Pursue engages young people at the intersection where their Jewish values meet their passion for social justice, building a community that takes action to create social change. We offer a new opportunity to work together toward a just world within and beyond the Jewish community.

A project of American Jewish World Service and AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, Pursue organizes and facilitates educational programs, advocacy action, networking opportunities, celebrations, community dialogues, leadership development skills trainings, and more. Pursue works in collaboration with local social justice and service organizations and regional City Teams. Grounded at the intersection of Judaism and social justice, Pursue has engaged over 5,000 individuals since its inception in 2006 with programs in New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco and select other cities.

Pursue was founded in 2006 as the AJWS-AVODAH Partnership.

Our Mission

Jewish change-makers are inspired, motivated, and fiercely smart. Jewish values urge us to question injustice, act, and take collective responsibility. Pursue sparks and sustains social change by channeling the unlimited passion and potential of Jewish change-makers in their 20s and 30s into action for a more just world.

Our Theory of Change

We believe in the power of community. When people have a strong sense of community, they are more likely to identify a common purpose within that community and act together towards reaching a common goal. By creating opportunities to come together around shared values, we equip participants with the skills, resources and sense of purpose necessary to collectively advance social change efforts and to sustain long-term commitments to that work.

We believe that collaboration is critical – across individuals and across organizations. When we model collaboration with like-minded organizations, we maximize the resources in the Jewish community geared towards building a social justice movement. Movement building suffers from organizations with shared values competing over scarce resources. We model an approach that highlights the positive effects of institutional alliances, and thereby provides leadership that exemplifies the power of community. Our work contributes to the growth of a stronger Jewish community in which collaborative justice efforts and service are a normative expression of Jewish values.

We believe that strategic, targeted support for leaders and innovators has lasting and transformative effect on individuals and communities. Our work with emerging leaders is a critical strategy in our efforts to engage, train, and mobilize our community. When leaders stand up on behalf of issues they care about, they will be more effective because of their experience with us. This increases the impact the individuals bring to the institutions they create and lead, and to the causes they seek to advance, resulting in the achievement of lasting social change.