PROPEL FY22 RENEWAL GRANTS:
Agewell: AgeWell Atlanta is a collaboration between Jewish Home Life, Jewish Family & Career Services, the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. With one call, you will be connected to an Information & Referral Specialist who will assist you with accessing programs and services provided by our partner agencies and other community partners.
Be’chol Lashon: Atlanta’s Jewish community is diverse and becoming increasingly more so but our legacy institutions struggle to address this demographic. Also, as a Southern city, Atlanta has a complex history with regard to race. We propose bringing Be’chol Lashon’s diversity training workshops and educational resources to create greater awareness of racial and ethnic diversity in Atlanta’s Jewish Community. The goal is to provide the tools for organizations to fulfill their mission of being more inclusive. Diverse trainers will facilitate community conversations about race and identity in a Jewish context, followed up by personal consultations with each organization.
Career Up Now: At Career Up Now we believe in the power of Jewish women and are dedicated to gender equity and balance. Our Women of Wisdom programs center upon the intersection of career advancement and shared Jewish wisdom. Women of Wisdom is a local community where young women explore Jewish values and career advancement with community and industry leaders. The community focuses on women’s empowerment, with Jewish women community and industry leaders serving as role models. By encouraging the formation of organic mentorships and soulful connections, we offer access and opportunities for emerging Jewish women professionals to engage intergenerationally with women industry leaders for to advance each other and repair the world.
Jewish Education Collaborative: The Jewish Education Collaborative works to advance compelling part-time Jewish education. How can we engage more children and families in meaningful Jewish learning that will help them to thrive in the world? How can we explore new models that respond to the needs of modern families? How can we make Atlanta a thrilling model for collaboration and innovation in Jewish education?
Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM): TOM (Tikkun Olam Maker) at Georgia Tech (GT) is part of TOM Global: a movement of communities that creates and disseminates affordable solutions to neglected challenges of people living with disabilities, the elderly, and the poor. In partnership with JF&CS, TOM at GT will identify need-knowers in the Atlanta community to participate in a Spring 2021 Makeathon event. Over 75 GT students will participate in maker teams to create a prototype for their need-knower to take home. The prototypes will be inexpensive to make, and open source, so that others in the TOM Global community can benefit as well.
Trybal Gatherings: Trybal’s core program is a 4-day, 3-night camp experience that provides a socially Jewish environment for millennials to have fun, connect with new people, and plug into a dynamic Jewish community during a purposeful Shabbat retreat. This retreat is designed to serve as a grassroots entry point to Jewish communal life. Our partnership model is designed to create mutual value and lead to sustainability for local supporters/partners. With tens of thousands of Birthright and camp alumni in the region, Trybal represents a major opportunity for Jewish millennial engagement.
PROPEL FY22 NEW GRANTS:
Owned and led by Jewish women of color, Atlanta Jews of Color Council (AJOCC) is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering a more equitable community. AJOCC has set an ambitious mission to drive actionable institutional change by amplifying the local voices of historically marginalized and underrepresented Jews of Color. Its core belief is that local JOC should have agency in the planning and operations of their local community. AJOCC advocates for racial equity in hiring, multicultural inclusion, and local leadership. Through intentional programming, it also builds welcoming, affirming spaces where members and co-conspirators develop a deeper connection to Judaism and Jewish community.
The Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collection, housed in archives at The Breman Museum, consists of more than 1,000 interviews that document Jewish life in Georgia and Alabama. This invaluable community asset is currently undergoing a 21st century update that is exponentially increasing access. Nearly 200 interviews have been cataloged in Aviary, a state-of-the-art online platform for oral history description, which displays media alongside a timestamped, annotated transcript and index. With support from the Innovation fund, The Breman will continue growing this archive with dozens of more interviews cataloged and new oral history interviews captured as well.
The Jewish community is at high risk for certain hereditary cancers. Genetic testing and counseling give people information and medical options that play a key role in cancer prevention. This JScreen initiative focuses on educating the Atlanta Jewish community about their risks and the importance of testing. The goal is to help our community reimagine a life where no one has to say, “if only I had known about my cancer risk.” JScreen will help people access the testing they need to live longer, healthier lives.
Founded by Rabbi Ariel Wolpe, Ma’alot is a relational and spiritual community open to anyone and built with those it will serve. Ma’alot brings authentic, intimate, experiential Jewish experiences inviting people to bring their whole selves and leaving nothing outside the door.
During the pandemic last year, leaders at PJ Library noticed a drop-off in virtual engagement due to “zoom fatigue.” Families expressed that they were less likely to “do Jewish” because they were overwhelmed by the effects of COVID-19. So the PJ team pivoted by launching a first-ever grant cycle to empower parents to create meaningful holiday events that fit their Jewish, social, and safety needs. It was a hit with more demand than the funding pool can supply. Fed Inno’s Propel grant will enable hundreds of families to create their own Jewish experiences with like-minded peers.
Political Leaders of Tomorrow (PLOT) seeks to inspire a new generation of Blacks and Jews to lead active, engaged, and empowered lives. PLOT participants will convene over a 6-week period to meet each other, identify issues of bigotry, and engage in courageous conversations to build future alliances to fight racism and antisemitism through public policy, advocacy, and activism.
Jewish Atlanta is constantly evolving. Our city changes a little bit each day, and with those changes come people who are determined to solve problems and make our community richer and more welcoming than before. Federation’s Jewish Innovation Initiative supports groups and individuals in our city who do this important work. In honor of Women’s History Month, we want to highlight just two of the women-led organizations backed by the Innovation Initiative that are blazing new trails in Jewish Atlanta. 
Atlanta is a bit of an outlier when it comes to celebrating national Pride month in June. In Atlanta the Pride parade and related events happen in October. Nevertheless, SOJOURN, Atlanta’s Jewish advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ issues, has two exciting events happening during June for national Pride month.
By: Nichole “Niki” Hetchkop, Founder of Beeline Bagels
Federation Innovation is committed to providing guidance, connections, and resources to Jewish Atlanta’s changemakers. One of the biggest ways we fulfill our mission is investing significant, early-stage funding (known as Propel grants) to new projects, methods, and ideas addressing our community’s biggest needs. We are thrilled to announce new Propel grants to:
