JWI Executive Staff

 

Meredith Jacobs

Meredith Jacobs is CEO of Jewish Women International (JWI), a 125-year-old nonprofit dedicated to ending violence against women and girls. Since assuming the role of CEO in 2020, Jacobs has shepherded the development of numerous JWI initiatives, including the National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence in the Jewish Community; the Collaborative of Jewish Domestic Violence Agencies; the Women’s Financial Empowerment Institute; ReStart: job readiness for survivors; the Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project; Men As Allies: Leading Equitable Workplaces; the Jewish Gun Violence Prevention Roundtable;, and the international expansion of Young Women’s Leadership Network. Under her leadership, JWI is spearheading state-wide advocacy efforts to achieve justice lending practices that would give survivors of financial abuse access to bank loans that would set them on the path to long-term economic security.

Jacobs is an award-winning journalist and former editor-in-chief of Washington Jewish Week. She is the author of The Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat (HarperCollins) and co-author, with her daughter Sofie of the bestselling series of interactive journals, Just Between Us (Chronicle Books). Prior to joining JWI, she founded ModernJewishMom.com, the first Jewish parenting website (now part of Kveller), and was the host of the WYPR radio show, Connecting Family and The Jewish Channel television holiday specials, Modern Jewish Mom

Named one of the “50 Most Influential Jews of 2020” by The Jerusalem Post, Jacobs is a sought-after speaker, moderator and writer. Her opinion pieces appear frequently in outlets such as JTA, eJewishPhilanthropy, and the Forward. She is a member of the advisory board of the Women’s Business Collaborative (WBC) and serves on the Women’s Economic Empowerment Council for the State of Maryland — an advisory council to Brooke Lierman, Comptroller of Maryland. Jacobs serves on the expert panel on Improving Access to Services for Domestic Abuse Victims in the Military, sponsored by the Department of Defense. She earned a B.A. in English from Haverford College and holds a Masters of Science in Business from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Deborah Rosenbloom

Deborah Rosenbloom, JD/MPA is JWI’s Chief Program Officer and leads JWI’s innovative social justice initiatives engaging Jewish, interfaith and secular communities in collaborative work to address gender-based violence through advocacy, trainings, resource development and community building.

Deborah served as the primary researcher of JWI’s 2021 Needs Assessment of Jewish domestic violence survivors in the US. The Needs Assessment’s findings are driving JWI’s new work, for which Deborah has ongoing primary responsibility:  the National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence in the Jewish Community; the Collaborative of Jewish Domestic Violence Programs; the Women’s Financial Empowerment Institute; ReStart -job readiness for survivors; and the Jewish Gun Violence Prevention Roundtable.

Deborah’s recognition that the faith-based community can play an important role in addressing domestic violence led her to establish in 2008 JWI’s advocacy portfolio on Capitol Hill, as well as the Clergy Task Force on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community and the Interfaith Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Deborah holds a B.A., cum laude in history from Cornell, attended Hebrew University and earned a JD/MPA from Syracuse University. She lives in Washington, DC and is a member of Congregation Kesher Israel.