Spring 2022 Open Grants Recipients
In Spring 2022, SRE Network awarded a total of $300,000 in two-year, $50,000 grants to six organizations to support the areas of gender justice with an intersectional lens and to support victim-survivors of sexual harassment or abuse. We are grateful to the 35 organizations that applied for this funding round and are so proud to be supporting the work of the following organizations:
Beloved + Maharat
Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Orthodox Women in Senior Leadership Roles: Beloved and Maharat are joining forces to provide holistic support for a cohort of 5-7 women who can build and sustain new communities, including: inspiring leaders (training, mentorship), supporting leaders (financial, organizational, operations), nourishing leaders (convening), expanding the definition of pulpit, and establishing transparent salary bands.
JCADA
Victim Advocacy and Judaica Replacement: Finding housing with kosher food, a safe mikvah or congregation, replacing a damaged head covering, or purchasing new Judaica can be both essential for survival, as well as restorative and healing. This grant will support JCADA’s Victim Advocacy department to further their work with survivors, and create a partnership with a local Judaica shop to offset the cost of replacing Judaica.
Jewtina Y Co.
PUENTES Fellowship: The PUENTES Fellowship is a 5-month fellowship providing participants with the opportunity to engage in cohort learning with other Latin-Jewish changemakers. Jewtina will take PUENTES to the next level by applying a special focus on gender justice within the next two upcoming cohorts.
Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA)
Support Group and Helpline Expansion: As part of their support offerings, ORA plans to expand its current support group from a single monthly call to include components such as more frequent, comprehensive therapeutic workshops, financial literacy classes,and career planning. ORA will also expand its Jewish divorce helpline services by offering increased availability for complex and urgent cases, adding an SMS/chat function, increasing its phone lines to include volunteers, interns, and additional staff, and advertising its services across multiple platforms.
SVIVAH
Restorative Torah Beit Midrash: As part of SVIVAH's monthly HerTorah program that uses foundational text as a medium for community and connection, SVIVAH will launch Restorative Torah, a series that will address the experience of survivors of gender-based violence and those who have experienced abuses of power by Jewish communal leaders. Through connective Torah exploration and honest and open communal conversation, Restorative Torah hopes to create an authentic space for restoration and transformation where lived-experience and the voices and stories of women* are honored and celebrated.
TischPDX
Emerging Jewish Leadership Incubator: TischPDX is an emerging incubator for young adult Jewish artists and activists - primarily LGBTQ+, BIJOC, Sephardi, Mizrahi, and/or outside of formal Jewish organizations - who are seeking to amplify and deepen their current projects. Year-long cohorts explore Jewish learning, organizing skills, Torah study and justice practices together with alums, mentors, peers, and partners to build just, vibrant, accessible and inclusive communities in Chinook Illahee/Portland, OR.
2022 New Grantees
SRE Network is pleased to announce two new grantees in 2022, these organizations are working to be responsive to current events related to intersectional gender justice.
Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), in partnership with the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), and Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA)
Cross-Denominational Ethics Process Re-Envisioning: Providing two years of cross-denominational training for the Ethics Committees of the CCAR, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) which will focus on acting with a trauma-informed lens, conducting investigations, counseling congregations, and more.
National Council for Jewish Women
73 Forward: Jewish Movement for Abortion Justice: Through this campaign, NCJW will increase on-the-ground access to abortion services, educate about and normalize medication abortion, advocate to remove unnecessary FDA roadblocks to obtaining medication abortion pills, and ensure self-managed abortion is considered in state law. Since the overturn of Roe v Wade, NCJW has also launched the Jewish Fund for Abortion Access which will connect real people who need abortions with the money they need to access care.
Grantseekers Workshop
Grants Review Committee
SRE Network's Grants Review Committee will review grant applications and, in partnership with the SRE staff team, will recommend grant awards for consideration by the SRE Network Advisory Board. We intentionally brought together a diverse group that brings new and underrepresented voices to grantmaking. Together they have deep experience in Jewish communal and professional life, including organizational leadership, LGBTQ+ activism, community organizing, survivor support, women's advocacy, and anti-racist consulting. Grounded in this deep community knowledge, they will use an intersectional and justice-centered lens to make their recommendations.
Chava Sims Shervington
Los Angeles, CA
Stefanie Rhodes
New York, NY
Tabitha St Bernard-Jacobs
New York, NY
Dr. Guila Benchimol
Toronto, Canada
If you have questions about the Spring 2022 Open Grants Process or about SRE's Community Investments please email info@srenetwork.org.