Dear Friends,

Over the past week, I have watched and stood with many around the country who demanded justice. In a non-violent protest in Manhattan, I said his name, George Floyd; one of many names that needs to be remembered at this time.

Within our Jewish tradition we recite names to honor the memory of those we’ve lost. As you read this email, say the name George Floyd out loud.

While we try to come to terms with where our world is today, our role as educators is now fundamental in how we support our teens. In the field of philanthropy, our role is to teach teens to critically analyze issues in our community, to stand up, to take action and to allocate funding in order to make change. As the events of the last week continue to unfold, JTFN is committed to ensure we offer resources and training so you are best equipped to facilitate difficult but necessary conversations with your teens.

There is much work ahead for us. We need to ask how do we educate ourselves? How do we understand our own racial biases? And how do we learn this work effectively and listen to others so we are able to offer philanthropy education for teens in a manner that builds community, offers pride as Jews to stand with others and creates a just and equitable world.

This work is not short-term and we need to take time to do it properly so we offer you the right opportunities to learn and to heal. JTFN makes the commitment that our resources, trainings and materials over the coming months will help programs uphold our core philanthropy values of Human Dignity, Service, Responsibility, Preservation, Lovingkindness, Hope AND Justice.

For immediate resources addressing anti-racism from the field, please visit:  bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES

If you have any resources you wish to share about your work in your programs, please email them to jtfn@jtfn.org.

In solidarity,

Wayne K. Green
Executive Director
Jewish Teen Funders Network