Hazon: Efforts in Boulder, Denver

Hazon, America’s largest Jewish environmental organization that works to create healthy and sustainable communities in the Jewish world and beyond, received a grant from Rose Community Foundation, 18 Pomegranates, and Oreg Foundation to support capacity building and to help strengthen the Jewish food and environmental movement in Denver and Boulder.

Hazon hopes to catalyze energy and passion that already exist, give people a sense of Jewish possibility, seed programs and ideas, and support nascent leaders so that a growing range of programs and experiences transform people’s lives and materially strengthen the Jewish community overall.

“The Colorado Jewish community is seeing a sudden burgeoning of individuals and new organizations that are interested in being part of the Jewish Food Movement. Long-established institutions are realizing the importance of embracing the values of the sustainable food and environmental movements. Both types of organizations are in need of resources that will allow them to grow stronger during the upcoming years,” said Nigel Savage, executive director of Hazon.

“Through this grant, Hazon will be bringing resources and expertise to Denver and Boulder in order to strengthen and support existing Jewish institutions and start-ups. Working with a volunteer steering committee, chaired by Josh Dinar of DiningOut Magazine, we hope to enable local programs and institutions to take their work to the next level and enable the Jewish community to contribute to creating healthier and sustainable Denver and Boulder communities overall.”

Lisa Farber Miller of Rose Community Foundation, Julie Shaffer of Oreg Foundation, and Shari Edelstein of 18 Pomegranates added:

18 Pomegranates, Oreg Foundation and Rose Community Foundation have long recognized that the Boulder/Denver area is fertile ground for a community-wide Jewish food movement and other environment-related or eco-Judaism programs. All three of our foundations are committed to funding new ways of connecting Jews to Judaism through innovative, educational and experiential programs. Last year, with funding from these foundations, Hazon was able to introduce the community to its programs and resources and to send 50 people to Hazon’s Jewish Food Conference. We were very gratified that these 50 people came back to Denver and Boulder with new ideas and a commitment to lead. Grassroots efforts such as Ekar, Denver’s new urban Jewish communal farm, and three new Jewish community supported agriculture groups (CSAs) were launched. Inspired participants were motivated to bring expanded programming back to their CSAs and educators in the Boulder/Denver community have been trained in Hazon’s Jewish Food Education Network curriculum. The next step is to empower and strengthen these groups and others with support and resources from Hazon. We are excited to be partnering to fund new local Hazon staff who will work hand-in-hand with individuals and organizations interested in growing the Jewish food movement and in enhancing their Jewish environmental programs. It is our hope that our funding collaboration will foster organizational collaboration to expand opportunities in our communities.”

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