place in Johnson A. at 3:30pm-4:15pm ET.
Learn more and register for JPro: https://jpro25.org/registration/

JPro25: Find JoCI at Dinner and MVP Appreciation Party
2025-05-06 18:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
We invite you to join us this evening in attending the Dinner and MVP Appreciation Party in Eutaw Street Tent from 6:30-9pm ET!

Learn more and register for JPro: https://jpro25.org/registration/

JPro25: JoC Breakfast
2025-05-07 07:30 - 08:30 (America/New_York)
Kick off the final day of this year’s JPro experience with JoC connection and joy. Join the JoCI Team for a JoC Breakfast in Holiday 2 at 7:30-8:30am.

Learn more and register for JPro: https://jpro25.org/registration/

Jewish Community Relations and Multiracial Coalitions: Strategies for a Secure Future
2025-05-14 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
As Jewish communities confront escalating threats and deepening societal divisions, how can we forge powerful, multiracial coalitions to secure a resilient future for all? Join us on May 14th for a critical discussion featuring Ilana Kaufman, Founder and CEO of the Jews of Color Initiative, and Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Together, they will examine how strategic partnerships and diverse Jewish leadership can strengthen Jewish safety, solidarity, and civic engagement.
Moderated by Christina Jefferson, JoCI Board Chair, Repair the World and JCRC Bay Area Board Member, and Sr. Director of Inclusion and Culture at the San Francisco Forty Niners, this session will provide actionable insights on how Jewish community organizations working in community relations spaces can build powerful coalitions, elevate diverse leadership, and advocate effectively for the security and future of our communities in the face of rising antisemitism and broader hate.
Click the button below to register today and be part of this transformative dialogue on leadership, solidarity, and coalition-building.

Bay Area Happy Hour and Juneteenth Shabbat
2025-06-20 17:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Celebrate Juneteenth in San Francisco with the Bay Area Pro Network and a local congregation for their Juneteenth Shabbat on Friday, June 20! We’ll convene our Bay Area Pro Net community for social hour (JoCI will provide appetizers and one drink) at a nearby restaurant and then walk over together for Shabbat services. Join us for this special service at an historic synagogue as our CEO Ilana Kaufman gives a moving midrash during the service.

Freedom of Expression Award: Daveed Diggs in Conversation with Ilana Kaufman at SFJFF
2025-07-31 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Piedmont Theatre, Oakland
Join the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival for a special evening honoring award-winning performer Daveed Diggs with the 2025 Freedom of Expression Award. The event will include a screening of Magic Hour and a live conversation between Diggs and Ilana Kaufman, CEO of the Jews of Color Initiative. Together, they’ll explore themes of identity, justice, and creativity in Diggs’s wide-ranging work.
This is a unique opportunity to hear from two bold voices shaping the cultural landscape today.
**If you are part of our Bay Area Pro Network, please check your email for a special ticket offer! For all other community members, click the button below to buy tickets now!

LA Pro Network: CommUNITY Chats
2025-08-13 18:00 - 20:15 (America/Los_Angeles)
To reignite the LA JoC Professional Network, the Jews of Color Initiative is hosting CommUNITY Chats—a TEDx-inspired event with an opportunity for five participants to lead a segment of the session through storytelling, skill-building, and discussion. Guided by the question “How might we build…?”, each volunteer participant will reflect through one of the following lenses: community, spirituality, Jewish life, leadership, resilience, or hope.
The evening will begin with food, drinks, and informal connection, followed by an hour of CommUNITY Chats presentations and community updates. All JoC adults (21+) in the LA area are warmly invited to join this unique gathering!

NY Pro Network: CommUNITY Chats
2025-08-28 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join the New York JoC Professional Network for CommUNITY Chats: New York, a TEDx-inspired evening of storytelling, reflection, and shared learning taking place on Thursday, August 28th from 6-8 pm ET.
In this interactive event, volunteer JoC leaders from our New York Professional Network will guide us through a storytelling and skill-building showcase shaped by the guiding question: “How might we build…?”
Each speaker will explore this question through the lens of one of the following themes: Community, Spirituality, Jewish Life, Leadership, Resilience, or Hope—offering insights grounded in their lived experience.
Together, we’ll learn from our community members’ stories and wisdom, and build connections as we reflect on what it means to grow and thrive as a multiracial Jewish community.

2025-2026 Grantmaking Webinar
2025-09-18 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join us on September 18th for an informational webinar to launch our 2025-2026 grantmaking cycle. In this webinar, Program Officer Sarah Starks will discuss this year’s funding opportunity, our grantmaking strategy, and how to apply for grants.

POSTPONED: Bay Area CommUNITY Chats
2025-10-09 18:00 - 20:15 (America/Los_Angeles)
This Bay Area Pro Network event has been postponed. Keep your eye out for emails about our next Bay Area events.
Don’t yet receive JoCI emails? Subscribe now.

LA Pro Network: Teshuvah and Change with Jordan Daniels
2025-11-05 18:00 - 20:15 (America/Los_Angeles)
On the heels of the High Holidays, change is still in the air. We’re in the season of harvesting, growth, and new beginnings. What does Jewish wisdom teach us about change? How can the process of Teshuvah lead to powerful growth in our communities and leadership? Join our Assistant Director of Programs, Jordan Daniels, as we harness the themes of the season to expand our capacities for change making within ourselves and for those we serve.

D.C. Pro Network: The Great D.C. Kickoff
2025-11-07 16:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York)
Join the Jews of Color Initiative’s first-ever D.C. JoC Professional Network and discover a new opportunity to cultivate personal and professional relationships, as well as leadership skills, with JoCs in the region.

We’ll use this first session to share and understand visions for this group and dream up what we want to build together.

Registration closes on Tuesday, November 4th at 5pm ET!*

NY Pro Network: A JoC Lens on Identity, Purpose, and Power
2025-11-13 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us for an engaging panel discussion and interactive mini-workshop exploring leadership, identity, purpose, and power through the lens of JoC leadership. Hear from Dr. Imani Chapman, founder and director of imani strategies, Maryam Chisti, Co-Executive Director of LUNAR; and Arya Marvazy, Senior Director of Programming at JoCI, as they share personal stories and leadership journeys. Together, we’ll explore how identity shapes leadership, and how you can harness your own purpose and power to lead with intention and impact.
About the Facilitators:

Dr. Imani Romney-Rosa Chapman, the founder and director of imani strategies, llc, is a powerful, dynamic, faith-filled, compassionate, change leader for equity. She has more than 30 years of experience developing curriculum, organizing, and educating for social justice. As her name suggests, Imani/Emunah [faith], her faith drives her to co-create brave and inclusive environments for learning, growth and justice.
Maryam Chishti is the Co-Executive Director of The LUNAR Collective. She is interfaith, with an Indian/Muslim father and Jewish American mother who raised her in both religions and cultures. Maryam is a graduate of the Ruskay Institute of Jewish Professional Leadership and the Jews of Color Initiative’s inaugural Leadership Fellowship.
Arya Marvazy is the Senior Director of Programs at the Jews of Color Initiative. A proud queer Jew, Arya is deeply committed to empowering diverse Jewish identities, fostering equitable communities, and creating inclusive pathways for a thriving Jewish future. His dedication extends beyond his professional work—he has also served as a lay leader with organizations such as JDC Entwine, JPro, AJC, Schusterman’s ROI community, and more.

JoCI Listening Tour: LOS ANGELES
2025-11-18 17:00 - 18:45 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Jews of Color Initiative’s CEO, Ilana Kaufman, is visiting communities across the country for an interactive Listening Tour to engage in open dialogue with local leaders, grantees, partners, and community members. Through these conversations, JoCI aims to listen deeply, learn from local experiences, and shape the next chapter of our work together.
Join us for dinner and be part of the LA conversation around Jews of Color in the United States on Tuesday, November 18 at IKAR’s mid-city office space (address and parking will be sent to confirmed registrants).
After the event, we invite you to join our team at IKAR for their event with Rabbi Sharon Brous and Jewish Studio Project’s Rabbi Adina Allen for a night of creativity!
Registration closes at 5pm PT on Thursday, November 13th
Learn more about the JoCI Listening Tour.

JoCI Listening Tour: SAN DIEGO
2025-11-20 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Jews of Color Initiative’s CEO, Ilana Kaufman, is visiting communities across the country for an interactive Listening Tour to engage in open dialogue with local leaders, grantees, partners, and community members. Through these conversations, JoCI aims to to listen deeply, learn from local experiences, and shape the next chapter of our work together.
Join us and be part of the conversation around Jews of Color in the United States on Thursday, November 20 from 5-6:30PM in San Diego. Location will be shared with confirmed registrants.
Email programs@thejoci.org to register!
Registration closes 5pm PT on Monday, November 17
Learn more about the Listening Tour

The JoC Bay Area Pro Network Attends Rabbi Angela Buchdahl "Heart of A Stranger"
2025-12-03 17:30 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join the Bay Area JoC Pro Network community and the JoCI team for a gathering with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the first East-Asian American rabbi and first woman congregational leader of Central Synagogue in NYC! We’ll begin with a brief JoC reception before the event at Temple Emanu-El in Presidio Heights to listen to Rabbi Angela discuss her new memoir, “Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging,” with Emanu-El’s Senior Rabbi, Ryan Bauer.

The first 20 registrations will receive free tickets to the book discussion, which include’s a copy of the Rabbi’s new book, covered by the JoCI! Additional ticket purchases through our Bay Area Pro Network may use a discount code, which will be provided to confirmed registrants.

JoCI Listening Tour: PORTLAND, OR
2025-12-11 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Jews of Color Initiative’s CEO, Ilana Kaufman, is visiting communities across the country for an interactive Listening Tour to engage in open dialogue with local leaders, grantees, partners, and community members. Through these conversations, JoCI aims to to listen deeply, learn from local experiences, and shape the next chapter of our work together.
Join us and be part of the conversation around Jews of Color in the United States on Thursday December 11 from 5-6:30PM in Portland, OR. Location will be shared with confirmed registrants.
Email programs@thejoci.org to register!
Learn more about the Listening Tour
