Description
You are invited to a weekend of learning, Jewish inspiration and community building with leaders from Bend the Arc’s chapters and moral minyans in Midwestern region, including a gathering for Jews of Color.
This regional gathering is designed to strengthen leadership for the next crucial period of Jewish resistance, with a focus on political education, skill building, and relationship building as vital practices to rise to this political moment and support our ongoing sustainability as a movement.
Schedule
Friday, July 27, 7pm: JOC-only programming + optional Shabbat programming
Saturday, July 28, 1pm: Gathering begins
Sunday, July 29, 5pm: Gathering ends
You will have the option to sign up for JOC and/or Shabbat programming when you register.
What to expect:
- An energizing gathering of 50+ volunteer leaders
- Training in nonviolent direct action as a strategy, including reasoning, principles, and roles including Jewish spiritual practice and tradition
- For Jews of Color: A space to build community with one another, in support of JOCs taking leadership in the progressive movement and Bend the Arc
- Racial Justice training + anti-oppression training
- An address by Bend the Arc CEO Stosh Cotler on Friday night
Food will be vegetarian. Kosher food, childcare, and travel scholarships are available, please request when you register.
Please Note:
- We strive to make sure that this gathering is accessible to everyone regardless of financial ability. We are offering this gathering on a sliding scale.
- We welcome all levels of Shabbat observance and want to make sure that this gathering reflects that to the best of our ability. We are planning dedicated JOC programming starting with Shabbat dinner on Friday evening and community building programming on Saturday morning. The Saturday programming is being developed to require no participant writing. We will also accommodate any and all participants who arrive on Friday for Shabbat observance (all programming spaces are walkable to multiple synagogues and we will provide kosher food) or travel.
- All food will be kosher. If you have additional dietary needs please indicate in your registration.
This convening is by invitation-only. If you are interested in bringing additional guests please be in touch with your organizer. If you are interested in attending please contact Graie at [email protected].
Hotel Information:
- The Bend the Arc hotel block is no longer available. You will need to book your own accommodations.
- If you are in need of a subsidy, please email Jared [email protected].
Biographies:
Graie Barasch Hagans is the National Organizer and Training Coordinator at Bend the Arc where he helps American Jews discover their own capacity to build a better and more beautiful world. He holds a MPP from Rutgers University and serves on the board of the Philadelphia Student Union and Jews in All Hues. He is a native of St. Louis and has a deep love for the midwest. Before joining Bend the Arc in June 2017, Graie was an interfaith organizer with the PICO National Network. He is a transmasculine Black Jewish G*d fearing justice lover.
Kayla Glick is the Field and Digital Organizer at Bend the Arc, where she supports the leadership and campaigns of the New York Chapter as well as local communications efforts for Bend the Arc's growing national grassroots network. Before joining Bend the Arc in January of 2015, Kayla was an AVODAH Corps Member in Washington, DC, where she worked at Jews United for Justice as a Community Organizer. Kayla graduated from Tufts University in 2013 with a BA in Classical Studies. She lives in Brooklyn.
Max Socol is a National Organizer with Bend the Arc, supporting chapters and affiliates primarily in the South. Since graduating from St. John’s College, Max has pursued intersecting passions for social justice and Jewish life — as a Jewish educator, a grassroots activist, and frequently as both at once. He is from Greensboro, NC.
Stosh Cotler is the Chief Executive Officer of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action and Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. With 30 years of experience as an organizer, trainer and leader within movements for justice and equity, Stosh is helping to renew and expand the Jewish community’s role in progressive social change within the United States.
In 2015, the Center for American Progress named Stosh as one of the “15 progressive faith leaders to watch” and in 2017 Stosh was proud to become an Auburn Senior Fellow. Previously, the Jewish newspaper The Forward named Stosh one of its 14 Jewish Women To Watch in 2014 and placed her on its Forward 50 list of American Jews who have had the most impact on the national conversation.
In her years of leadership at Bend the Arc, Stosh has personally overseen some of the organization’s most successful national growth strategies, including strategic mergers, the unprecedented expansion of its on-line and off-line grassroots base, and the launch of Bend the Arc Jewish Action PAC. Additionally, Stosh serves on the Leadership Team of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable, helping to strengthen and grow the entire Jewish social justice movement.