The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History will initiate a proactive collecting effort, with support of an advisory board of Jews of Color, to ensure that JoC experiences are meaningfully represented in the Museum, which shares vibrant, varied, and true stories of American Jewish life throughout the nation's history.
2023-2024 Grants
SVARA is leading in-person learning through five immersive yeshiva-style day camps in August 2024 that celebrate queer culture and the radical roots of Jewish traditions. Program content is created and led by JoC teachers to center and celebrate queer JoC perspectives and expand JoC leadership within SVARA's day camps.
The Neshamot/Rainbow Souls Shabbaton: A Retreat of Radiant Belonging — co-led by the JOC Mishpacha Project and Keshet — is a Shabbat weekend retreat for 18+ LGBTQ+ Jews of Color that celebrates and fosters feelings of Jewish joy, authenticity, and community.
JOIN for Justice will train and support the religious leadership of Jews of Color with an original curriculum to enhance success in spiritual leadership journeys and to expand the field of JoC who are rabbis, cantors, and maharats.
JWA is launching a writing fellowship for Jewish Women of Color (JWOC) to support and amplify their voices as thought leaders. The Fellowship will give participants time to focus on their ideas and craft, engage with a peer cohort and professional mentors, and develop their voices and influence.
Through a series of short films and a guided community discussion with the filmmakers, this program, featured at the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (July 18 - August 4, 2024) explores the diverse experiences of Jews of Color related to themes of race, belonging, migration, diaspora, and the transmission of shared culture across barriers of identity.
Hillel at UCLA is taking a crucial step toward better understanding the obstacles that limit access to Jewish life for JoC and to make data-informed shifts to lower barriers to belonging as they support a student leader who will lead the establishment and growth of a Jews of Color affinity group.
Seasons of Our Joy is an 8-episode docuseries featuring Jews of Color in Los Angeles and how they live Jewishly. The docuseries challenges viewers to reconsider what Jewish looks like in LA, and how JoC express their Jewishness in meaningful ways.
Correlate JOC will support at least 25 LA-based JoC through both drop-in and cohort experiences that teach embodied and relational skills. JoCs who participate will strengthen authentic self expression, improve their relationship skills, and learn tools to build bridges among and between JoC and greater Jewish communities.
With the guidance of a JoC facilitator, Recustom seeks to empower a cohort of 10 Los Angeles-based Jews of Color, over a 6-week period, to collaboratively create rituals for the High Holidays, fostering a transformative experience for both the participants and the broader community.
Through a secondary analysis of the 2021 Study of Jewish LA, Jewtina y. Co will develop responsive community programming for the LA Latine Jewish Community and will share their findings to increase awareness and understanding of the Latino-Jewish community in Los Angeles.
Tzedek America's "Building Bridges: A Cohort Program for Jews of Color" seeks to provide a nurturing environment for Jews of Color, particularly in Los Angeles, to explore their unique identities, discuss challenges they face regarding acceptance and belonging, and celebrate the richness of JoC cultural contributions to the Jewish community
Shades of Belonging is a research project dedicated to better understanding the perspectives and lived experiences of Jewish Adoptees of Color. The findings of this study were shared at a community festival featuring various art forms, children's activities, and a research presentation.
Kamochah is launching an in-person B’nei Mitzvah BootCamp and Sunday school program in Los Angeles
The Mizrahi/Arab Jewish Retreat is an immersive five-day experience aimed at addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by Mizrahi and Arab-Jews of Color communities in Los Angeles.
Highlighting a dynamic demographic positioned at the intersection of historically rich and diverse communities, this project will involve interviews with five Black American Jewish artists and creatives every three months, exploring their identities, artistic influences, and contributions to connecting Black and Jewish communities.
Let My People Sing! is building a listening tour project called Songs for the Soul: LMPS Programming by and for JOC, where discussion groups and affinity spaces led by JoC clergy and song leaders will develop musical curriculum.
Jewish Food Society will gather stories, photos, and recipes to highlight JoC intergenerational family food traditions. These stories will be used as content to inspire young JoC students through hands-on culinary workshops on college campuses.
Embrace Harlem is developing a youth multimedia learning program called “Shabbat Stories” that focuses on expanding understandings of Jewish identity through community storytelling.
This initiative celebrates Ethiopian Jewish heritage by providing a platform for Ethiopian women to share their stories through cooking, thus preserving their traditions and history.
"Threads of Tradition" is an innovative oral history project designed to showcase the diverse narratives of Jews of Color (JoC) in the Midwest. Focused on identity, community involvement, and the experiences of being part of predominantly white Jewish and Midwestern communities, the project plans to document the stories of 20 JoC individuals spanning various ages—from youth to seniors—through intimate interviews.
"Colorful Stories in Jewish History" is a series of short, illustrated animated videos that explore the cultural narratives and identities of Jews of Color (JoC).
Building on years of relationship-building with Latin Jewish families in the Bay Area, Olamim aims to formalize its Chavurah into the "Olamim Family School," offering a year-round bilingual Jewish learning experience for 8–12 Latin Jewish families with young children.
The project intends to foster intergenerational connections and preserve diverse Asian Jewish cultural identity through multimedia collaborations, with a focus on outreach to Asian Jewish elders aged 60+. The initiative plans to host 8–10 virtual and in-person Jewish learning programs and develop 5 new Asian Jewish ritual materials.
KHAZBAR cultivates an intergenerational JOCISM cohort through gatherings of artists, scholars, writers, and composer-musicians, both online and in-person, to nurture collaborative projects that will contribute to the inaugural edition of GERSHOM: A JOCISM peer-reviewed journal.
Through online gatherings, sharing oral histories, and creating an online art installation, the Connections project documents JoC rituals and traditions for spiritual resilience.
JYCA fosters connections between Jewish youth of color and older JOC with youth/elder mentorship, virtual and in-person intergenerational workshops with a focus on social action and community change.
By centering Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Jewish Families of Color's culinary traditions, the project seeks to uplift diverse stories and highlight the power of cultural traditions. Through two multigenerational cooking programs, participants will engage in personal storytelling and receive take-home recipe kits.
The Braid is producing five short cooking and storytelling videos featuring intergenerational pairings of Jews of Color. In each video, each pair will showcase cherished Jewish recipes alongside memories and narratives intertwined with cultural traditions and heritage.
A Sister's Village Inc. is running a series of events for JoC families with young children in the Delaware/Philadelphia-area to cultivate cultural preservation, intergenerational connections, artistic expression, and community building.
Through the “Our Journey Towards Healing” initiative, 3W Consulting aims to empower Jews of Color and BIPOC individuals by equipping them with tools for self-care and spiritual resources. Through a comprehensive curriculum and series of sessions, participants will explore the relationship between antisemitism and racism, connect with one another in virtual healing spaces where Jewishness and other identities coexist meaningfully, and gain resources needed to support thriving leadership roles.
By channeling a variety of Jewish spiritual musical practices, from wordless melodies to piyyutim to potent songs of healing, Queer Nigun Project aims to cultivate a vibrant network of queer and multiracial Jews sharing, exploring, reclaiming, and creating musical traditions.
Thirty percent of participants in cohort 2 of Kumi: An Anti-Oppression Teen Leadership Program will participate in the JoC Empowerment Track, which provides a space for Jewish teens to explore and honor their racial identities.
Black and Jewish Leaders of Tomorrow (BJLT) will convene a cohort of 50 Black and/or Jewish college students in a dynamic leadership forum in Atlanta, Georgia in April 2024. In partnership with regional Hillels and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), this project aims to understand and address the experiences and needs of young adult Jews of Color in the Southern U.S. region.
A Sister’s Village Inc. is establishing an inclusive and educational space for Jews of Color and their families to celebrate, deepen, and preserve intergenerational relationships, knowledge, and cultural traditions.
JoCI funding is supporting professional development for the Director of Equity, Inclusion & Justice at Camp Tawonga.