Hawaiʻi e-news

JULY 2021

  • Foundation approves $100,000 emergency grant in response to Florida building collapse tragedy

  • Statement on antisemitism

  • Weinberg Foundation launches Hawai‘i Jewish community initiative
  • When staff training actually saves a life

  • Rural community resilience on Hawaiʻi Island  
  • More than $3 million in recent new Hawai‘i grants announced

 

 
Foundation approves $100,000 emergency grant in response to Florida building collapse tragedy

To honor a long-standing commitment to help communities navigating disasters, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation has approved an emergency grant of $100,000 to support a collaborative response to the collapse of the Champlain Towers condo building—and resulting catastrophic loss of life—in the Surfside community near Miami. May the memory of those who lost their lives always be a blessing.

 

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Statement on antisemitism

The Weinberg Foundation stands firmly against antisemitism in all its forms, as well as all racially and ethnically fueled violence, including racism and injustices that have been inflicted upon Black and Indigenous peoples, other people of color, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. We commit to continue advancing equity and justice in our communities and taking action to achieve meaningful and transformational change.

 

The Jewish community in the United States has experienced a significant rise in threats, crimes, and other hate-motivated acts in recent years. In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Annual Audit on Hate Crimes in the US documented 2,107 antisemitic attacks—a 12 percent increase over the prior year and the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking in 1979. Although this number decreased slightly in 2020, the statistics remain staggering.

 

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation continues to partner with organizations on the frontlines of the battle against antisemitism, in all its forms, grounded in the shared goal of promoting basic human decency and kindness, including confronting discrimination against and fostering respect for all peoples. In March 2021, the Weinberg Foundation announced a two-year $2.5 million funding commitment to nonprofits combating antisemitism throughout the United States, including $1 million to the ADL, as well as support for other similarly focused organizations within the Foundation’s priority communities.

 

The Foundation also notes with alarm the rise of antisemitic rhetoric and violence connected with the recent violence throughout Israel and in Gaza. To be clear, the Foundation unequivocally supports the pursuit of peaceful coexistence and joins in prayers for calm and lasting peace for Israel, Gaza, and the entire region. We mourn the loss of life and suffering of all peoples resulting from conflict. The Foundation also stands firmly with Israel and condemns antisemitism—explicit or implicit—as a denial of the State of Israel’s right to exist, including defending itself from attack. Such instances inflame antisemitism globally, further threatening the safety of the Jewish community.

 

Together, we must strive to see the humanity in every person, and to reject hate and prejudice rooted in identities—including race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, or religion—and work toward a more inclusive and accepting world for all. With equal measures of hope, determination, and action, we can emerge from these turbulent times as not only a stronger, safer Jewish community but also a more peaceful global community.

 

In 2021, the Foundation will provide approximately $135 million in total grant activity supporting nonprofits that provide direct services in the areas of Housing, Health, Jobs, Education, and Community Services. Specifically, in Israel, the Foundation provides approximately $15 million in annual grant funding serving marginalized populations, including Arab-Israelis. Since 1990, the Foundation has distributed grants totaling more than $2.5 billion.

 

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Weinberg Foundation launches Hawai‘i Jewish community initiative

As part of its strategic realignment and expansion of its grantmaking in Hawai‘i, the Weinberg Foundation also committed to strengthening its support of Hawai‘i’s Jewish community. Across the US, the Foundation is engaged in a range of proactive strategic initiatives in support of the Jewish community at-large. These include addressing Jewish poverty on a national scale, strengthening the Jewish nonprofit sector, and developing the next generation of leaders that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Jewish community. 

 

What will support for the Jewish community look like in Hawai‘i? 

 

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When staff training actually saves a life

The Weinberg Foundation offers a wide range of professional and staff development trainings. These opportunities include a yearly (pre-COVID) CPR training. Most of us appreciate the potentially life-saving knowledge and skills acquired through the training. However, it is also easy to minimize CPR certification as the equivalent of fire extinguishers and smoke detectors—we acknowledge that they are important, but we might also doubt (perhaps wishfully) that we will ever truly need them. Here at Weinberg, the value of the Foundation’s CPR training recently became dramatically apparent when one of our colleagues saved a life while on vacation with family.

 

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Rural community resilience on Hawaiʻi Island

Rural communities have been leaders and visionaries in how best to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in a way that builds on community resilience. The Foundation’s recent $1.75 million commitment to three Hawaiʻi Island initiatives addressing Housing, Health, Jobs, and Education highlights collaborative efforts that strengthen this resilience within rural communities. With the addition of these new grantees, 40 percent of the Foundation’s active Hawaiʻi grants currently support efforts on Hawaiʻi Island (the largest Hawaiian island).

 

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More than $3 million in recent new Hawai‘i grants announced

The Weinberg Foundation recently approved $3 million in Hawai‘i-specific grants supporting the areas of Housing, Health, Jobs, Education, and Community Services. 

 

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The Weinberg Foundation also produces a Foundation-wide e-news. If you would like to see that e-news, please click here.

 
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