Jewish Women’s Foundation Grants

The 2021-2024 Grantees approved in May 2021 range across a variety of JWF Impact Areas, serving Jewish women and girls at various points on both the religious and socioeconomic spectrum. They represent great opportunities for expanding awareness of, and connection to, the diversity of our community.

Jewish Women International

Partial funding for a three-year financial education program for young women in the San Diego Jewish community. This pilot program includes an education series, bootcamps, and one-off community speaker events covering topics such as goal setting, negotiating, investing, navigating transitions, and building a prosperous future. Multiple cohorts will be formed to create community with networking opportunities around learning.

Now in its third year, nearly 120 young women have participated in JWI’s Financial Fitness series, which was brought to San Diego with the support of JWF. The four session Financial Fitness series includes 2 tracks: Becoming a Budgeting Boss and Investing Deep Dive. The two cohorts run on the same day, with both groups having dinner together to create community, before breaking off into their individual tracks. Especially notable is that 100% of respondents said they would recommend the program to others seeking to improve their financial literacy, and 100% of respondents reported feeling more confident in navigating their finances after completing the program. Due to its success, JWI will be bringing ‘Financial Fitness’ to other communities across the country.

Grantee Awarded – $70,000
Contact Sarah Schatz for Hands-on Volunteer Opportunities with this Grantee.
www.jwi.org

San Diego Community Kollel

To create an adaptation of Moving Traditions’ Rosh Hodesh program for the needs of Orthodox young women; and to train a cohort to implement the program as a pilot in the San Diego Orthodox community. The program provides a safe space for young women, teens, and girls to have healthy conversations about sensitive topics and to provide a space to broaden their horizons and identities as young women.

Chava and Adam Simon have been working to adapt Moving Traditions’ Rosh Chodesh program to be applicable to the Orthodox community. Initially fiscally sponsored by Beth Jacob Congregation, this program has been the catalyst to create a new organization, called the San Diego Community Kollel. JWF’s seed funding has been leveraged to raise additional funding from private donors. The new organization envisions securing a facility that they can use to house this program and other programs as they expand, including similar programs for adult women. The first cohort of young women has concluded, and they are launching a second cohort in the fall. They will use repeat enrollment as one of their evaluation benchmarks.

Grantee Awarded – $30,000
Contact Sarah Schatz for Hands-on Volunteer Opportunities with this Grantee.
www.movingtraditions.org

Shavot – Friends of Asor

This grant will provide an extra year of support and leadership development for the graduates of Shavot’s Mentoring Program. Middle school girls meet monthly as a group and weekly with a 1:1 mentor to strengthen leadership skills such as public speaking, self-presentation, and entrepreneurship.

With JWF’s funding, Shavot increased its Alumni Program to include 8 cohorts, up from 4 cohorts in its pilot year. All participants previously completed Shavot’s Mentorship Program. Each cohort has 10 girls who meet as a group and individually, each week. This July, Shavot will hold its first Alumni Summer Seminar – a full day of workshops for this year’s graduates. Additionally, they have identified 20 exceptional participants to launch a new program, Shavot Ambassadors, which will capitalize on the girls’ motivation and initiative and further support their critical thinking and social activism. Shavot has met their goal to double program participation in the first two years.

Grantee Awarded – $25,000
www.shavot.org

Impact Israel – Friends of Yemin Orde

Post high school gap year program (Mechina) that aims to empower and transform young women from at-risk and immigrant communities. Girls are provided with resources, skills, and necessary support to rise above their circumstances, succeed in the IDF, and become active members of society. JWF funding will support an Advocacy Skills program where girls will create and implement an awareness campaign about a cause significant to them.

Last year, Impact Israel added the new Developing Leadership and Advocacy Skills Program to their IsraElite Young Women’s Leadership Program, funded by JWF. Young women aged 18-20 years old deferred their mandatory military service to participate in this program. This year, participants chose to focus on violence. To begin, they researched different types of violence that exists, including domestic, economic, physical, verbal, road rage, and violence in schools, and prepared lecture outlines and PowerPoint presentations. The program also carried over the theme of last year’s Mechina, sustainability, and has reduced their disposable use and increased recycling efforts. A community of new immigrants from Ukraine moved nearby, and participants volunteered with the children, played games with them, and helped them practice Hebrew. Later in the year, they spent time with the adults, helping them with their homework and practicing Hebrew. Participants reworked the lectures they had prepared to present them in simple Hebrew to new immigrants and had a discussion with them about the war in Ukraine and violence in society.

Grantee Awarded – $25,000
www.impact-israel.org

Previous Grantees from 2018-2021:

Fresh Produce for Women Holocaust Survivors and their Families

Grantee Awarded – $45,000
Coastal Roots Farm
coastalrootsfarm.org

Emergency Fund and Sustaining Fund

Grantee Awarded – $50,000
G’mach: The San Diego Jewish Gift Closet
www.sandiegogmach.com

Marpeh (healing)

Grantee Awarded – $11,000
Ohr Shalom Synagogue
ohrshalom.org

Previous Grantee from 2014-2017:

• Serving Isolated, Older Jewish Women in our Community – Awarded: $117,000 each
  Lawrence Family JCC, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS and Jewish Family Service

Previous Grantees from 2010-2013:

• B’Not: Lead On! – Awarded: $27,585
  Friendship Circle
• Girl’s Life – Awarded: $105,000
  Lawrence Family JCC, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS
• Girls Give Back – Awarded: $149,031
  Jewish Family Service
• Rosh Hodesh: It’s A Girl Thing – Awarded: $21,393
  Lawrence Family JCC, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS, Temple Solel, Congregation Beth Israel, and Temple Adat Shalom
• JWF Scholars Society – Awarded: $22,146
  Temple Adat Shalom, Ner Tamid, and Chabad of Poway

Previous Grantees from 2004-2009:

• Project Sarah – Awarded: $36,096
  Jewish Family Service (2008-2009)
• Supporting Jewish Single Parents – Awarded: $260,000
  Jewish Family Service (2004-2009)