Torchbearer Resources

Protect the Rights of Americans of all Faiths

What You Can Do

• Donate to Muslim Advocates
• Learn how to report a hate crime in your state
• Send a letter to local schools about bullying
• Review the “Click Here to End Hate” report

Additional Resources

• Help HIAS by adding your name to today’s campaign: “Don't Let Donald Trump Slam the Door on Refugees.”
• Host a Beyond Differences #NoOneEatsAloneDay at your school on February 10.
• Bring in an ING speaker from its Islamic Speakers and/or Interfaith Speakers Bureaus to supplement diversity programming and counter prejudice.
• Support Pacifica Institute in its efforts for interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding.
• Violence is also growing against Sikhs, Arabs and Hindus and others often mistaken to be Muslim. Help ADL combat hatred of the ‘other.’
• When you see something, say something. Use Human Rights Watch’s #CallItOut system to report incidents of hate in your own community.
• Engage in the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA) interfaith response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Invest in Peace

Become an Invest in Peace supporter and learn more about EcoPeace, MIT MEET, Ultimate Peace, and these other featured organizations:

• Arava Institute is the premier environmental teaching and research program in the Middle East and plays a significant role in preparing future Israeli and Palestinian leaders to cooperatively solve the region’s environmental challenges.
• The Interfaith Encounter Association connects Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze for meaningful, positive encounters with people of other faiths.
• Kids4Peace is a global organization that works to end conflict and inspire hope in divided societies.
• Mifalot is an educational and social organization using sports to bring about social change and build relations rooted in mutual respect.
• Co-founded by a Muslim and a Jew, Zaitoun Ventures is a hybrid investment firm focused on acquiring controlling stakes in small cap companies and investing in companies with diverse human capital.

Mobilizing to Reduce LGBT Inequalities

• Join EQCA at its third annual Fair Share for Equality Convening on Wednesday, February 1, 2017, at the Sacramento Convention Center or Get Involved Today and Volunteer..
• Volunteer with the Transgender Law Center in Oakland.
• Join the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's HIV Advocacy Network.
• Help ensure full LGBTQ equality and inclusion in Jewish life by reviewing the Keshet Resources Library.
• Donate your clothing, household items etc. at Out of the Closet to help support the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Not Accepting Silence

• Shalom Bayit is helping to foster the social change and community response necessary to eradicate domestic violence in the Jewish community, join them as an advocate, ally, volunteer or supporter.
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline is often an abuse victim’s first call for help and provides many ways to be supportive for those who want to help.
• Prefer a local focus on the larger Bay Area? Volunteer with WOMAN, Inc. (Women Organized to Make Abuse Nonexistent, Inc.) a community-based, multi-service agency serving survivors.
• If you're an attorney or law student, or just want to make a difference for abuse victims seeking legal help, Get Involved with BayLegal’s Domestic Violence Prevention Project.
• In San Francisco, GLIDE Women’s Center provides a wide variety of services designed to help women who face Intimate partner violence and associated concerns.
• In the East Bay, the Alameda County Family Justice Center works to provide transportation, childcare, women’s empowerment programs and job skills.
• In the North Bay, the Women's Justice Center is providing advocacy, free of charge, for victims of rape, domestic violence, and child abuse, particularly in the Latina and other underserved communities of Sonoma County.
• On the Peninsula, Shalom Bayit’s support group provides a regular, accessible local meeting location for clients and constituents.

Open Books, Open Minds

• Jewish Coalition for Literacy (JCL) is offering courses now to train new tutors, sign up here.
• If you’re not available to tutor, consider Other Ways to Help, including supporting JCL's 350+ volunteers by donating a new or gently used book, organizing a book drive or ordering the organization's book-filled Centerpieces for your next event or party.
• Help the East Bay Children’s Book Project build literacy by putting books into the hands of children who have little or no access to them.
• Get involved with Raising a Reader, whose evidence-based early literacy and parent engagement program focuses on strengthening family literacy routines and community literacy connections.
• Consider volunteering with a summer program like Aim High, which expands opportunities for low-income middle school students and their teachers through free summer learning and enrichment.
• Support the incredibly inspirational Summer Search, which helps students from low-income backgrounds develop the skills they need to succeed.
• Participate as a mentor in the San Francisco Education Fund's effort to harnesses the power of the community to equip every public school student with the skills to succeed in college, career and civic responsibility.
• Join The Education Trust-West in advocating for educational justice and the high academic achievement of all California students, particularly those of color and living in poverty.

Transform Abortion Stigma into Respect

Where to learn and take action:

• Join the pro-voice movement and take the pledge on Exhale's Take Action page.
• Check out Forward Together's resources to learn more about reproductive justice and how you can get involved.
• Support access to San Francisco-based Women's Community Clinic through donating and referring family and friends their way.
• Donate or volunteer with Planned Parenthood Northern California or ACCESS Women's Health Justice.
• Support reproductive justice organizations such as If/When/How or the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice (CRRJ) at Berkeley Law.

Where to hear ethical storytelling and find tools for heathy dialogue:

• Living Room Conversations invites people with differing perspectives to come together for meaningful conversations that can create connections and build empathy.
• If you're seeking tools for deep listening and sharing your story, The StoryCenter offers online workshops and other tools for authentic storytelling. 
• Presenting compelling personal stories through themes and music, Snap Judgement is a radio show and podcast distributed through NPR. 
• For awkward conversations, tune into W. Kamau Bell's KAMAU RIGHT NOW!, a live radio and social media event that transforms the political and cultural conversation of the moment into what Kamau calls "a three-ring circus of relevance."
• Interviews discussing things we think about a lot, but don't always discuss openly, Death, Sex, and Money is a podcast sharing personal stories from real people.

Supporting Refugees and Immigrants

• Concerned about the global refugee crisis? JFCS East Bay has a collection of tips for How You Can Help Newly Arriving Refugees.
• HIAS, the world's oldest refugee protection and resettlement organization, has also put together a guide to How You Can Help.
• The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants also has a letter you can sign to Demand Congress Welcome Refugees and Immigrants, because “it has never been more important for our national leaders to be reminded that America keeps it promises.”
• Muslim Community Center of East Bay (MCC) is hosting “Speaking for Ourselves: A Post-Election Lunch & Panel with Your Muslim Neighbors” on Saturday, December 10, from 12:00pm-2:30pm in Pleasanton, CA.
• Catholic Charities, a nonprofit organization serving those in need in San Francisco, Marin & San Mateo Counties, also has an important Refugee and Immigrant Services segment.
• Refugee Transitions has been creating education, family engagement, and community leadership opportunities for the San Francisco Bay Area's refugee, immigrant, and asylee newcomer communities since 1982.
• Established in 2007, SF-CAIRS is a coalition of organizations serving the San Francisco Bay Area asylee, immigrant and refugee community and its service providers.
• The East Bay Refugee Forum (EBRF) is a coalition of over 30 agencies serving refugees, asylees, SIVs and others.

Are we missing any critical service providers, important aid activities or events? Please email them to jrussell@jcrc.org for inclusion.