We’re delighted to announce the recipients of the 2023 Community Impact Grant (CIG) funds. We hope to support these organizations as they continue to enhance the lives of those in the Great Boston Jewish community.
Campus
| Organization | Grant Purpose | Grantee Location |
| Boston University Hillel | Jewish Care Fellowship to empower students to support the BU Jewish community by providing opportunities to care about themselves, their community, and the world | Boston, MA |
| Chabad at MIT | Jewish Engagement in Greek Life at MIT program to engage with Jewish undergraduates affiliated with Greek Life | Cambridge, MA |
| Chabad Fenway - Huntington Avenue, Inc. (DBA Chabad at Northeastern University) | Experiential Learning Initiative to provide Jewish students with opportunities to learn about Judaism and Jewish topics not only in the classroom but also with hands-on, community-building experience | Boston, MA |
| Wellesley Weston Chabad | Shabbat Dinners for 10-15 Babson students. | Wellesley Hills, MA |
| Chabad of Medford | Community gatherings to provide Torah discussion and a mitzvah experience for Jewish students and faculty of Tufts University | Somerville, MA |
| itrek, inc. | Supporting 6 Israel Treks trips from Boston-based graduate schools including Harvard Business School, Harvard Law, Harvard Kennedy School, MIT Sloan, Brandeis Business School, and Tufts University's Fletcher School | New York, NY |
| M.I.T. Hillel | ConnecTech program to create meaningful people-to-people relations between two student groups at MIT and Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa | Cambridge, MA |
| Mechon Hadar | Boston Collegiate Jewish Wisdom Fellowship for a small cohort of fellows to engage with core ideas behind Hadar's vision of sustaining vibrant communities of Torah, Avodah, and Hesed | New York, NY |
| MEOR, Inc. - Boston Women's Initiative | Boston Women’s Initiative to educate, empower and inspire future Jewish leaders who will be literate in Jewish wisdom, culture and heritage, committed to strong Jewish values, and engaged in Jewish community, civic life and support of Israel | Silver Spring, MD |
| Northeastern University Hillel | Jewish Pride Fellowship for participants to share and explore the nuances of their Jewish identities through community building, Jewish American history, expressions of Jewish identity, family heritage, and Jewish traditions | Boston, MA |
| StandWithUs | Students4IHRA program to ensure students within and outside of the Jewish and Zionist community understand what antisemitism is and are equipped to identify it when it occurs | Los Angeles, CA |
| Wellesley Weston Chabad | Providing weekly Shabbat dinner for Jewish students from Babson College and Wellesley College | Wellesley, MA |
Teens
| Organization | Grant Purpose | Grantee Location |
| B'nai Tikvah | To support the redesign and reinvigoration of B’nai Tikvah’s multi-faceted Teen Program | Canton, MA |
| Brookline IL Peretz School of the Workmens Circle Inc. (DBA Boston Workers Circle) | Teens Acting for Social Justice Retreat to engage Boston Workers Circle teens and teens from the greater Boston Jewish community in a weekend-long deep dive into relationships, social justice, and Jewish values | Brookline, MA |
| Congregation Beth El of the Sudbury River Valley | Connecting and empowering Jewish teens through meaningful opportunities for relevant learning, personal growth, relationship building, and social action. | Sudbury, MA |
| Congregation Eitz Chayim | Providing social emotional support and fun activities for Cambridge/Somerville area teens who are experiencing anti-semitism and seeking a deeper connection to other Jewish teens and to their Jewish identity |
Cambridge, MA |
| Congregation Sha'Aray Shalom | Supporting Congregation Sha'aray Shalom students attending the Religious Action Center's L'taken Seminar | Hingham, MA |
| Explore-Lech Lecha, Inc | Jewish Outdoor Leadership for Teens, a year-long Boston-based outdoor adventure program for post-B’Mitzvah Jewish teens in 8th and 9th grades | Worcester, MA |
| Israeli-American Council | Act & Impact program for high school students, cultivating a feeling of community by bringing them together to engage in topics, discussions, and events that tap into their Israeliness and Jewishness | Newton, MA |
| Jookender Community Initiatives | Educating Jewish teens on concepts and values through the books of JK Rowling, the role of Britain in World War II, and trips to Florida and London | Framingham, MA |
| Mosaic: Interfaith Youth Action, Inc. | Providing organizational capacity building support to establish a part-time programmatic position to assist in the creation and facilitation of programming to provide meaningful experiences for youth across Massachusetts | Newton Highlands, MA |
| Moving Traditions | Tzelem in Boston providing social-emotional learnings, promoting personal wellness, and providing a connection to Jewish community for LGBTQ+, Nonbinary, and Gender Expansive teens | Elkins Park, PA |
| Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center, Inc. | Jewish Youth Climate Movement to engage teens in climate action, communal leadership, and advocacy for environmental justice | Needham, MA |
| Teen JUST-US | Broadening the participation in their summer internship experience for Jewish teens, and providing participants with a summer social justice and personal development experience | Belmont, MA |
| Temple Beth Sholom | Teen Mental Health in Metrowest program presenting online workshops for teens to discuss and deepen their understanding of mindfulness and how it can influence their ability to cope with anxiety and depression | Framingham, MA |
| Temple Emunah | Supporting a Shabbaton Retreat at Camp Ramah to bring together teens and educators from the Conservative movement to build community, celebrate Shabbat, learn, sing, dance and have fun together | Lexington, MA |
| Temple Israel of Natick | Team Teen Tikkun bringing a local, cross-denominational social action program to the MetroWest Jewish teen community | Natick, MA |
| Temple Israel of Sharon | Gathering teens to come together and build a kehillah that will work and grow together | Sharon, MA |
| Temple Shir Tikva | Songs for our Souls: Artist-in-Residency with Dan Nichols, a weekend of restorative Jewish music, prayer, and community | Wayland, MA |
| TribeTalk | TribeTalk TruthTalkers production of audio video recordings of campus stories from students from across the college landscape |
Newton, MA |
| Yachad New England | Launching INTEL – Inclusive Teen Engagement and Leadership - to build on and expand dinners, activities, field trips and other teen events, and support staff efforts to work with the teens to add a Tikkun Olam component guiding them to envision how they are making the world a better place | Brookline, MA |
Young Adults
| Organization | Grant Purpose | Grantee Location |
| Chabad of Brookline | Purim Unity 2023 to engage the entire Boston young adult community at a unity event that represents close to 20 Jewish nonprofit organizations | Brookline, MA |
| Congregation Eitz Chayim | Development of a diverse congregational leadership by encouraging, developing, and supporting lay leadership from within its congregation | Cambridge, MA |
| Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action | Young Adult Leadership Development program to attract young people into their volunteer base who find that social justice and public policy are core components of how they relate to Judaism | Boston, MA |
| Jewish Women International | Young Women's Impact Network program to connect young Jewish women at the beginning of their careers with inspirational role models and a powerful cohort of friends to help them to empower their voice and build their community | Washington, DC |
| Jookender Community Initiatives, Inc. | Find Jewishness in Everyday Life workshops for young adult Ukrainian refugees with training on acceptance in the community and preparation for entry into the job market | Framingham, MA |
| Friends of the Israel Defense Forces | New England Young Leadership program to establish an official Young Leadership chapter in the Boston area | New York, NY |
| Shabbat Project, Inc. (DBA One Table) | Grad Student Shabbat Across Boston to gather Jewish young adults for peer-led Shabbat dinners | New York, NY |
| Temple Beth Shalom of Cambridge | Musical Melave Malkas program to hold recurring melaveh malkas (post-Shabbat musical events) with the aim of engaging young adults in the community | Cambridge, MA |
| Temple Shalom - William & Charlotte Bloomberg Jewish Community Center | Mystic Valley Young Jewish Professionals pilot program of monthly activities to attract and establish a cohort of young Jewish professionals | Medford, MA |
| Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America | Enabliing Yavneh Bayit leaders to host semi-weekly events, including Shabbat meals and holiday experiences and span a variety of themes from Shabbat and Holidays to Israel and Art and Leadership | New York, NY |
| The Vilna Shul: Boston's Center for Jewish Culture | Strengthening The Vilna Shul’s young adult engagement strategy to deepen Jewish identity, combat social isolation, cultivate a leadership pipeline, and build stronger partnerships | Boston, MA |
General
| Organization | Grant Purpose | Grantee Location |
| Arthur J. Epstein Hillel School | Enhanced Geographic Outreach to New Communities program to attract young Jewish families from the Marblehead/Swampscott area and surrounding communities | Marblehead, MA |
| Back Room Boston, Inc. | Supporting the organization, promotion, and running of a range of Jewish-themed music and other performance and cultural events including The Boston Festival of New Jewish Music, an Emerging Jewish Artists series, and Klezmer Jam | Boston, MA |
| Brookline IL Peretz School of the Workmens Circle Inc. (DBA Boston Workers Circle) | Supporting the upgrade of communications, programming and fundraising capacity through the use of Salesforce | Brookline, MA |
| Centre Street Minyan Inc (DBA Walnut Street Minyan) | Soulful Socials: Music for the Soul and Nourishment for the Body program presenting four evenings of Jewish music and “ruach”: two that welcome Shabbat and two that mark Shabbat’s departure | Newton Center, MA |
| Chabad at Chestnut Hill | Providing a series of dinners, lectures and courses to get people engaged again in person | Chestnut Hill, MA |
| Chelsea Jewish Lifecare | Jewish Chaplaincy Initiative to provide support and spiritual guidance to residents of Leonard Florence Center for Living | Chelsea, MA |
| Congregation Sha'Aray Shalom | Offering a series of Friday night Shabbat dinners and family services designed to welcome the broader Jewish community on the coastal south shore | Hingham, MA |
| Congregation Tifereth Israel of Winthrop | Providing Kiddush Oneg--Mizonot, Light Lunch, Lunch, Mizonot for their congregation and and fund a community Seder | Winthrop, MA |
| Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis | Religious Rites and Reproductive Rights Exhibit to celebrate Jewish women's involvement in reproductive rights struggles through the medium of a public art exhibition | Waltham, MA |
| Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action | Communications Outreach Project to hire a communications consultant to ensure that JALSA’s policy work and initiatives are known to a broader audience | Boston, MA |
| Kesher, Inc. | Hiring of a Community Art Therapist to provide emotional support as well as creative outlets with which to explore Jewish topics such as values, holidays and other themes | Somerville, MA |
| Mamaliga Klezmer | The development, production and Greater-Boston tour of a new performance story-telling piece, Three tasks of Elijah; A New Jewish Folktale | Jaimaica Plain, MA |
| North Suburban Jewish Community Center | NSJCC Family Engagement in Action program to increase the NSJCC’s offerings of family-centered events that engage the local Jewish community | Peabody, MA |
| Temple Beth Sholom - Framingham | Metrowest Culturefest to explore multicultural Judaism and Jewish experiences through music and food | Framingha, MA |
| Temple B'nai Brith | Family Programming Initiative to run a range of family events and enhance monthly family Shabbat services | Somerville, MA |
| Temple Israel of Natick | Israel Seder Project to help thoughtfully ritualise the significance of the Jewish State through an interactive and intergenerational model that engages all of the senses | Natick, MA |
| Temple Shalom of Newton | Beyond the Walls; Temple Shalom Outreach & Engagement Strategy to host three holiday events for Families with Young Children centered around Tu Bishavat, Passover, and Shavuot | Newton, MA |
| Tikkun Leil Shavuot in Brookline | To hold an all-night learning event on the first night of Shavuot including short study sessions and a communal dinner | Brookline, MA |
| The Vilna Shul: Boston's Center for Jewish Culture | Concerts & Conversations program to bring together diverse and distinguished performing arts groups across the city of Boston and present their work through the lens of interreligious and interethnic dialogue | Boston, MA |
| VOICES Boston | Presenting 2 performances of Brundibar, But the Giraffe, and We Will Outlive Them to the greater Boston community | Brookline Village, MA |