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July 2001 Issue

Training a New Generation: Jewish Organizers for Justice

By Michael Brown

Tachlis/Purpose is the monthly column on SocialAction.com by member organizations of the Jewish Social Justice Network (www.jfjustice.org), a national network of Jewish groups working in local communities to build Jewish involvement with social justice issues. SocialAction.com has graciously allowed GenerationJ.com to reprint this issue, in which Michael Brown, the Executive Director of the Jewish Organizing Initiative, shares how a model of training young Jewish adults in community organizing and Jewish community is making an impact in the Boston area. JSJN is eager to hear from other activists around North American--write to cindy@jfjustice.org with reports about your own efforts.

According to a recent survey by Amos: The National Jewish Partnership for Social Justice, many American Jews see "social justice" as a primary piece of their Jewish identity. But how can we make this commitment a significant part of Jewish life? How can we use the power of the Jewish community in America to be a greater force for justice in daily life of Americans?

The Jewish Organizing Initiative (JOI) is part of the answer. While there is much Jewish philanthropic support for organizations that work for justice, JOI provides the actual people--full-time staff members--to be a part of that work.

JOI is a year-long fellowship program for young Jews from all over the world, aged 22 to 30 and generally just out of college, seriously committed to social justice. The fellowships include a yearlong, full-time, paid job ($18,000 per year, including health insurance and help with college loans) in community and labor organizing, primarily in low-income community organizations in the Boston area.

The fellows' year includes residential training in community organizing and community programs, and sessions on reflection, organizing training, Jewish learning and community building throughout the year. JOI also connects each fellow with a volunteer adviser or mentor. The fellows work on a group project, and network with the broader Jewish community to expand Jewish involvement in grassroots community work. Through this model, JOI trains young Jewish adults as skilled community organizers, and strengthens Jewish communal support for social and economic justice, including the development of strategic partnerships with community organizations of low-income people.

How did this all get started? JOI's roots are in both the organizing and Jewish communities. In 1995-96, two groups of "middle aged" organizers, educators and activists informally got together-one at a Jewish caucus of the National Organizers Alliance, and one at an annual Passover seder held by friends involved with Brandeis University's Center for Modern Jewish Studies. We noted that though community organizing and social/economic justice work had been a motivating force in our lives and a place where Jews have been heavily involved historically, there was no organized way for young Jews to enter this world. We also observed that other faith traditions had models to train young people, and wanted to figure out what our community could do.

A team of us began meeting to develop a vision, leading to a full year of planning. JOI's first class of 10 fellows working in 10 community organizations began in September 1998. Since then, JOI has recruited and trained 32 young Jewish adults as community organizers in more than 20 grassroots community and labor organizations in the Greater Boston area.

Through this model, JOI has played an important role in helping organize local grassroots low-income community organizations, strengthening these groups (who often struggle to find adequate resources). We have helped create jobs where none existed before, and brought new people, money, and strength to underserved communities. In some cases, our partnership has even helped raise new support to fund additional permanent positions.

The JOI fellows have also trained hundreds of area teens in social justice work and have served as role models, demonstrating that young people can have a real part in working for justice and do it in a distinctly Jewish context. Many of these teens have told us they "never knew you could do [social justice work] for a living."

JOI has also helped break down barriers and stereotypes between Jews and people from other communities, bringing young Jewish social justice organizers into low-income, non-Jewish communities where, in some cases, the JOI fellow is the first Jew they have ever met. Additionally, Jews from suburban synagogues have, through JOI, connected with low-income communities with which they had no previous contact, and helped the mainstream organized Jewish community make justice more a part of its work.

Here are some examples of what JOI fellow are working on this year:

* Avi Green, Jewish Labor Committee, age 28, works on building support for labor in the Jewish community, and on the Harvard Living Wage Campaign
* Emil Levy, 23, born in Bulgaria, works at ROCA, Inc, in Chelsea, MA, works on developing Central American and Bosnian youth leadership
* Emily Kusher, 23, works on developing after school program and legislative support for child care and after school programs
* Tana Becker, 23, works with the affiliate of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers and The State Health Care Employees Union( an AFSCME affiliate), and organizes workers at Worcester Memorial Hospital and Worcester Medical Center

One of the most exciting things about JOI is seeing the affect our model has had on the fellows. Many of our alumni have continued in social justice work. Some have gone on to work for labor unions; some to direct organizing for national and local social justice organizations; and some to rabbinical school. The alumni have also stayed connected to the JOI community and to each other, joining our board, forming an alumni network, and actively recruiting new fellows.

Working for justice requires more than better policy and ideas. It takes powerful organizations made up of and for people whose lives are affected by political and economic conditions, policy and decisions.

JOI '99-00 alumna and current board member Faye Ruth Fisher, the Legislative/Political Coordinator for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, is part of the organizing effort to correlate Massachusetts minimum wage to inflation and current costs of living. "We have the highest minimum wage in the country ($6.75) due in part to massive coalition efforts led by the Mass AFL-CIO," she explains. "Now we and like-minded coalition partners are working on legislation that will index the minimum wage to inflation to ensure minimum-wage workers are not left out in times of economic prosperity."

You can help workers across the country by urging the U.S. Congress to follow Massachusetts's example. Call your Senator or Congressperson and tell them that all our nation's workers deserve a minimum wage that is in step with inflation and the cost of living in this new millennium. For more information go to www.aflcio.org.

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