Bridges-NY fellowship wraps inaugural 2023 class

A program that connects diverse leaders in the city from varying religious and ethnic backgrounds with mentors completed its inaugural fellowship in December.

A Jewish Community Relations Council-New York program, the Bridges-NY Fellowship is overseen by an advisory council that includes Councilman Eric Dinowitz.

JCRC-NY is a host of five fellowships, including the YouthBridge-NY and the Blumberg Fellowship for Jewish Community Relations. The Bridges-NY fellowship came about as a reaction to the “toxic polarity” of different political opinions, Rabbi Bob Kaplan, director of JCRC-NY’s Center for Shared Society, explained.

“We’re trying to create an opportunity for people on the rise in the political world from diverse backgrounds to meet each other, learn to solve problems together and see the others in society as an asset rather than someone that you can’t work with,” Kaplan told The Riverdale Press.

The fellowship kicked off on Jan. 21, 2023, with a two-day orientation retreat, and ended with a closing celebration on Dec. 19. Its participants included community organizers and advocates, organization and club leaders, city agency employees and chiefs of staff for elected officials.

The program met monthly, rotating between in-person and virtual events, with each dedicated to a different topic, such as government policy, analyzing sensitive data, or the housing affordability crisis. Participants were able to connect with Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Assemblywoman Grace Lee, and Errol Louis, political anchor and commentator on Spectrum News NY1.

“If people of different faiths don’t come together, how are we supposed to build those bridges and connect with one another?” 81st Assembly District Leader Ramdat Singh asked. “Because it’s easier to find things that are different between us. But being in the fellowship helped find what we have in common.”

For Singh, the group succeeded in its goal of connecting diverse voices to one another. Singh, a practicing Hindu, met with another person of his faith, as well as Jewish and Muslim members. Hearing from elected officials such as Lee about how they got to their positions was enlightening, Singh said. He thinks that more fellowships should take a leaf out of the JCRC’s book by adopting a theme of understanding different perspectives.

He was also paired with a mentor who gave him insight into city politics and helped him discuss leadership opportunities. Singh was nominated to be a fellow by Jessica Haller, executive director of the New Majority NYC.

“As a JCRC-NY Board member, I take seriously the work of building future bridges in the City,” Haller wrote in a statement. “I combed my networks to nominate and recommend future civic leaders — especially from the Bronx! As a newly elected District Leader, with experience in our Public Schools and an honest desire to build bridges, I thought (Singh) would be a good participant in the cohort and a strong ally for now and the future.”

The fellowship initially planned a trip to Israel and Palestinian territories in October, but had to make a quick turn-around to Senegal after the Hamas attack. The theme of the trip was seeing the roots of slavery.

In Senegal the participants visited the House of Slaves, a museum and memorial to the victims of the Atlantic slave trade on Gorée Island. The museum has a hall with a passage dubbed the “Door of No Return,” which millions of enslaved Africans were forced to pass through to board ships against their will.

They also went to the city of Saint-Louis, where they saw a similarly sobering scene of current-day departures to sea. Kaplan explained to The Press how, when they left their quaint hotel in the morning, they saw from across the bay one of the roots of the migrant crisis.

“What we saw was literally tens of thousands of migrants getting on boats, waiting to get on boats, to start a journey through the Mediterranean on flimsy boats,” Kaplan recounted. “Many understood the boats might not make it, but were so desperate to get out of a cycle of extreme poverty they were in. We saw the roots of the migrant issue from Northwest Africa, and we didn’t expect that. It was more than devastating.”

Seeing the crisis unfolding before them and understanding how it impacted New York City was a full-circle moment, Kaplan said, and one that gave the participants a hopeful opportunity to more fully understand the issue.

They also had the chance to meet and hear from the U.S. ambassador to Senegal, Mike Raynor, about how he is working with the Senegalese to improve things like literacy and LGBTQ+ rights, Singh explained.

While the fellowship was not able to go to Israel or the Palestinian territories, it is planning a discussion about the conflict on Zoom this month, involving experts on both sides. The goal will be to understand each other’s narratives and “effectively get beyond all this hate that’s driving our society,” Kaplan said.

“I had spoken with the organizers in the early stages,” Councilman Dinowitz told The Press. “And it seemed like an exciting opportunity for young leaders to learn and to network and to fulfill part of JCRC’s mission which is building bridges.”

Dinowitz will also be joining the second set of cohorts for an event in January. He said it is an incredible opportunity to learn and to connect with people of diverse backgrounds.

“You walk away with a network of people who are also looking at the same career trajectory as you are…,” Kaplan said of those considering the fellowship in the future. “Being able to tap into that network will help you do the work that you’re planning to do much more” effectively.

Singh said he was most proud of having the chance to meet people within a range of government agencies and building bridges between them, instead of just sticking to one another’s respective agency.

“The bond that we had as fellows, we were able to connect not only professionally, but also personally share parts of ourselves that are vulnerable and how that developed our own stance on issues,” Singh said. “So we developed not only a professional bond, but also a personal bond. I think that’s important for leaders who want to work together.”