Jewish Community Relations Council Of San Francisco Marin & Peninsula

Jcrc community relations programsin jcrc's external relations work, we engaged more than 1,000 elected and school district officials, to brief them on latest developments after october 7 and encourage their support; and fought inflammatory, anti-israel resolutions as they came before bay area city councils and other bodies. We continued to deepen relationships with diverse bay area elected officials at all government levels, through one-on-one meetings, attendance at programs and conferences, educational and jewish holiday events and more. We grew jcrc's bay area network of jewish officials (banjo) to 67 members, and furthered their leadership on jewish issues through an overnight "banjo camp" retreat. Banjo members joined jcrc at the annual jpac capitol summit in sacramento.in our jewish community engagement work, jcrc engaged with more than 100 jewish community organizations and their senior leadership to coordinate strategy, brief their communities and recruit elected officials to dozens of communal gatherings, rallies and vigils after october 7. Tens of thousands of people came to bay area events in support of israel and the jewish people. Jcrc offered 12 educational and skills-based "community lab" workshops, reaching thousands of families, on local advocacy, israel advocacy, facing antisemitism and moreto give people tools and best practices for advocating with local officials, and to extend jcrc's impact. Jcrc organized and guided regional whatsapp groups for bay area jewish community members.in jcrc's jewish affairs work, we re-ran the jcrc bay area survey of jewish identity, from a year prior, to compare attitudes pre- and post-october 7 around antisemitism and jewish safety in a variety of bay area settings. We used the data to help with our media work and in conversations with civic, elected and education officials. Jcrc delivered 38 trainings on antisemitism to a variety of audiences, including, with partner organization islamic networks group (ing), presentations on "combating islamophobia and antisemitism" to high school staff, educators and studentsreaching 5,600 people. Jcrc held a 7th regional "here i am" press conference to raise awareness of antisemitism while celebrating jewish identity.in our partnership and policy work, jcrc continued the work of the jewish-aapi roundtable, comprised of 20 san francisco jewish and aapi leaders who meet quarterly to jointly address antisemitism, anti-aapi hate, community security, public safety and other issues. We began building relationships with new partners from bay area black communities, after our former partners were unresponsive to repeated outreach after the october 7 attack on israel. Jcrc mobilized 500 jewish community members to advocate at jpac's annual capitol summit in may 2024, and worked with allies across the state to pass a robust package of legislative bills to counter antisemitism and hate.in our public education work, jcrc provided resources and guidance for 100 bay area school districts on the october 7 attack and related events, responded to nonstop calls from parents about antisemitism and biased teaching in schools, and worked with dozens of districts, schools and county offices of education to address the needs of the jewish community. Jcrc worked toward a fair and inclusive academic and social environment for jewish students in bay area k-12 schools (including private schools) by building relationships and advocating with district, county and state education leaders; engaging with multiple school districts at different stages of implementing an ethnic studies curriculum; and supporting and guiding parents.

Jcrc emergency fundjcrc's immediate goals in the wake of the october 7 attack were to unite the bay area in support of a safe israel and to support our jewish community. Through our emergency fund, we allocated resources to maximize our marketing and communications by onboarding a crisis-communications firm, increased our community programming, and expanded our professional capacity for rapid response and government relations, resulting in:-tens of thousands of community members attending dozens of gatherings, rallies and vigils across the bay area;-more than 1,000 bay area elected officials and school board members receiving jcrc briefings on developments;-rapid response to hundreds of reports of antisemitism and other abhorrent behavior in and around k-12 schools;-the thwarting of all but a handful of inflammatory, anti-israel resolutions that came before bay area city councils and school boards;-the exposure of individuals and organizations celebrating and defending terror, so they are held accountable for their extremism and antisemitism;-thousands of jewish families learning tools and best practices for advocating with local officials;-more than 4,300 individuals in government, corporate, education and other arenas receiving training about antisemitism and jewish identity;-eight california legislators traveling to israel with jcrc to bear witness to the consequences of hamas's atrocities;-constant communication with bay area police departments, mayors and district attorneys, including to educate them about the impact of events in the middle east on the well-being of the jewish community;-jcrc's appearance in 350 news stories between october and may; and much more.

Jewish coalition for literacy (jcl)due to budget challenges that proved insurmountable, jcrc sunsetted our jcl initiative on may 31, 2024. Founded in 1999 as part of a national jewish coalition for literacy movement, which answered the call from president clinton to mobilize volunteers to help children reach grade level in reading by the third grade, jcl mobilized volunteer tutors to assist students in grades k-5 attending public elementary schools.from july 2023 to january 2024, jcl held a summer orientation for prospective tutors, presented four new-tutor trainings, held a continuing-education events and a "tutor drop-in" session for student-specific questions, and held two community-building events (a kickoff and an online hanukkah party).through january 2024, jcl recruited and trained 114 caring tutors who provided critical literacy support and mentoring to 309 children across the bay area. Through jcl's "reading buddies" program, 20 fifth-graders from a jewish day school in lafayette, trained by an expert jcl literacy trainer, tutored 20 first-graders from an elementary school in pleasant hill once a week from february through may.jcl donated more than 1,500 high-quality age-appropriate books to schools and library programs, and found new tutor placements for almost all of its tutors.during its 20+-year existence, jcl:-trained and placed 6,000 community members as volunteer reading tutors in six bay area counties-reached more than 15,000 children based on partnerships with:-more than 50 schools across six counties and numerous nonprofit partner sites-dozens of synagogues and jccs-more than 100 jewish day school students in 5th through 8th grades, trained to mentor and read with younger children attending public school-helped thousands of parents improve their children's literacy skills and social-emotional growth-distributed tens of thousands of books to children who otherwise would not have had books at home.doug kahn israel travel outreach fundjcrc's israel seminars bring influential elected officials and civic leaders from across and beyond the san francisco bay area to israel, with the goal of helping them better understand jews, judaism and israel through this hands-on journey. Over 8-10 days of traversing the country, participants meet with professional counterparts, leading thinkers, diplomats, government officials and strategists, and gain an understanding of our community and of israel beyond what could be learned back at home or through mainstream western media.in selecting potential israel seminar participants, jcrc identifies people in the diverse bay area community who can be amplifiers; who will share their experience and what they learned about jews, judaism, zionism and israel; and who will expose their constituencies to jewish values and aspirations. Following our travels together, jcrc's broad domestic agenda allows us to stay in close relationship with trip participants and alumni, deepening the relationship and creating mutual support on issues of common concern.jcrc did not hold a typical trip in 2023-24 due to the attack of october 7, 2023 and ensuing israel-gaza war. In february 2024, however, we led a four-day solidarity mission to israel and the gaza border for eight california legislators. Lawmakers witnessed the consequences of hamas's barbaric atrocitiesin visits to kibbutz kfar aza; to the site of the nova music festival; with family members of hostages; and with leaders of rape centers in israel working with survivors of mass violence. Legislators also met with israeli president isaac herzog; a member of the knesset who confronts women's groups that deny hamas's mass sexual violence; and a palestinian journalist who spoke about the challenges experienced by east jerusalem, west bank and gaza palestinians since october 7.