2026 Jewish Federation Annual Meeting

This year’s Annual Meeting was chaired by Laurie Price. (Photo credit: Robert Kusel)

The 126th Annual Meeting of the Jewish Federation of Chicago brought together 850 members of Chicago’s Jewish community to reflect on a year dedicated to resolve, hope, service, and the power of connection. 

Annual Meeting Chair Laurie Price presided over the Sept. 10 proceedings at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk.  

“This is an opportunity to reunite with friends—and to celebrate the values and responsibilities that unite us,” Price said. “Our unwavering commitment to strengthening Jewish life in Chicago,  

to serve others with compassion and purpose, and to stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel. Our dedication to creating meaningful opportunities for connection—across generations, across neighborhoods, and across every stage of life’s journey. Our resolve to enhancing the safety and security of our community.” 

During the meeting, King Harris was presented with the 63rd annual Julius Rosenwald Memorial Award—JUF’s highest honor—in recognition for his service to the community. 

“He is a man of diverse interests—like Rosenwald, having enriched our educational and cultural institutions,” said Wendy C. Abrams, 2024-2026 JUF/Federation Board Chair. “Above all, wherever he has seen glaring needs, King Harris has worked to develop solutions. He has marshaled resources to provide whatever has been in short supply: whether much-needed housing or a measure of humanity.” 

Abrams continued, “To Chicago’s Jewish community, King Harris has been more than a steadfast supporter—he has been a role model who leads with empathy and by example.” 

This year’s Davis, Gidwitz & Glasser Young Leadership Awards, which honor extraordinary young volunteers were presented to young leaders Elizabeth Darvick and Marc Karlinsky. 

Two exemplary young Jewish communal professionals—Jared Hoffman, JUF’s Senior Legislative Associate, and Naomi Looper, Midwest Community Director for BBYO—were recognized with Samuel A. Goldsmith Awards. 

In addition, outgoing Board Chair Abrams was thanked for her compassionate leadership and impeccable judgment during her two-year term, and Carey Cooper was welcomed as JUF/Federation’s new Board Chair.  

The 2026 JUF Annual Campaign Chairs Jamie Diamond Schwartz and David Schwartz were thanked for their leadership and service, and Sanford Perl was introduced as General Chair of the 2027 Annual Campaign. 

Price also acknowledged the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in her remarks. “We realized that the world that our children would inherit would never be exactly how we had pictured it, and that our own lives would never be the same,” she about the attacks. “This lesson was brutally reinforced almost three years ago, on October 7, when we awoke to another moment of terror, evil, and inhumanity.” 

She continued, emphasizing the importance of the community’s strength. “We know, however, that even in the face of the most heart-wrenching trauma, we can—and must—remain resolved to rebuild, draw upon our reservoir of communal strength, and focus unrelentingly on the future,” Price asserted. “JUF’s work never stop. This community never stops. You are industrious. Your energy is inexhaustible. Your contributions—seen or unseen—are indispensable.   

In the annual State of the Federation address, JUF President Lonnie Nasatir highlighted the breadth of JUF’s work throughout the Chicago area and beyond as well as emphasized the importance of standing together and remaining united in today’s politically charges and divisive climate. 

“The community we have built—the community we have nurtured—can weather this storm together,” Nasatir said. “Over the last 78 years, even as Jews in the diaspora have held varying opinions on politics and policies in Israel, those feelings came from a place of love, a place of shared connection and commitment.    

“We need to work together to build—and at times rebuild—that sense of connection in the next generation.”