Dear Friends,
On behalf of The Interfaith Center of New York’s staff and board, I would like to express our deep gratitude to everyone who contributed to ICNY’s JPM 2016 Fundraising Campaign. Thanks to your generosity ICNY raised even more than we did at last year’s JPM Annual Awards Dinner and met our final $25,000 matching grant in less than a week. Whether you gave to the Interfaith Center for the first time or continued an ongoing commitment, you have put us on solid footing as we continue to educate teachers and social workers, advocate for religious freedom, and bring together religiously diverse youth to help make our city safe from religious intolerance.
In Washington DC, intolerance was unfortunately on display again last week in the premise of Senator Ted Cruz’s Senate Judiciary hearings “Willful Blindness—The Consequences of Agency Efforts to De-Emphasize Radical Islam in Combating Terrorism.” See statements submitted for the record from Amnesty International, Muslim Advocates, and The Interfaith Center of New York.
Back in New York this month, the Interfaith Center is delighted to be welcoming twenty-five National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholars from around the country. Under the direction of ICNY’s Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, these K-12 teachers from public, private, and parochial schools will be listening to scholars and diverse religious practitioners and visiting houses of worship across the city. They will be taking ideas and materials back with them to enrich their own courses on religious diversity at home.
Finally, ICNY is still accepting registrations for our day-long Rabbi Marshall Meyer Retreat at the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, New York on July 7 from 9:30-4. The conference will enable religiously diverse youth to speak out for the future of a more inclusive New York City. Youth and adults committed to this topic are welcome. For more information, contact Iman Boukadoum at Iman@interfaithcenter.org.
The July E-bulletin is available here.
Best Wishes,
Rev. Chloe Breyer
Executive Director
The Interfaith Center of New York
