Keshet, a national grassroots organization that works for the full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Jews in Jewish life, has been awarded $250,000 by the Jim Joseph Foundation.

The funding will support the expansion of Keshet’s signature training, The Keshet Leadership Project, to Jewish organizations in New York and Los Angeles over the next two years. The Leadership Project is a multi-service program that convenes, trains, provides resources for and supports Jewish institutions to become more inclusive of LGBT individuals and families, with a particular focus on youth. The Project is designed to impact the policies, programs and cultures of Jewish institutions by supporting the leaders of those institutions to make sustainable change over time.

For over a decade, Keshet has worked with organizations, trainers and leaders within the Jewish community, to gather and test best practices for an impactful training model.

The Keshet Leadership Project is an intensive program, consisting of five phases: Assessment, Learning, Planning for Action, Follow-up, and Evaluation. The Project launches with the Keshet Leadership Summit, an immersive and experiential day-long program designed to build the capacity of individual leaders, such as rabbis, executive directors, heads of schools, camp directors, youth movement leadership and top lay leaders. Each leader and institutional team drafts an action plan with objectives and a timetable for implementation. Following the Summit, leaders receive specialized coaching over the course of a year to help them carry out their action plans. In addition, Keshet Trainers are available for on-site trainings for an institution’s entire leadership, faculty, staff or community members.

The Leadership Project is currently underway with Jewish community institutions in Miami, Boston, and Palo Alto.

You can learn more about the Keshet Leadership Project by visiting the project website, www.keshetonline.org/training-and-consultation/trainings/leadershipproject/