Jews of Color (JoC) Organizing Fellowship Cohort at the Inaugural Retreat
The Jews of Color Organizing Fellowship is the first-ever national Fellowship program training Jews of Color (JOCs) in community organizing. The Fellowship provides training, mentorship, a living wage organizing job, and community support to help adult participants grow into powerful community organizers and social movement leaders.
Through this Fellowship, we are building a vibrant community of visionary Jewish Organizers of Color. They will be positioned to be effective changemakers in the Jewish community, the broader community, and throughout the country.
The national Fellowship city hubs include New York City, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The Fellowship will run from May 2023 through April 2024.
Learn more about our 2023-2024 Jews of Color Organizing Fellows here
The Jews of Color Organizing Fellowship is a 12-month intergenerational cohort experience that includes training through virtual and in-person gatherings with multiple geographic clusters, including Chicago, the Bay Area, and New York City, and a livable wage organizing job. The Fellowship trains Jews of Color to organize communities to fight against structural injustice and inequality effectively.
JOIN supports candidates in finding paid jobs as community organizers or partners with their existing organizing jobs with Jewish and non-Jewish host organizations. During their employment, they will be supported by mentorships to continue to develop their organizing skills and tools.
Throughout the year, Fellows meet together for training in a curriculum that focuses on organizing training, leadership skills, Jewish wisdom, and Jews of Color-specific content.
Topics will include community organizing fundamentals, such as leader identification, campaign planning, power analysis, and movement ecology. JOC-specific Content will focus on JOC history, Transformative Justice, and Self-care & Resilience Practices.
We seek Fellows who are eager to explore the connections between their unique Jewish and racial identities and are working for social change. We also seek to build a community where all Jews, Jews with disabilities, Jews from working-class backgrounds, Jews by choice, and transgender and gender-non-conforming Jews find a supportive environment that embraces their leadership and participation.
JOIN recruits actively and supports Jews with these identities as part of our commitment to work against oppression and center the leadership of marginalized people within and beyond our organization.
The Outcomes of this Program are:
- Fellows will gain skills to become effective changemakers, a deeper connection to Jewish wisdom, lifelong community, healing & growth, and robust new networks.
- Host organizations will gain skilled, supported JOC organizers on staff doing the work and doing it well.
- Geographic cluster communities will develop deeper ties between Jewish and justice organizations and more leaderful local JOC networks.
- The US and the broader social justice field will see real policy change on critical justice issues at local, state, and federal levels and a shift in the dominant image of who Jews are – within and beyond Jewish communities.
- More Jews of Color are working, organizing, and leading the way for future generations.
- Showing up and being celebrated for their identities and the beliefs they hold dear!
