Twelve Jewish nonprofits have been awarded a total of  $575,000 in “field building grants” from SRE Network, the organization announced today. 

Connecting over 175 Jewish organizations, SRE Network promotes creating and maintaining safe, respectful and equitable Jewish workplaces and communal spaces through network building, resource sharing and community investments. 

“These twelve outstanding grantees and the projects they are undertaking fill me with immense hope for the future,” Rachel Gildiner, SRE Network’s executive director, said in a statement. “I am optimistic that their work will create wide ripples of positive impact, inspiring systemic change and strengthening the fabric of the Jewish nonprofit sector.”

SRE Network’s field building grants are investments in the potential of programs and initiatives to generate the positive ripple effects Gildiner is talking about. Recipients are either engaged in gender-focused efforts to address harassment and inequity, with women as primary beneficiaries; or broader safety, respect and equity culture change efforts that either operate across multiple identities or focus on specific populations other than women (addressing racism, for instance, or disability access). 

For the Spring 2024 round of competitive grants, SRE Network received 31 applications from member organizations and affiliates. The grantees reflect a range of geographic diversity, organizational mission and size, and the grants will go toward sustaining or expanding existing programs or launching new ones.

The JCC Association of North America, for instance, will use its two-year grant to create and implement a “JCulture Intensive” program, which will offer foundational training to senior-level professionals about ensuring safe, respectful and equitable workspaces. Ta’amod’s one-year grant will support its ongoing work of applying frameworks of Jewish wisdom and accountability to create “Jewish cultural shifts” to help communities live in alignment with their values.

On a more local level, Bay-area organization Shalom Bayit’s two-year grant will go toward continuing its “We Commit” project to address sexual harassment in congregations and Jewish organizations. 

Jewish Women International will use its two-year grant to continue its “Here for You” program — which offers trauma-informed, survivor-centered trainings for Jewish organizational staff, administration and security teams focused on policies and procedures that support survivors of domestic violence and their children — and enable the program’s launch in additional communities. Shalom Task Force, which focuses on reaching sectors of the Jewish community that need particularly culturally sensitive programming, will use its two-year grant to update and expand its guide for communal leadership to collaborate with Orthodox leadership around responding to intimate partner violence.

Focusing on LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality, Eshel’s two-year grant will go toward the launch of its “Welcoming Communities Project,” an initiative aiming to educate LGBTQ+ allies in Orthodox Jewish communities about the issues facing Orthodox LGBTQ+ individuals and their families and what they can do to make their communities more LGBTQ+ inclusive. Keshet will use its two-year grant to expand and deepen its education and training (E&T) programs to advance LGBTQ+ equality and belonging in Jewish communal institutions nationwide, including geographically targeted efforts in Florida and the Southwest.

Focusing on specific denominations within the Jewish community, the Women’s Rabbinic Network will use its one-year grant to continue its research, education and advocacy efforts to advance pay equity, paid family and medical leave rights for all employees within Reform Jewish institutions; Footsteps will use its one-year grant deepen its capacity to offer social and emotional support, academic and career guidance, legal assistance, life skills workshops and community-wide events for individuals who have chosen to leave their ultra-Orthodox communities; and Yeshivat Maharat’s two-year grant will go toward developing a network for female Orthodox rabbis and those who are not ordained but serve in rabbinic capacities.

Finally, the Jewish Women’s Archive’s two-year grant will be used to launch a writing fellowship for Jewish women of color, and Moving Traditions will use its one-year grant to expand its CultureShift program, focused on supporting teens in building healthy relationships.

Over the past six years, SRE Network has invested over $6.5 million across 108 projects and 52 organizations through its grantmaking, technical assistance and partnerships. 

The organization will begin accepting applications from its members and affiliates for its Fall 2024 internal capacity-building grants in the coming weeks.