Training Jewish communities to recognize, respond to, and refer individuals experiencing domestic violence. 

Jewish survivors of domestic violence often turn to the institutions at the heart of their communities — synagogues, schools, JCCs, and Jewish family service agencies — and the leaders and staff within them. JWI’s 2021 National Needs Assessment, “Domestic Violence in the Jewish Community,” found that Jewish communities, despite good intentions, were often failing the survivors and children who came to them for help. More than 90% of Jewish survivors reported experiencing emotional, psychological, physical, and financial abuse. 

The research found that survivors too often face stigma, silence, and minimization when turning to Jewish institutions for help — and that over 80% reported challenges including custody conflicts, isolation, and sexual violence. Communities generally meet survivors’ short-term needs — emergency housing, financial assistance, restraining orders — but struggle to address their long-term needs. 

For Jewish survivors, the rise in antisemitism has created additional barriers to seeking help in the broader domestic violence field, where services are not always equipped to respond with cultural sensitivity. 

JWI created Here for You to close that gap. An established national program, Here for You strengthens Jewish communal responses to domestic violence by building the capacity of institutions, leaders, and educators to recognize, respond to, and prevent abuse through a coordinated, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and survivor-centered approach — ensuring survivors and their children are met with safety, compassion, and support that prioritizes their dignity at every point of contact. 

Here for You now reaches 12 communities and 150 organizations across the country. 

A Community-Wide Approach

Here for You brings the Jewish organizations in a community together to learn, plan, and work in coordination. They train alongside one another, coordinate with local domestic violence providers, and stay connected to JWI over time. 

The program focuses on three areas: 

Education and Awareness 

Participants develop the knowledge, confidence, and skills to recognize domestic violence, respond to disclosures, and refer survivors to appropriate services. JWI provides practical tools and resources — including templates, referral materials, and conversation guides — and supports organizations in developing action plans that strengthen policies and establish clear referral pathways. 

Outreach and Collaboration  

Jewish organizations coordinate their responses with one another and with local domestic violence agencies, reducing barriers that have made it harder for Jewish survivors to seek help outside the community. This includes building cultural understanding among domestic violence providers so that Jewish survivors encounter services equipped to respond with cultural sensitivity. 

Prevention 

Communities gain the tools to promote healthy relationships and prevent cycles of harm — including resilience and emotional regulation programming for children, teen dating violence prevention, and healthy relationship education in youth programs, camps, and classrooms. 

What Changes in A Here For You Community

Communities create clearer referral pathways and make services more visible and easier to find. Organizations respond more consistently when survivors come forward, leaving fewer survivors isolated. Survivors and their children encounter a wider network of safe entry points into care, which increases access to safety and healing. Jewish communal leaders leave with the tools, confidence, and action plans to respond to domestic violence — and survivors will find more than one trusted place to turn. 

JWI provides ongoing guidance and brings partners together to sustain the practices, relationships, and systems the program creates. 

What Participants are Saying

The Network of Here for You Communities

Coming Soon: The Here For You Training + Resource Center

JWI is developing a digital hub of Here for You trainings, tools, and resources that will give Jewish organizations access to the program’s core content on their own time. To be notified when the Training + Resource Center launches — or to help beta test it — contact Alana Blum. 

Bring Here For You to Your Community

To bring Here for You to your community or learn more about the program, contact Alana Blum, JWI’s Associate Vice President of Community Response, at [email protected].

This project receives generous support from the Senser Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and the SRE Network.

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