A sterling commitment to Jewish women and girls

The Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (JWF) marked its historic Silver Anniversary by awarding a record $390,000 in grants to 22 organizations that promote social change for Jewish women and girls in Chicago, across the U.S., in Israel, and around the world.

Over the decades, JWF has invested nearly $6 million in strategic grantmaking to address both entrenched and emergent issues to positively impact women’s health, safety, education, and economic status.

Highlights of the new grants include:

• In the wake of the Dobbs decision, JWF is doubling down on its support for reproductive rights. 73 Forward, the first of its kind Jewish movement for abortion justice developed by the National Council of Jewish Women, seeks to increase reproductive access for all women including Jewish women. This initiative educates the Jewish community about abortion care, mobilizes Jewish communities to take action at the state and national levels, and advocates for policies that safeguard and expand reproductive rights.

• A grant to the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU focuses on the aftermath of the Dobbs decision in Illinois and the Midwest. The ACLU is addressing urgent and novel issues impacting patients, abortion providers, and those offering assistance to people seeking an abortion. This multi-pronged approach is meant–at the minimum–to hold the line on abortion access and maintain protections for reproductive rights in Illinois.

• Accessible, meaningful, and relevant Jewish experiences are critical to creating an inclusive, dynamic Jewish community for the next generation, and a grant to Metro Chicago Hillel expands Jewish feminist educational offerings around timely, relevant subjects. Topics include Jewish perspectives on abortion for college students, feminist and Jewish speech ethics, LGBTQ+ Torah, and building healthy relationships to prevent domestic violence, run in partnership with SHALVA.

• Israeli NGO La’Ofek received a three-year grant for its Achotenu-Nachshonim program, which provides intensive academic and vocational support for Ethiopian-Israeli women pursuing a career in nursing or occupational therapy. This project creates long-term change by advancing Ethiopian Israeli women as professionals, with ripple effects in higher education, health care, and wider Israeli society.

• The Michal Sela Forum, an Israeli start-up, uses technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity to disrupt the cycle of domestic violence. Bringing together partners in industry, government, high-tech, and counterterrorism, the Michal Sela Forum harnesses technology in innovative ways as a means to save women’s lives.

• Girls Think Career is a pilot project of the Amal 1 Network, one of Israel’s largest school districts, which serves students across ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Designed as a prototype that can be expanded to reach thousands, the project increases the number of girls studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects to prepare them for Israel’s high-tech sector.

• In Djerba, Tunisia, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee operates the Kanfei Yonah Girls School, which provides full time religious and secular studies for girls, affording them opportunities far beyond traditional norms. A grant from JWF builds the school’s educational capacity and establishes it as a social and religious center for the wider Jewish community.

• JWF’s timely grant to Project Kesher helps sustain a gendered response to the war in Ukraine. With its 30-year history in the region and an expansive network of Jewish volunteers and partners, Project Kesher is meeting the burgeoning, changing needs of Ukrainian women and girls–including those remaining in Ukraine as well as those being settled across Europe and Israel–to ensure they are physically safe and psychologically supported so they can begin to rebuild their lives.

“As grant makers, JWF trustees recognize the power and impact that’s possible when we combine our financial resources and our collective voices,” said JWF Grants Chair Stephanie Smerling.

A full list of JWF’s 2022 grants is available at jwfchicago.org.

The Jewish Women’s Foundation is an independent project of the Jewish Federation of Chicago. To learn more or to get involved as a trustee, please contact me at [email protected] or 312-357-4953.

Ellen Carmell is the Executive Director of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.