With multi-year support from the Ruderman Family Foundation, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) will build on the successful launch of the Ruderman Inclusion Action Community initiative to transform Conservative congregations into truly inclusive communities for people with disabilities.

This effort aims to create congregations in which the community culture supports all aspects of inclusion – allowing people with disabilities and their families to participate fully and comfortably in congregational life.

Sixteen USCJ-affiliated congregations, from across North America, participated in the 2014/2015 Ruderman Inclusion Action Community, led by Inclusion Specialist Ed Frim. The partnership will now support action communities for each of the three years of the grant of up to 20 congregations that demonstrates interest and readiness to study and work intensively on developing a realistic blueprint for change. The materials and learning from the first cohort and this new group will be shared with other congregations in the USCJ network, thereby multiplying the impact of the core group’s work.

The partnership with USCJ is a part of the Foundation’s commitment to disability inclusion within the Conservative movement. However, as Jewish communities across North America celebrate Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) the Ruderman Family Foundation is also striving to make all Jewish life, regardless of movement or affiliation, fully inclusive, with multi-year, multi-million dollar commitments to other denominations inside Judaism, such as the Reform Movement, Chabad Lubavich and the Orthodox Union.