Jews of Color Initiative
The JoC Initiative works to advance racial equity in the U.S. Jewish community by centering Jews of Color
Manhattan based, with a Brooklyn presence
What services do you offer?
JoCI provides grant opportunities, community research and education, and professional development programs for Jews of Color.
What is your organization's mission?
The Jews of Color Initiative’s mission is to advance racial equity in the U.S. Jewish community by centering the leadership of Jews of Color and ensuring that our communities and institutions reflect the multiracial reality of the Jewish people.
What activities do you offer?
We provide grantmaking that directs Jewish communal resources to organizations and initiatives led by and/or serving Jews of Color (JoC). Through grantmaking, we serve and center JoC leaders, including emerging leaders, who develop innovative ways to provide support, community, resources, opportunities, and Jewish engagement to the Jews of Color community. We also support and work with white Jewish leaders and organizations that demonstrate genuine, sustained allyship and seek to use their position and influence to engage in real structural change.
JoCI commissions multiracial research teams to produce studies with real-world implications that can shape policies and practices within the Jewish ecosystem. Our research builds datasets and knowledge bases about Jews of Color, filling gaps in communal knowledge and scholarship surrounding the JoC community. Through community education, we circulate knowledge, data, stories, best practices, and current issues relating to Jews of Color, racism and anti-racism, and equity and inclusion across U.S. Jewish communities. Our sessions with institutional stakeholders motivate leaders to take action to make the Jewish community equitable, inclusive, and guided by racial justice.
Through our New York Hub, we offer a paid, 10-month Leadership Fellowship program for young adult Jews of Color. The Fellowship provides weekly cohort-based professional development sessions, one-on-one mentorship from an esteemed JoC leader, and hands-on work experience at a Jewish organization. We also have a NYC-based project Incubator that supports the growth of JoC-led and serving work in the wider NYC area by providing professional coaching, learning sessions, and opportunities for potential funding.
