Meet our Executive Director,
Ilana Kaufman
Ilana’s work sits at the center of Jewish Community, Racial Equity and Justice, is anchored by the voices and experience of Jews of Color, and is focused on grant making, research and field building, and community education.
As a guest on NPR’s All Things Considered and Code Switch, with pieces featured in eJewish Philanthropy and The Foundation Review, and an Eli Talk titled Who Counts, Race and the Jewish Future with 16,000 views, Ilana is passionate about all things at the intersection of Jewish Community/Racial Justice/Jews of Color/Education/Philanthropy.
Prior to joining the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative Ilana was the Public Affairs and Civic Engagement Director, East Bay for the San Francisco, Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council.
Ilana, a Senior Schusterman Fellow who is always searching Jewish Text for discussion of equity and justice received her B.A. in Sociology from California State University-Humboldt, and her M.A. in Educational Pedagogy from Mills College.
Meet our Director of Programs & Operations, Angel Alvarez-Mapp
Angel is the Program Manager of the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative. Prior to joining the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative Angel was CEO of Hello Mazel, a quarterly subscription box of unique, hand-picked Jew-ish stuff. Angel is a seasoned nonprofit professional with extensive experience in the development of comprehensive strategic plans, capital campaigns, and communication/marketing plans. He has provided strong leadership and strategic direction to organizations for more than a decade.
Angel studied business administration at St. Mary’s College of California and graphic design at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco.
Meet our Grants Program Manager,
Riki Robinson
Riki is the Grants Program Manager of the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative. Prior to joining, she was a Food Justice Fellow with Repair the World in Brooklyn where she learned about urban farming, food pantries, and SNAP benefits along with a Jewish lens to community engagement. She also has a background working in Asian American Pacific Islander organizations as well as immigration justice groups.
Riki is rooted in the theory and praxis of Ethnic Studies that research should be generated by and for community relevance. She received her B.A. in Asian American Studies and Sociology from Pitzer College.
Meet our Grant Advisory Group
The Grant Advisory Group’s contributions of time and knowledge allow them to ensure a fair and thoughtful decision-making process for grant awards, further develop leadership skills, and strengthen the Jews of Color field through their work. Together with staff, the group reviews grant applications and makes funding recommendations.
Danielle Natelson
Danielle has spent more than a decade working at the intersection of leadership and learning across the Jewish communal landscape, most currently as the Design Strategist at UpStart in Los Angeles. For six years, Danielle cultivated relationships with students, community partners, and stakeholders at Hillel at UCLA, resulting in the engagement of nearly 2000 Jewish students annually. There, she piloted a new strategy for training leaders, launched pluralistic Jewish learning environments, and scaled immersive experiences to reach broad audiences. Additionally, Danielle has leveraged her passion for music and Israeli dance to enrich Jewish communities through the arts in her work with Camp Ramah, the Bureau of Jewish Education, and synagogues and Jewish day schools in Orange County.
Danielle’s intersectional identity has positioned her to contribute to efforts of diversity, equity and inclusion in the Jewish community, earning her a selection in the second cohort of Bend the Arc’s Selah Leadership Program for Jews of Color. An alumna of UC Berkeley, Hebrew University, Pardes, and other fellowships, Danielle is a proud learner and relishes opportunities to immerse in our rich tradition.
Amanda Ryan
Amanda Ryan joined the Tri-Faith Initiative in January 2019, serving as a Program Director. While obtaining her Religious Studies degree at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, she interned with a local interfaith nonprofit, Project Interfaith, which sparked her passion for interfaith work. She is currently a Sociology MA Candidate at UNO, completing her degree in 2019. Her research interests include religion in public life and politics, human rights, race and religion, and social change. Presently, she is working on a research project about Latino Jewish identity and code-switching, as well as writing podcast reviews for the Religious Studies Project.
In 2018, Amanda was selected to be a Jew v’Nation Fellow for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). The fellowship brought together 16 non-white Jewish professionals to grow community, engage in professional development, and create change for the larger Reform community. As a result, Amanda and three other fellows are creating professional development trainings for URJ-affiliated synagogues centered on the importance of culturally-responsive curriculum and teaching within synagogues. Amanda has given presentations on religious diversity acceptance in Omaha, participated on panels about young professional spirituality, and has provided research assistance to local UU congregations. Amanda is a member of the American Academy of Religions, chair of Young Jewish Omaha, and serves on the Omaha Public Schools Board of Education through 2020.
Yoshi Silverstein
Yoshi is a Chinese-Ashkenazi-American Jew and an educator, coach, speaker, husband, and father. At present he is Director of the JOFEE Fellowship at Hazon, the Jewish Lab for Sustainability; and founder of Mitsui Collective, which builds individual and communal resiliency through movement, wellness, and nature connection practices through a Jewish lens. Yoshi holds close to two decades of experience in both Jewish and secular outdoor, food, farming, and environmental education; and earned his Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland with a thesis focusing on landscape journey and experience in Jewish outdoor learning environments. He has been a cast member of Kaleidoscope Project’s “What Does Jewish Look Like to You” monologue series and an ELI Talks speaker; and is an alumnus of Selah (Cohort 14, Jewish Leaders of Color), the Dorot Fellowship, and the PresenTense NYC Accelerator for Social Entrepreneurship.
Yoshi holds certificates in Spiritual Entrepreneurship (from Columbia Business School through GLEAN Network), permaculture design, ecovillage design, and environmental education. He is a member of the Selah Advisory Council, and is a founding member of the Repair the World NYC Advisory Board and the UpStart Alumni Advisory Council. Yoshi is also a CrossFit coach and movement teacher, 2nd degree blackbelt, and aficionado of Chinese Roast Duck.
