Join us live as we launch JWI’s new National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence in the Jewish Community with special guest Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Rep. Wasserman Schultz will share with us her work around legislation to ensure fair housing for abuse survivors, and JWI CEO Meredith Jacobs will moderate a discussion with domestic violence survivors and advocates about this new expansion of JWI’s work.

This event is free to attend. Can’t join us live? All registrants will receive a recording.

PANELISTS

Susan Feldman, a member of JWI’s board of trustees, is an endowment specialist at The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. She has an LLM in taxation and spent 20 years practicing tax law. She also serves on the Board of JCADA – the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse in Detroit, Michigan. Susan spent nine years in an abusive relationship, married to the Jewish doctor who was “every Jewish mother’s ideal dream.” She now speaks to groups far and wide, young and old, about surviving domestic violence, and was a speaker at JWI’s Second International Conference on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community and at the 2011 Women to Watch Gala. Susan is happily remarried and has three children and two step-children, all of whom are domestic violence advocates.

Mark Horowitz, a vice president for program and talent at JCC Association of North America, supports the working groups for the Sheva Center, Inclusion, Engaging Families, Mandel Center for Jewish Engagement, and Discover CATCH+. He was the founding executive director of the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI). Mark holds a master’s degree in education from SUNY at Buffalo and received ordination and an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. He served as the executive director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Buffalo, New York; the director of education and early childhood at Temple Beth Am in Williamsville, New York; assistant professor of religion and fine arts at Canisius College in Buffalo; and as supervisor of student teachers and teacher of sociology of education and field experience, also at SUNY at Buffalo. He was awarded honorable mention at the 2002 Van Cliburn Foundation’s International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Fort Worth, Texas.

Sarah, an advocate from Florida, is a licensed mental health counselor who specializes in providing counseling and support to individuals experiencing crisis. She has extensive knowledge of community resources, and provides direct service; and trauma and crisis intervention to both individuals and organizations. Her outreach in the community spans such groups as Jewish day schools and  public schools, colleges, gay student alliance, synagogue sisterhoods, and the Israeli-American Council. Through these trainings, Sarah provides education to prevent and empower individuals throughout county. Last year, she initiated her Dating Violence Workshop where she provided education and tools to more than 1,500 students so they may identify, prevent, and respond to dating abuse.

Meredith Jacobs (moderator), JWI's CEO, is an author, award-winning journalist, and former editor-in-chief of Washington Jewish Week. Jacobs assumed the role of CEO after serving as JWI’s chief operating officer for six years; in that role she managed communications, branding, messaging, and development. She has shepherded the development of numerous JWI leadership initiatives, including the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence in the Jewish Community; Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project; At the Table: Men As Allies in Workplace Equity ; and the Young Women’s Leadership Network. Jacobs also works closely with JWI’s philanthropic partners, Sigma Delta Tau national sorority and Zeta Beta Tau national fraternity, developing initiatives like the award-winning Green Light, Go! and Girls Achieve GrΣΔΤness. A sought-after speaker, moderator, and writer, her opinion pieces appear frequently in outlets such as JTA, eJewishPhilanthropy, and Washington Jewish Week.