Leader Feature: Ziggy Valdez and the Power of a Thriving Field
Joining JoCI’s LA Professional Network only strengthened Valdez’s newfound learning experiences and community. Unlike some professional networking groups, the JoCI Pro Network welcomes participants across the spectrum of professional experience—from those who have worked in Jewish communal spaces for decades, like Valdez, to those who are brand new to the field. For Valdez, it is a space to both grow professionally and find deeper community as they build their own Jewish adult life in Southern California.
Kumi Prepares Teens to Address Antisemitism and Build Belonging
At a moment when Jewish teens are navigating rising antisemitism alongside broader conversations about race and justice, Moving Traditions, a JoCI grantee, is asking a deeper question: What could it look like to address antisemitism in ways that reflect the multiracial reality of the Jewish community?
How Mitsui Collective Uses Embodiment to Address Antisemitism
For Mitsui Collective, this work is part of a broader vision of communal healing that is rooted in the human capacity to attune to our bodies and inner worlds. “We already have so much of what we actually need to better navigate and heal from and transform how we relate to these oppressive ideologies and ultimately to ourselves and each other,” Silverstein said.
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on Leadership, Belonging, and Building Community
“I’m not sure that we fully appreciate the impact of someone just seeing us and saying ‘you belong, you can do this, you can lead.’” For Rabbi Buchdahl, such affirmation was especially powerful because leadership felt distant without visible role models.
Launching Our Listening Tour: Ilana Kaufman Sets Out to Hear Community Voices
As CEO of the Jews of Color Initiative, Ilana Kaufman will soon meet with and learn from communities across the country during JoCI’s first-ever nationwide Listening Tour. In advance, she’s diving deep into the art of listening, building on her countless conversations since JoCI’s founding in 2017 with Jews of Color, communal leaders, and people who simply want Jewish life to reflect their full identities.
Raíces y Redes: Where Roots Deepen and Networks Grow
At a time when both Jewish and Latino communities are grappling with fear, grief, and misinformation, Raíces y Redes offers a model rooted in empathy, curiosity, and shared humanity. “There needs to be a collective reckoning that yes, we are experiencing an emergency—and there’s also another community in front of us experiencing an emergency right now. No emergency is more important than another.”
LUNAR Horizons: Asian Jewish Fellows Building Local Coalitions
The Horizons project, created by the LUNAR Collective, emerged from a vision to place Asian Jews at the center of bridge building between Jewish and Asian American communities. Through Horizons, Asian Jewish leaders are expanding the scope of what it means to respond to antisemitism and modeling a future where coalition and curiosity replace isolation and fear.
Connection That Fuels Leadership: Veronica Andersen’s Journey Through the Pro Network
Over the last couple of years, Veronica Andersen has drawn strength from the Pro Net community, deepening her connection to Judaism after the isolating years of the pandemic and the passing of her mother. The LA Pro Net became more than just a social space—it was a catalyst for spiritual reconnection and a path toward leadership in Jewish life.
Q&A: Designing a Cohort Experience for JoCI Grantees Addressing Antisemitism
“We knew that these projects would be most powerful if the leaders had a chance to learn from one another along the way. Rather than funding each grantee separately, we wanted to build in structures for peer support and thought partnership. JoCI is deeply invested in the cohort model as a means for leadership growth, so we developed a cohort curriculum that would serve our grantees and their projects.”
How the Crown Heights Birth Justice Project is Building Coalitions and Addressing Antisemitism
The Crown Heights Birth Justice Project is bringing diverse populations together to build bridges by supporting each others’ health journeys during pregnancy and postpartum. In doing so, the project establishes a setting for authentic connections rooted in shared experiences that can inform how the Jewish community approaches building coalitions—an essential tool needed to address antisemitism.