Jacob chairs the Collaborative for Jewish Organizing and is the Executive Director of Jews United for Justice, which advances economic, racial, and social justice in the Baltimore-Washington region by educating and mobilizing our local Jewish communities to action. In his fourteen years at the helm, JUFJ has grown from a staff of two to a team of more than twenty and is now a key change-making institution in the region. In recent years, JUFJ has led the campaign that won paid family and medical leave for half a million workers in Washington, and played a key role in winning major policing reforms and protections for renters in Maryland, and new funding for early childhood education in DC.

Jacob serves as co-chair of the Working Families Party National Committee and is on the leadership team of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable.

Jacob uses he/him/his pronouns.

Susan directs the Collaborative for Jewish Organizing, which is a network of nine organizing groups that is housed at JUFJ. Prior to this role, Susan was Bend the Arc Jewish Action’s National Field Director, where she developed and led a team of community organizers and developed field units across the US. Susan started at Bend the Arc as Bay Area Regional Director, where she established the organizing model and led the team that contributed to significant campaigns — including on criminal justice reform, tax fairness, and domestic worker rights — while developing hundreds of volunteer leaders. Susan has experience in the consulting, policy, and legal fields.

Susan uses she/her/hers pronouns.

Rose Silverman is the Program Manager for the Collaborative for Jewish Organizing, focused on leading the Collaborative’s work fighting antisemitism. Rose is based in Chicago, and has worked as a consultant with a CJO member organization, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) to support their anti-racism training, organizing, and facilitation work. She has also been the Chicago Senior Program Director for Avodah, supporting young Jewish adults in building the tools needed to sustain justice work. While at Avodah, Rose also designed and led Avodah’s first-ever antisemitism training for organizational partners.

Rose is also passionate about making music playlists for any / all occasions and loves to spend time cooking and eating communal meals with her five housemates.

Rose uses she/her/hers pronouns.

Shira joined the Collaborative team as a Program Associate in May of 2022, after serving as an Avodah Corps Member and Montgomery County Organizer with JUFJ from 2019-2020. She graduated from the George Washington University with a degree in Middle East Studies and Geography, and has worked to build progressive Jewish community and infrastructures of solidarity from Berkeley to D.C. to Jerusalem. Shira loves exploring the intersections of Torah, storytelling, and social change, and is an alum of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, the Conservative Yeshiva, and Yeshivat Hadar.

Shira uses she/her/hers pronouns.