Stories of Impact
JWI Strengthens Community Responses to Domestic Violence
Meet our grantee partners who are turning vision into action: advancing justice, inclusion, and accountability across the Jewish communal landscape.
With support from a SRE Network Spring 2024 Field-Building Grant, Jewish Women International (JWI) brought together hundreds of community stakeholders to address gender-based violence in Jewish communities across the country through its Here for You initiative.
Bringing Communities Together
Over the past year, JWI partnered with local leaders to launch Here for You initiatives in Philadelphia, Kansas City, Denver, and Las Vegas, bringing together key Jewish stakeholders, from rabbis and educators to social service providers and lay leaders. Each community launch included:
- Foundational training on domestic violence and trauma
- Dialogue sessions to deepen understanding
- Collaborative planning meetings to identify strengths, gaps, and action steps
Following each launch, JWI continues to guide communities in implementing tailored plans, offering trainings, and ongoing resource referrals and technical assistance to help organizations build survivor-centered systems of care.
The Impact
Through this initiative, JWI has already reached thousands of professionals and community members across the country:
- Delivered 10 trainings to 146 Jewish professionals and 3 clergy workshops reaching 42 rabbis and cantors.
- Provided staff at 40+ organizations with resources, referral guides, and toolkits to strengthen responses to domestic abuse.
- Developed custom signage templates for communal spaces and distributed Domestic Violence Awareness Month social media toolkits.
- Piloted a public sisterhood event in Greater Hartford, engaging women’s groups in survivor-centered education and advocacy.
Results Include:
- 100% of early childhood educators reported greater understanding of childhood trauma.
- 81% of staff reported a deeper understanding of the needs of Jewish survivors of domestic abuse.
- 100% of clergy participants said they better understand their role in supporting survivors.
One clergy participant said, "Thank you so much. This was transformative for me. I was afraid it would be more of the same inadequate trainings that I've seen for years. That this was of such sensitivity, richness, urgency, and capability... truly feels redemptive and promising. Thank you.”
A preschool teacher said, "My most important takeaway is that I can make a difference in the child's life without even knowing about their trauma using the strategies presented."
Continuing the Work
In the next phase, JWI is:
- Hosting follow-up meetings in each partner community to guide action plan implementation.
- Developing a centralized online Knowledge Center: a digital platform that will provide on-demand training, self-paced modules, and shared tools for Jewish professionals nationwide.
This innovative work has great potential to make survivor support an everyday practice within Jewish communal life.
SRE Network mobilizes Jewish organizations to achieve gender equity and cultivate inclusive workplaces and communal spaces where all individuals can thrive and drive change. As a network of over 185 Jewish organizations, we are working towards a communal landscape where safety, respect, and equity are lived realities, and every individual belongs, and organizations thrive.
Photos courtesy of JWI staff.