As someone who has spent many years working to advance the Jewish Queer Community in Los Angeles, I am beyond delighted to report that the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has put their money where their mouth is and directly invested in the advancement of this community. No doubt spearheaded by long-time ally Andrew Cushnir, JQ International (the fiscal sponsor of the 2wice Blessed Project) was allotted seed funding for their young adult programming work, specifically ear-marked to hire a new (and first ever!) Director of Development.

“We made a philosophic decision that Federation young adult programming was going to be more about Jewish engagement than about Federation engagement or Federation fundraising,” said Andrew Cushnir, executive vice president and chief program officer at Federation.

We want to publicly acknowledge the support, thank the powers-that-be, and encourage other federations and larger Jewish Institutions to the same. It’s not enough to put a rainbow on your flyer if you’re not willing to invest in the community that you want to show up and donate to your organization. This specific, dedicated, and exemplary approach to collaboration with the Jewish Queer community is fantastic.

To read more about this announcement, check out the Jewish Journal article here.