Rabbi Saperstein: "We are very grateful for the Kovler family's generosity and support in building bridges between Blacks and Jews - and are immensely pleased to support these programs."
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 12, 2011 -- The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism announced the recipients of the Kovler Black-Jewish Microgrant Program during the Consultation on Conscience, the Reform Movement's flagship public policy conference. Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center issued the following statement:
As part of the Religious Action Center's 50th Anniversary celebration, we were pleased to announce the first-ever recipients of the Kovler Black-Jewish Microgrant Program. This program is meant to promote quality programming and activities that enhance Black-Jewish relations.
The funding for these grants is made available by the Majorie Kovler Black-Jewish Institute, a project of the Religious Action Center. We are very grateful for the Kovler family's generosity and support in building bridges between Blacks and Jews - and are immensely pleased to support these programs. We congratulate the following recipients for developing activities and actions aimed at strengthening links and common ground between African Americans and Jews:
- Albany Civil Right's Institute (ACRI): Temple B'nai Israel of New Albany, Georgia will join ACRI in a Community Night. The topic for the evening is Jewish-African American Relations during the Civil Rights Movement and Prof. Hasia Diner will be the keynote speaker.
- Congregation Beth Israel of Carmel Valley: Congregation Beth Israel will partner with the Monterey Peninsula Gospel Community Choir to co-host a Jewish/Gospel Mash-Up.
- Boston Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC): Working with select youth from synagogues and NFTY Chapters and African American youth community organizations and churches, the Boston JCRC launched the Y MORE (Youth of Massachusetts Organizing for a Reform Economy), a leadership-training program for Black and Jewish teens who want to engage in community organizing.
- Loyola Marymount University: LMU's Jewish Social Services is developing a relationship with the Office of Black Student Services. They have cohosted and will continue to co-host joint programming, including a Black-Jewish seder, a film screening and roundtable discussions.
- Cultural Leadership: Supporting their ongoing work, Cultural Leadership is a nonprofit youth educational leadership development organization educating St. Louis area high-school students through the lens of the Jewish and African American experience to become social action activists.
