For a second year, the Mountain States Region of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is conducting trainings for high school and college students in order to empower them to confront anti-Semitism on their campuses and in their own lives.
Last year, ADL received a three-year grant from the Rose Community Foundation to be used exclusively for implementing this new and important educational initiative for high school students in the Denver-Boulder region. Recently, ADL received two additional grants from the Norton Bain Family Foundation and from the Joyce and Kal Zeff Foundation to bring the program to high school students outside the metro area and to college students throughout the Mountain States Region.
Words to Action: Empowering Students to Address Anti-Semitism and Bias on Campus is an interactive education program designed to empower and equip high school and college students with constructive and effective responses to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on campus, including hate speech, prejudiced comments, bias in the classroom, anti-Semitic vandalism, Holocaust denial and anti-Israel incidents. Conducted by trained facilitators, Words to Action workshops help Jewish young adults and their allies address the changing face of anti-Semitism by increasing understanding and awareness of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias, countering anti-Semitic stereotypes and anti-Israel myths with accurate information, and providing real skills to respond effectively and appropriately to various manifestations of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias from insensitive or biased comments to hate-motivated incidents.
During the 2015-16 academic year, ADL conducted seven workshops for high school students and one for college students in Denver, reaching 150 participants overall. Trainings were held for day school students enrolled at Denver Jewish Day School and Denver Academy of Torah, confirmation students from Temple Emanuel, Hebrew Educational Alliance, Rodef Shalom and BMH-BJ, participants in JEWISHcolorado’s Joyce Zeff Israel Study Tour and ZBT fraternity brothers from CU-Boulder and the University of Denver. Additional trainings for middle and high school students were also held at Rodef Shalom and Temple Sinai.
Several workshops have already been scheduled for the current academic year. To learn more about Words to Action or to schedule a training for your school, camp, youth group, or other teen group, please contact Words to Action coordinator Sue Parker Gerson at sparkergerson@adl.org or 303-830-7177.