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.
Investing in Leadership: Rishona Thrasher’s Experience with the Spertus Certificate Program
For other Jews of Color considering professional development opportunities, Thrasher encourages stepping forward. “These opportunities aren’t closed off to us. We’re part of the Jewish community, and access to these programs is also ours.”
Keeping Optimism Alive: Kai Mishlove Reflects on Her Leadership Journey
One of two new members on the Jews of Color Initiative’s Board, Kai Mishlove brings decades of experience in Jewish communal leadership, advocacy, and coalition-building. With a career spanning social services, mental health, and community engagement, Mishlove has fostered inclusion, empowered marginalized voices, and created spaces where diverse perspectives thrive.
Multiracial Coalitions in a Polarized Environment: Strategies from Community Relations Professionals
Kaufman and Spitalnik identified three key strategies that will enable the Jewish community to better tend to the multiracial, multifaith coalitions that have been integral to Jewish safety and security throughout American history.
The Jewpanese Project Connects a National and Global Community
Through archiving oral histories, Tanaka has noted some national trends, including shifts in intermarriage, reasons and dates of immigration to the U.S., intergenerational trauma, and relationships to whiteness and assimilation. “There’s so much to unpack, but everyone has a story rooted in political history,” Tanaka said.