Grantmaking Priorities
Building the Movement
Chanukkah Black Lives Matter Action, Brookline, MA 2014
Photo Credit: Jordyn Rozensky
Image Description: Four light-skinned people, two adults, one adolescent, and one child, hold a sign with a menorah on it that reads: “Jews say Black Lives Matter”. They all have serious expressions on their faces. They are outside, in a crowd, at night. A police officer in reflective gear stands nearby. It is winter, and everyone is wearing hats and scarves.
We are interested in supporting people and groups who are building powerful movements of Jews and allies; organizations & projects building people power and taking action to transform our communities, institutions, and societies to be more whole, more just, and more equitable. We are interested in grassroots movement building work, in strengthening the social safety net; in transforming broken institutions and systems that do harm to vulnerable communities; in confronting systems and structures of oppression, dismantling racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia; and working with courage and resilience to build movements across lines of difference.
Sustaining the Movement
Photo Credit: Jordyn Rozensky
Image Description: Chanukkah Black Lives Matter protest, Brookline, MA, 2015. Two people are visible in a crowd. A lit menorah is out of focus in the foreground. Ida Asseffa, a black young adult woman, is in the foreground, her face lit by the glowing light of the menorah. In the background, in focus, is Rabbi Victor Reinstein, a middle age man, with salt & pepper hair, wire-rimmed glasses, and a kippah.
We know that action - even winning actions - are not enough to sustain a movement. Movements are sustained - are fed - when we create room for the whole people who populate our movements. We are interested in investing in the spiritual initiatives, cultural creators, music-makers, and artists that are sustaining our movements; providing nourishment for the soul; offering spirit medicine; resurrecting lost ancestral wisdom; and offering transformative, embodied, resonant spiritual practices for our times.