A student leadership initiative grounded in understanding and allyship.
The Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity Leadership Academy brings together high school students from metro Detroit’s Black and Jewish communities for a semester-long program of learning, dialogue and leadership development. Through monthly sessions, students explore the histories of both communities, examine the impact of racism and antisemitism, and build the skills to show up for one another with empathy, understanding and courage.
Last week, the third cohort of Leadership Academy students took part in the program’s annual trip to Washington, D.C., where they toured the U.S. Capitol, met with congressional staffers to learn more about advocacy and the legislative process, and visited sites that deepened their understanding of history and moral responsibility. As a group led by Jewish and Black community leaders, the students visited the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Throughout the trip, students participated in facilitated conversations to reflect on leadership across difference. In places that preserve stories of injustice, resilience and social change, they connected history to the present, and the students returned to Detroit with both new relationships and inspiration to lead with empathy, understanding and purpose in their own schools, neighborhoods and communities.
Serving as a partner organization to the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity and supporting the Coalition’s Leadership Academy reflects the Jewish Federation of Detroit’s commitment to building a vibrant Jewish future by strengthening relationships, building allies and standing up to hate.
Supporting the Coalition and the Leadership Academy reflects Federation’s Community Relations Department’s broader mission of building bridges with other faith communities, advocating for the Jewish community, and implementing educational programs to counter antisemitism. The Leadership Academy is one part of fulfilling that mission, helping the next generation build trust, find common ground and develop the confidence to speak out against hatred in all its forms.
