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Advancing Inclusiveness in the North American
Jewish Community
Supporting organizations that are revitalizing the mainstream Jewish community by making it a more tolerant and welcoming place for groups that have traditionally been marginalized, including women, intermarried families, gays and lesbians, and racial/ethnic minorities.
Click the photos below and scroll down to learn more about our Grantees.
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Cultural Leadership
Cultural Leadership is a youth leadership development organization that uses the prism of the Jewish and African-American experiences with injustice to engage St. Louis high school students with the struggle to end injustice wherever it occurs. Students participate in a yearlong intensive program that includes monthly meetings, weekend retreats, seminars, and a 23-day trip to meet with important leaders of the civil rights and social justice movements. By deepening the students' understanding of current and past inequalities, and by doing so through the lens of their own community's religious and cultural history, the organization empowers high school students to become passionate activists for equality, justice, and inclusion.
Cultural Leadership is a new grantee in 2011; Natan's grant is for general operating support.
culturalleadership.com
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InterfaithFamily.com
InterfaithFamily.com works on the principle that engaging more interfaith families in
Jewish life is essential for the growth and strength of the Jewish community. Launched in
1998, InterfaithFamily.com educates people in interfaith relationships, connects them with
local Jewish communities, and advocates on their behalf. Through its website and
programs, the organization strives to be a comprehensive resource for interfaith families
and to advocate for more inclusive attitudes, policies, and practices in the mainstream
Jewish community.
Renewal support from Natan will be used for general operating expenses.
interfaithfamily.com
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Jewish Milestones
Jewish Milestones addresses a new phenomenon in Jewish communal life: "off-the-grid" Jews and their families who are seeking Jewish rituals outside that many contemporary Jews - especially those from marginalized communities - may never officially "join" a synagogue, but that they nonetheless want to find ways to make Jewish ritual part of their lives. The organization empowers people to explore their options and to make informed Jewish decisions, encouraging them to derive meaning from the rituals they are participating in. Through a variety of resources and services, Jewish Milestones enables the broadest spectrum of Jews to participate actively in authentically Jewish and personally meaningful rites of passage.
Renewal funding from Natan will be used to for general operating expenses.
jewishmilestones.org
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Keshet
For a sixth year, Natan is supporting the general operating expenses of Keshet, now the leading organization working with Jewish institutions nationwide to create spaces where gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews are fully included in Jewish life and can celebrate and grow their own Jewish identities. In 2010, Keshet launched "Do Not Stand Idly By: A Jewish Community Pledge to Save Lives," a campaign that highlights homophobic and transphobic bullying. To date, over 11,000 individuals and 1,000 organizations have signed on to the pledge.
keshetonline.org
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Matan: The Gift of Jewish Learning for Every Child
Matan aims to ensure that all Jewish children, especially those with learning differences, are embraced, welcomed, and educated in Jewish educational institutions in the best possible manner. The organization advocates for the support of children with learning differences and provides resources for families, schools, educators, and communal leaders through a variety of mechanisms.
Natan's 2012 grant to Matan will support Matan's Teacher and Leadership Institutes, which aim to train educators in the best methods for working with children with special needs.
matankids.org
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Mayyim Hayyim
Mayyim Hayyim makes mikveh (ritual immersion) - often a narrow, exclusive, and esoteric ritual - accessible to the full diversity of the Jewish people for the first time in history. By taking an ancient ritual and reinventing it in the most inclusive way possible, Mayyim Hayyim serves as a model for the ways that other rituals can be similarly reinvented. Mayyim Hayyim is both the gold standard for other communities that are seeking to create open-tent, inclusive mikvaot as well as a model for ritual reinvention and rejuvenation writ large.
Natan's 2012 renewal grant is for general operating expenses.
mayyimhayyim.org
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Natan will no longer be making grants in this area. Please see our other grant areas, which integrate the principles of this committee into their grantmaking.
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