Pursue is winding down, and we’re going to celebrate! We’re throwing a shindig to acknowledge the networks, communities, programs and individuals that have made up Pursue for the last 6 years in New York. 

Join us for delicious food, libations, music, art and more!
When: Thursday, November 29th

On Wednesday, August 1st, Pursue held the final installment of its quarterly networking series, Meet the Change, and featured an opportunity to get to know the most skilled, innovative and thoughtful change makers yet: the Pursue community!  (Photos by Naomi Ellenson.)

(The Last Ever)  Meet the Change: What Happens Next is Up to You!

When: Wednesday, August 1st at 7.00 pm.

Where: Green Spaces NYC at 394 Broadway, 5th floor (@ Walker & White, just south of Canal Street – see map here).

* The entrance to the elevator is at 394 Cortlandt Alley. 

Why: In its final installment, Meet the Change, Pursue’s quarterly networking series, will feature an opportunity to get to know the most skilled, innovative and thoughtful change makers yet: the Pursue community!

Join us when we turn Meet the Change on its head and focus on all of you in all of your various and inspirational incarnations: rabble rouser, artist, educator, non-profit professional, lawyer, social worker, philanthropist, entrepreneur, etc.

Spend an evening getting networked and accessing the energy, imagination and power that’s unique to Pursuers and that will support you in your work of changing the world.

Why else: We will be joined by trainer and activist Rebecca Wisotsky who will share networking tips and best practices, help us hone our skills, and facilitate opportunities for all y’all to meet each other!

Cost: Free (light, Kosher, Tav-certified vegetarian meal provided)

RSVP: Below (and invite your friends via Facebook, here)

About Rebecca Wisotsky:
Rebecca Wisotsky is a Jewish, queer, Puerto Rican who has over 10 years of experience in counseling, community organizing, program development, training and facilitation. Rebecca currently works with the Audre Lorde Project where she develops and manages 3rd Space Support, a program that creates sustainable methods of community based support for LGBTSTGNC people of color in New York City.  Previously, Rebecca worked with Social Justice Leadership to design and facilitate political education and leadership development curriculum for the national COIN program.  Before moving to the east coast in 2010, Rebecca spent 3.5 years providing counseling for LGBT survivors of domestic violence and oversaw a youth violence prevention program in Seattle, WA.  Rebecca has a MSW with a concentration in Multi-ethnic Practice from the University of Washington and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner, Katya and cat, Sebio.

 About Meet the Change:
Meet the Change is Pursue’s quarterly networking series. It is an open invitation to change-makers from across the spectrum: teachers and students, social workers and social entrepreneurs, artists and lawyers, investors and innovators, organizers, educators, and agitators – anyone and everyone seeking co-conspirators for activating their Jewish and social justice values. Each event presents the efforts of a featured change-maker while encouraging attendees to connect with one another around their own ideas, desires, and plans for making change. To view pictures of previous Meet the Change events, with the Yes Men, Sara Horowitz, Ami Dar, Rachel Tiven, Billy Wimsatt , Jenni Wolfson and Occupy Wall Street respectively, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Please note: the People of the Book Club will not be meeting tonight. Stay tuned for details about our next book! 

Join us for the next People of the Book Club!  

What: Do It Anyway by Courtney Martin

When: Wednesday, August 8^th , 6.00-8.00 pm

Where: AJWS 8th floor conference room, 45 West 36th St.

RSVP: Email Chanel at cdubofsky@ajws.org

About the book: That age-old quest for meaning—Who am I? What is my calling? How can I make the world better?—gets a 21st-century makeover. Courtney E. Martin abandons the empty “save the world” rhetoric and ’60s nostalgia that her generation was raised on and doggedly pursues the gritty truth about social change in contemporary America. It’s complicated. It’s challenging. And, yet, it’s still possible. In Do It Anyway, Martin deeply explores the lives of eight activists—not superhuman heroes, but ordinary young people searching for their own way to make a difference. Among others, we meet Raul Diaz, a prison re-entry social worker at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles; Nia Robinson, an African American climate change activist out of Detroit; Maricela Guzman, a former soldier fighting to end violence against women in the military through the Service Women’s Action Network; and Rosario Dawson, an actor struggling to use her celebrity for social change while staying authentic in her activism. In direct opposition to an older generation’s cry that young people are apathetic and disengaged, Do It Anyway reveals a new generation of activism and calls on young people to transcend school-required community service and paper-pushing nonprofit jobs in favor of the kind of work that keeps you up at night because you believe in it so deeply.

On Sunday, June 17th, the Pursue City Team held their first event-a scavenger hunt at the Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg followed by delicious food and discussion at  the Brooklyn Winery. (Photos by Audrey Sasson.)

• This week AJWS released its annual report for 2011. This completely online edition had a major environmental impact, saving 30 tons of wood, 18,575 pounds of greenhouse gases and 23,443 pounds of solid waste from a printed version. Among the highlights of the report are a gallery of the year 2011 in photos, tales from AJWS grantees of 11 social justice victories in 2011, and (we’re proud to see) a mention of Pursue in the section about mobilizing and organizing young Jewish activists.
   
• The Conservative Movement took a step forward this week by authorizing guidelines for its 1,600 rabbis to officiate at same-sex marriage ceremonies. The Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which sets Jewish law policies for the movement, came up with ritual procedures for two types of ceremonies, one more traditional than the other, and also for divorce proceedings. The unanimous vote in favor of the guidelines reflects their intent “to bring sanctity between people who want to build a Jewish home.”
   
• As part of the Caring Across Generations campaign, which aims to improve care for the elderly while maintaining the dignity of the workers who provide their care, events known as Care Congresses are being held around the country to bring together people who care about these issues. Last weekend, New York City held its Care Congress with an astounding 600 participants, making it the largest gathering in the country. To see photos from the event, click here, and to learn about a Care Congress in your area, click here.
   
• The Forward’s Sisterhood Blog published its 15th installment of a series dedicated to exploring Jewish feminism. In her piece, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg explains that both Judaism and feminism need the other to exist, providing spiritual support on the one hand and an important spectrum of voices and perspectives on the other. To read the other entries in this ongoing series, including pieces by Susannah Heschel and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, click here.

On Sunday, May 20th, Pursue hosted its 4th annual Inside the Activists’ Studio (IAS) event in New York at the Elisabeth Irwin High School in the West Village. The event began with a panel discussion moderated by Tablet’s Sara Ivry. Following the panel, Pursuers participated in various social justice workshops and enjoyed art by Rachel Schragis. After a delicious dinner, the event closed with a performance featuring the evening’s emcee, Jenny Romaine. For a recap of the event, please click here.

Photos by Naomi Ellenson.

• This past weekend, Pursue hosted Inside the Activists’ Studio in New York City, a dose of inspiration for change-makers in the community. The event coincides with a new exhibit that opened this month at the Museum of the City of New York, Activist New York. Chronicling 350 years worth of activist history in the city, a review of the exhibit in The Forward tied the spirit of these change-makers to the Jewish social justice organizations making strides today – including the 20+ that collaborated with Pursue to make Inside the Activists’ Studio happen.
   
• In this season of graduations, many words of wisdom about changing the world are being shared with new graduates. AJWS’s Ruth Messinger contributed by giving the baccalaureate sermon last week at a ceremony for graduating students at Elon University in North Carolina. She urged the graduates to take risks and, to make real change in the world, “recognize that each person on this planet is valuable and build coalitions across lines of race, class and religion.” A mentee of Ruth’s, Eboo Patel of Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago, delivered a similar message inspired by her commitment to interfaith cooperation at the Colgate University Baccalaureate.
   
• The Jewish Week released its latest annual listing of 36 Under 36 in the Jewish community. Ranging from college students organizing their campuses against genocide to Uri L’Tzedek’s Rabbi Ari Weiss, the list is full of young Jewish change-makers. To see the complete list of “young educators, thinkers, social justice activists, philanthropists and artists reinventing Jewish life,” click here. If you had to create your own list, who would you include?

Pursue is overjoyed to bring you Justice and Jewish Thought: Summer School!

What is Justice and Jewish Thought?
Justice and Jewish Thought is a city-wide study program comprised of multiple small groups meeting simultaneously across the city over the course of eight weeks. The groups engage with a challenging curriculum that explores how various oppressions – such as race, class, gender, sexual identity, and anti-Semitism – intersect with and affect our identities as Jews, our Jewish practices, and our social justice work. The course presents a unique opportunity to build community with a small group of committed people while sharpening your analysis related to social change.

This program is participant-led. There are no external experts or teachers. Participants take turns hosting in their homes and facilitating the group discussions. For most participants, this structure combined with the curriculum itself, are what make the program both unique and meaningful.

When and Where?
The program runs from the beginning of July until the end of August (for a total of eight weeks). The program is bookended by an opening and closing event for all participants (week of July 9th and August 27th, respectively). Groups will meet weekly, in the evenings, for their small group discussions. Everyone who registers will have an opportunity to identify the day of the week and the neighborhood that most suits their schedule. The opening and closing events will be at a centrally located venue (TBA). The small group discussions will take place in peoples’ homes, on a rotating basis.

Why Should You Participate?
Justice and Jewish Thought is one of Pursue’s most sought-after programs. Communities across the country have contacted us to find out how they can bring Justice and Jewish Thought to their own backyards. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to delve deeply with like-minded folks on some of the most challenging but deeply personal issues that anyone engaged in justice work inevitably faces. 

How to Register?
Complete the form below. Registration will remain open until June 22nd. A limited number of spaces are available for volunteers to take on official leadership roles. Please contact Chanel Dubofsky at chanel@pursueaction.org for more information.

 

Join this year’s Pursue City Team for a community scavenger hunt where Jews from a diversity of backgrounds will investigate questions of how we define our Jewish identities, how they fit within our 21st consumerist culture, how we understand our impact on the world, both at home and abroad, and how we can remain true to ourselves as righteous people of the book. Are we reaching our full potential?

We’ll explore the zany maze of artifacts and memorabilia at the Brooklyn Flea, hunt for objects that resonate and remind us of our roots and our values, and after our search, we’ll come together at a local bar for an exciting discussion of how we remain true to our tradition while navigating the ever-changing world around us.

Who: You! And the Pursue network
What: Community Scavenger Hunt
When: Sunday, June 17 at 3:00 p.m.
Where: Brooklyn Flea Market at the East Williamsburg waterfront, followed by drinks at Brooklyn Winery
Cost: Free, plus the first drink is on Pursue!
BYOC: Bring Your Own Camera (or iPhone, etc.)
RSVP: Register below