Combating Antisemitism & Jewish Professional Wellness Grants

Combating Antisemitism and Jewish Professional Wellness Grants are offered by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties to support local organizations fighting diverse forms of antisemitism and boosting the wellbeing of Jewish professionals.

The Federation allocated $670,000 to 26 organizations for combating antisemitism initiatives and $60,000 to 14 organizations for Jewish professional wellness mini-grants.

Eligible applicants for the antisemitism grants are local organizations focused on programs that promote allyship, advocacy, and education among Jewish and non-Jewish audiences, support grassroots community groups, and equip educators to address antisemitism in schools and civic spaces.

Earlier this year, with the Jewish community facing an alarming rise in antisemitism and Jewish professionals holding so much for the communities they serve, the Federation launched grant initiatives to help with these issues.

We awarded two types of grants —**Combating Antisemitism Grants** (to support local organizations fighting diverse manifestations of antisemitism) and **Jewish Professional Wellness Mini Grants** (to help local Jewish organizations boost their professionals’ physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing). We allocated $670K in grants to 26 organizations to combat antisemitism, and $60K to 14 organizations to improve employee wellness.

The Federation is humbled to be a part of the work being done by this year’s grantees to build a safer, more resilient, and thriving Jewish community. > We were deeply impressed by the vision and creativity of the applicants. Jewish organizations and professionals are navigating a challenging moment, and the work they do has never been more vital.

We’re proud to invest in this group of grantee partners as they fight antisemitism and care for the talented professionals who make our community thrive.

> — Amanda Cohen, Director, Community Partnerships and Grantmaking #### 2024 Combating Antisemitism Grantees Our **Combating Antisemitism Grantees** are focusing on programs that promote allyship, advocacy, and education among Jewish and non-Jewish audiences, power grassroots community groups in schools and civic spaces, and equip educators to support their students.

**Bay Area Jewish Coalition, Marin Jewish Parents and Allies Union, PAUSD Jewish Grassroots, San Mateo Jewish Parents and Allies Union, and SF Jews in Schools** — Supporting the work of grassroots groups addressing unprecedented antisemitism in K-12 schools and communities, as well as their proactive prevention and community building efforts.

**Bernard Osher Marin Jewish Community Center** — Elevating community and employee education around antisemitism, bringing in experts for monthly community programs and special sessions for JCC staff, equipping them with the tools to be ambassadors for the Jewish community.

**Chabad at Stanford** — Convening lectures at Stanford with distinguished scholars to confront the challenges of antisemitism, offering both intellectual depth and practical strategies for action. **Chochmat HaLev** — Expanding monthly HeartSpace series by bringing in diverse voices to foster bridge building, interfaith connection, and dialogue across difference.

**Congregation Sha’ar Zahav** — Offering an educational series on topics like the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, dialogue groups to listen and speak on Israel-Palestine with respect and curiosity, and monthly support groups.

**Contra Costa Midrasha** — Amplifying educators’ ability to address antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in their teens’ lives via learning with field leaders, planning a communal night of learning for teens, and empowering teens to develop their own sessions for peers on responding to antisemitism.

**Israeli American Council** — Training educators and administrators with effective strategies to recognize and confront acts of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias. Bringing an IAC Teen Day of Action to more Bay Area teens, featuring an escape room game to teach about antisemitism and practical applications to educate non-Jewish peers.

**Itrek** — Empowering leaders from the top graduate, fellowship, and leadership programs to engage their networks in meaningful Israel experiences. This grant will support microgrants for itrek’s alumni to create projects that educate their networks about Israel.

**Jewish Community Center of San Francisco** — Expanding community offerings to bring more dialogue across difference to the JCC, elevate Arts & Ideas lineup, and building programming to help prepare parents for antisemitism during back-to-school. **Jewish Community High School of the Bay** — Growing faculty’s ability to facilitate ongoing difficult classroom conversations by bringing in field leaders.

**Jewish Family and Children’s Services** — Strengthening the Holocaust Center’s Education Leadership Council (ELC) by building a working retreat to equip educators and setting up ELC members to counsel classroom teachers seeking support in responding to antisemitic incidents.

**Mitsui Collective** — Laying groundwork for Mitsui Collective to incubate in the Bay Area, using the application of Jewish embodiment to help individuals more skillfully navigate and respond to antisemitism through embodied practices that build internal capacity, understanding, rootedness, and discernment. Sharing research on the embodied impact of intersectional experiences of oppression for Jews of Color.

Running Embodied Jewish Resiliency introductory workshops and/or a deeper community intensive. **Olamim** – **Latin Jewish Belonging for Families** — Supporting Mi Granjita (My Farm): Farm Time in Spanish for Littles, a farm playgroup for Jewish and non-Jewish Spanish-speaking families that brings together Jewish and Latin identities, language, culture, and community building.

**Palo Alto Residents’ Alliance** — Subsidizing an administrator to collaborate with grassroots groups across the Bay Area, coordinating efforts to combat antisemitism in schools and civic spaces.

This role will encompass administrative, strategic, and community organizing responsibilities, including establishing a grassroots resource hub, facilitating centralized communication, mobilizing volunteers across communities, securing external support, and developing strategies. **Ronald C.

Wornick Jewish Day School** — Building on the success of the 8th grade community event that brings parents, community leaders, and local politicians to Wornick to learn about antisemitism. Expanding the event and developing a curriculum that other Jewish day schools can replicate.

**San Francisco Hillel** — Launching a Jewish learning fellowship for students to learn about historical and modern antisemitism, explore their personal Jewish identities, and enhance their connection to Israel.

**San Francisco Interfaith Council** — Continuing its work supporting Jewish institutions navigating their response to antisemitism, including bringing together Jewish and Muslim organizations and community leaders to strengthen relationships and ally together.

**The Brandeis School of San Francisco** — Redesigning and extending the Mifgash Project, where educators design curriculum connecting Jewish ethics and democratic habits of mind. Developing a free playbook for Bay Area Jewish organizations to navigate antisemitism through civil discourse, informed dialogue, and current events.

**The Contemporary Jewish Museum** — Increasing free access for Bay Area middle and high school students and teachers to Holocaust and Resistance Days of Learning, the museum’s Holocaust education program.

**The Farkas Center for the Study of the Holocaust in Catholic Schools** — Scaling existing offerings, adding new survivor testimonies and accompanying curriculum to collection, bringing Holocaust education to new middle and high schools, and expanding student board to build more youth advocates.

**The Mitzvah Project** — Enabling The Mitzvah Project to offer its signature theatrical presentation to many more Bay Area high schools and colleges, teaching about the Holocaust and helping students understand the connections between antisemitism, white supremacy, and other forms of contemporary “othering” in America.

#### 2024 Jewish Professional Wellness Grantees Our **Jewish Professional Wellness Grantees** aim to meet long-term wellness needs (particularly after 10/7) and are customized to the different needs of different staff.

Organizations are directing funds for interventions like staff stipends for health and wellness activities, retreats, special staff spaces (i.e. teacher’s lounge, staff garden) pop-up staff events, fitness memberships, and wellness challenges.

**Chabad Jewish Center of Petaluma** **Congregation Sha’ar Zahav** **Foundation for Jewish Camp** **Hebrew Free Loan Association** **Jewish Community Center of San Francisco** **Jewish Community Center of the East Bay** **Jewish Family and Children’s Services** **Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School** **Temple Isaiah of Contra Costa County**