At a time of such tension, antisemitism and racism are dividing people, isolating Jews from other communities. SEA Change is a catalyst to change this. SEA Change trains synagogues to organize for justice and combat antisemitism within and beyond their communities. At a time when it can feel that so much is falling apart around us and that our very democracy – and our place in it – is threatened, our best hope is to find ways to work together.
SEA Change includes specialized training, leadership development coaching, and participation in partnerships across lines of difference, led by expert trainers Megan Black, Jeannie Appleman, Jordan Berg Powers, and Catherine Bell.
Since 2020, 16 synagogues and one Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), with 240+ individuals, have participated in SEA Change in the Washington, DC, area, Boston, and Atlanta – including major Reform, Conservative, independent, and Reconstructionist congregations. As a result of SEA Change, these synagogues have joined or deepened their involvement in interfaith, multi-racial, and other organizing groups and have stood shoulder to shoulder against hate. They have increased affordable housing, won paid medical leave, and increased access to mental health resources. Participating synagogues have expanded membership, recruited new leaders, and identified new board and committee members. SEA Change also enabled participating institutions to grow membership and recruit new board and committee members. SEA Change synagogues have become even more welcoming communities for Jews of Color, Jews by Choice, disabled Jews, and LGBTQ+ members.
Over the four-month program, clergy and lay leader teams engage in virtual training and in-person seminars on combating antisemitism and racism through organizing across lines of difference and learn congregational development and community organizing skills. They also build relationships engage with local community-based organizations to act together for justice.
In 2026, we are excited to offer SEA Change to up to four synagogues in the North Shore of Boston with support from Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Center for Combating Antisemitism.
Your SEA Change Trainers
SEA Change has been named among Slingshot’s 10 to Watch!
“SEA Change has made a tremendous difference in our community and it can in yours as well. [It involves] the marriage of organizing – which itself is a key set of approaches that brings new members into leadership and jazzes people about why we do what we do – [and] the intensive anti-racism work that needs to be done. Communities like ours think that we’re a little further than we are; there is work to be done, and SEA Change can help with that work.” -Rabbi Dobb, lay leader at Adat Shalom Congregation
“The SEA Change racial equity training led by JOIN trainers at my synagogue has had a very significant impact on the direction of the congregation as a whole. The clergy and Board are doing strategic planning, and because of the SEA Change experience, social justice work will be central to the congregation’s vision going forward.” -Laura Loeb, lay leader at Washington Hebrew Congregation
“Our participation in SEA Change has been a transformative experience for our congregational community. The shared experience of learning, training, and taking a deep dive into an assessment of race equity within our synagogue has strengthened relationships and provided a sense of sacred partnership that extends into every aspect of synagogue life.”– Rabbi Susan Shankman, Washington Hebrew Congregation
In prior cohorts, participants shared that because of SEA Change…
- “I am more willing to take a visible, active leadership role in social justice initiatives.”
- “I feel more confident to express issues of equity and inclusion associated with being a JOC in a majority white religious setting.”
- “I now reflexively seek to include diverse groups as part of any decision-making.”
We are grateful to congregational leaders Marla Schulman of B’nai Israel and Karen Herron of Washington Hebrew and their rabbis, whose leadership and collaboration were essential in creating the original SEA Change pilot. (You can read Karen’s reflections on SEA Change here.)
