Jewish Community Federation Announces New Chairs of LGBT Alliance, Continues to Deepen LGBT-Jewish Partnership in the Bay Area

San Francisco, CA – The Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties (the Federation) is proud to announce the two new co-chairs of the LGBT Alliance Advisory Committee: Dara Papo and Sam Goldman. The LGBT Alliance was the first of its kind in the country, creating a LGBT-focused body within the Federation to help grow, nurture, sustain and inspire the large and diverse LGBT Jewish community of the Bay Area, while ensuring that voices of the LGBT Jewish community were represented inside the Federation. Under the guidance of Papo and Goldman, the LGBT Alliance will continue to identify new ways to support the needs of the Jewish LGBT population of the Bay Area.
 
Longtime LGBT Alliance chair and Federation board member Arthur Slepian will remain as an Alliance Committee member and step into the role of vice chair of the Federation’s Israel and Global Committee.
 
“I am thrilled to be turning the leadership of the Alliance over to Dara and Sam,” said Slepian. “Their commitment, skills and energy will help to make the LGBT Alliance an even stronger and more vital part of the fabric of community.”
 
“The LGBT Alliance has had a phenomenal impact in the Jewish LGBT community and in our Jewish community as a whole,” said Jim Offel, interim CEO of the Federation. “I’m looking forward to working with Sam and Dara to both continue and celebrate the Alliance’s success.”
 
Sam Goldman is the California Program Director for the Conservation Lands Foundation. He works with community organizations to protect important federal lands and has extensive experience in policy, communications, fundraising and campaign work. Sam is active in the Jewish community and serves on the board of Wilderness Torah and is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program and Bates College.
 
Dara Papo, LCSW, is the Clinical Services Director at Community Housing Partnership in San Francisco. She was born and raised in the Bay Area and has a bachelor’s degree from U.C. Santa Cruz and an MSW from U.C. Berkeley. Dara is continuing a family history of involvement in the Jewish community.
 
The Bay Area has long been known as a mecca for the LGBT population, and boasts one of the largest and most diverse Jewish communities in the United States. According to the 2010 LGBT Alliance Study, there are an estimated 36,000 self-identified LGBT Jews in the region.
 
The LGBT Alliance works to ensure that LGBT Jews are welcome throughout the Jewish community, particularly in those institutions that educate our youth and introduce them to Jewish life. It provides needed support to organizations and programs that strive to grow and strengthen the Jewish LGBT community – including Keshet and A Wider Bridge; and, it develops leaders, providing mentorship, training opportunities and board placement.

The Federation, through the advocacy and support of the LGBT Alliance, also:

• Houses the Fund for Gay and Lesbian Causes, which lends support to programs and organizations in our community.  
• Created Pathways to Jewish Leadership, a new program geared toward developing strong LGBT leaders for the Jewish community.
• Awarded a major three-year grant to Keshet to support community-building and engagement for LGBT Jews in the Bay Area. Keshet is a national grassroots organization that works for the full equality and inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life.

To contact the Alliance, email David Katznelson at davidk@sfjcf.org.

The Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund connects people of all ages, backgrounds, and perspectives to the power of the Jewish community to improve the world. We partner with donors, organizations, and foundations to address pressing issues facing our community, and develop innovative strategies that result in deep and lasting impact locally, in Israel, and around the world. Learn more at www.jewishfed.org.