Posted on February 2, 2013

AJC Receives Ford Foundation Grant to Advance Latino-Jewish Relations

The American Jewish Committee has announced a two-year grant of $1 million from the Ford Foundation in support of a program to advance Latino-Jewish relations.

The grant will support expansion of the Bridging America Project, which aims to foster cross-cultural understanding, collaborative relations, and joint advocacy and coalition building among Jewish and Latino leaders, with a focus on advancing comprehensive immigration reform. The Ford Foundation has awarded annual grants of $500,000 to the project over the past three years.

Planned programs include joint advocacy workshops in Dallas, New York, and Washington, D.C.; a "national conversation" among Latino and Jewish leaders about issues of mutual concern; conferences in Houston, Miami, and New Jersey on the economic benefits of immigration; and a partnership with the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, which will present a special exhibition of pre-Columbian art from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

"The Ford Foundation's generous support is affirmation of the capacity and progress of AJC's Bridging America Project, and will further boost its reach and visibility," said Ann Schaffer, director of the organization's Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Center for American Pluralism.