These two congregations have partnered together for occasional programs for more than three years and approached NewGround to help take that partnership to the next level.  This spring 10 Muslims and 10 Jews from the two communities have committed themselves to eight meetings over three months to strengthen the bond between these communities and develop a vision for moving forward.  Guided by NewGround's professional facilitators, these participants are learning key skills in communication, conflict resolution, and relationship building to help lead their faith communities toward greater partnership that will last for years beyond their intensive fellowship experience over the next few months.       

The Muslim-Jewish High School Leadership Council offers a select group of Muslim and Jewish high school students the opportunity to, build their leadership skills, create lasting relationships across faith boundaries and have an impact on important social issues in Los Angeles.

An Advisory Board of Muslim and Jewish communal professionals under the leadership of Rabbi Sarah Bassin of NewGround and Soha Yassine of the Islamic Center of Southern California have built a partnership to provide this opportunity for a cadre of teen leaders in Los Angeles.  The City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission is proud to support the project.For more information, see www.muslimjewishleadership.org.   

 Sixty 7th and 8th graders attending Muslim and Jewish days schools learned about the other faith community through more than a text book this year.  With the help of NewGround, these schools integrated visits to each other's campuses to learn firsthand about the practices and practitioners of Islam and Judaism.     

The Koplin del Rio Gallery in Culver City hosted a panel convened and moderated by NewGround's Executive Director Rabbi Sarah Bassin.  Sandow Birk, creator of the "American Qur'an" collection, Will Deutsch, creator of the "Notes from the Tribe" collection, and Ali Mir, Director of Muslim Student Life at USC engaged in a conversation about what the lens of religious minorities has to offer American culture at large.  This event was hosted in conjunction with the Six Points Fellowship for emerging Jewish artists.   

   

• 100 American Jewish Committee young professionals at the ACCESS 20/20 conference in Washington D.C.
• 15  Seniors at the Palms Court Retirement Community in Culver City on the history of Muslim-Jewish relations in Los Angeles
• 30 UCLA undergraduate students in the Introduction to Islam class in a session on contemporary Muslim-Jewish relations
• 600 educators at the Los Angeles Religious Education Conference held by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles through the panel  "Global Events/Local Events: Religious Perspectives of a Jew, a Catholic and a Muslim."
• 18 people at a private film screening and discussion of the 2007 Israeli film Strangers.  
• 30  lay leaders of Jewish organizations at "Beyond Tolerance: How Muslim-Jewish Collaboration Can Strengthen Los Angeles"
  
• 12 members of a Leo Baeck Temple Chavurah on the history of Muslim-Jewish relations in Los Angeles
• 24 Muslims and Jews at a Dialogue Facilitation Training Session to equip people with the skills to run interfaith dialogue
• 20 Muslims and Jews through the King Fahad-Temple Emanuel Fellowship to further strengthen the relationship between the two communities
• 90 Muslims, Jews and interfaith leaders at the screening of "My So-Called Enemy"
• 50 people through workshops on building skills in communication and conflict resolution  at Limmud LA
• 30 clergy and staff at Department of Mental Health’s Clergy Advisory Committee on how NewGround's model for other intergroup relationships
• 60 middle school students though the Sinai Akiba-New Horizon Middle School Exchange Program
• 60 people at "American Muslim and Jewish Identity in Art"- a panel discussion hosted by Koplin del Rio Gallery about what the lens of religious minorities has to offer American culture

2011

• 160 Muslims, Jews and City Officials at NewGround's Iftar hosted at the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center  
• 18 Muslim academic leaders from Cairo’s Al Azhar University studying civic society in the United States
  
• 14 Muslim, Christian and Jewish civic leaders on a delegation from Israel and Palestine
  
• 25 undergraduate students at American Jewish University
  
• 150 Muslim and Jewish young professionals at NewGround's true storytelling event on the theme of "Relationships"
  
• 50 Muslims and Jews at Congregation Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa, California with "Breakdowns and Breakthroughs: The History of Muslim-Jewish Relations Through a Los Angeles Lens"
• 70 residents of the Fountainview Jewish Home for the Aging with "Breakdowns and Breakthroughs"
• 50 Jewish women at a the first Southern California Jewish Women’s Conference with the social justice imperative for interfaith relations
• 20 members of Leo Baeck Temple’s men’s club with a text study titled, "Jewish Paradigms of Relating to the Other"
• 16 Muslim and Christian Eastern European civic leaders with AJC’s Promoting Tolerance Delegation on overcoming tensions in intergroup relations
• 5 Rabbis at the Pacific Area Reform Rabbis Convention on "Moving Forward: How to respond to tense situations in Muslim-Jewish relations"

                                                             To see historical highlights from 2006-2010, click here.