In church basements, synagogue sanctuaries, and community centers across Greater Boston, powerful change is beginning to unfold. Jewish and non-Jewish neighbors are coming together — not just in conversation, but in shared purpose. Their goal? To push back against antisemitism and to build a future rooted in mutual understanding and solidarity.  

These new alliances are seeded by CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA), which just launched a call for a second round of applications for the 2026 Ally Challenge. This grant pool supports hyperlocal, grassroots projects to build bridges between the Jewish community and others across faiths and backgrounds. 

With renewed urgency in the wake of recent terror attacks targeting the Jewish community across the country and globally, CCA’s Ally Challenge is about incubating and empowering work led by and within our communities. “We believe that real allyship is built on trust, understanding, empathy, and action. We also know that we need to build more of it,” said Melissa Garlick, associate vice president of CJP’s CCA.  

A new chapter in a growing movement

This year’s opportunity for new projects follows the inaugural three pilot projects funded in 2025. Each one is a testament to how meaningful relationships can transform the way communities confront hate and bias. 

Take “In Our Words,” a collaboration between Temple Israel of Boston and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. The project is co-led by Arts for Social Cohesion’s literary performer Regie Gibson, who was recently named as Massachusetts’ inaugural poet laureate, and composer/educator Guy Mendilow. Through crowdsourced poems, story-crafting workshops, lively shared meals, and listening labs, participants from both faith communities are exchanging their lived experiences with one another.  

“Stories offer evidence of how, as innate as it may be to ‘other,’ humans are also built to ‘us’ — to share identities and experiences above our differences,” said Mendilow. “In a time when it’s so common to eclipse other people’s humanity with assumptions driven by their membership in a group — like ‘Jew’, or ‘Black’ or ‘trans’ or ‘old’ — stories bring that person’s humanity into high definition, so that instead of a person-shaped haze we see their actual features.” 

Such relationships form a social infrastructure that helps people weather current turbulence — and also unknown future storms.  

Lexington United Against Antisemitism (LUAA), a grassroots initiative founded in March 2023, is demonstrating the power of local organizing and getting ahead of hate before it takes root in communities.  

With support from the Ally Challenge, LUAA has launched a number of initiatives to combat antisemitism in their community, including a public education website, a workshop featuring Project Shema, interfaith outings to two plays addressing antisemitism, and active bystander training. With over 200 active members from Lexington and nearby towns, LUAA is creating a community-based allyship model that they hope other communities will find useful.  

The Ally Challenge grant “enabled us to bring our hearts to the work with crucial administrative and technical support,” said Maggie Herzig, a member of Follen Church (UU) and LUAA’s Steering Committee. Her focus in LUAA is community-building and education.  

While LUAA’s particular focus is on encouraging non-Jews to become more aware and active in confronting antisemitism, “strong community relations help everyone to feel known, respected, and safe,” said Herzig.   

Further west in Wayland and Framingham, an interfaith partnership between Temple Shir Tikva (TST) and Greater Framingham Community Church (GFCC) launched “Our Civil Rights Story,” a powerful program exploring the intersections of Black and Jewish histories. Participants will journey together to the American South later this year, retracing the steps of civil rights leaders in a trip organized by Etgar36, with pre- and post-trip learning sessions to deepen the experience.

“The strength of this program lies in the relationships between our congregations,” said Rabbi Danny Burkeman of TST. “Allyship doesn’t begin and end with clergy — it must move beyond leadership and flow throughout the community. As we prepare for the trip, we are aware of our shared history of allyship, solidarity, and support. Reminding ourselves of our past can only serve to strengthen our relationships for today and tomorrow. That’s what this grant helps us do.” 

The 2026 Ally Challenge: A call to act

Now more than ever, the launch of the second round of CCA’s Ally Challenge grants — amidst growing and real concerns over Jewish communal safety and belonging — invites a new round of community changemakers to step forward.  

“Communities and volunteers have stepped up in remarkable ways, especially in the wake of 10/7, to grow this work on the ground,” said Garlick. “We’re here to support those doing the real work, community by community, neighbor by neighbor.” 

Applications for the 2026 Ally Challenge are now open. Learn more or apply.