Mendocino Coast Jewish Community

The Justice Group is on the cusp of its 4th anniversary. After the election of 2016, Rabbi Holub invited everyone in MCJC to meet in community. On that November evening, we commiserated and imagined how life in the U.S. would change, and conceived of the Justice Group as a way to do more than wring our hands.

We developed a set of principles that would guide our intentions and actions over the coming years. Based on our traditional Jewish values of compassion, justice, respect, and caring, we pledged to make our community a place of welcome and safety by working with other groups that shared our values. Our actions have created new and meaningful relationships in our community and in like-minded communities across the nation.

The Justice Group has accomplished much over the last four years:

• The Citizen Scholarship Project raised over $40,000 for scholarships and awarded 35 scholarships of $725.00 each. It has funds for 15 more, at the pending increased fee level of $1,170;

• Produced a dance party for the 2018 International Women’s Day;

• Worked with other community groups to help pass Measure C, a parcel tax in support of the Mendocino Coast District Hospital;

• Hosted two public events featuring Judy Stavely describing her 75-mile walk on the Migrant Trail from Sásabe, Sonora, Mexico to Tucson, Arizona;

• Wrote letters and helped coastal residents write letters to protest the 1) draconian changes to the Public Charge rules; 2) changes to the policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S./Mexican border; and 3) the roll back of the 1997 Flores Agreement which protects children from detention in unsafe and jail-like conditions;

• Formed the Climate Crew to focus more intensely on the climate crisis and community safety around natural and human-caused disasters;

• Hosted two public events for Doug Nunn’s slide-show presentation based on Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project;

• P articipated in Families Belong Together and Black Lives Matter rallies and marches;

• Participated in 25 Million Stitches, a fiber art project displaying one hand-sewn stitch for each of the world’s 25 million refugees;

• Invited guests to speak about legalities of immigration, DACA, and the importance of the county plan for the 2020 Census;

• Raised over $4,000 for Safe Passage during the pandemic;

• Wrote postcards and made phone calls for Reclaim Our Vote, a non-partisan organization working to empower under-represented voters by fighting voter suppression