Join our community in our struggle for racial and economic justice, and for a more just and compassionate North Carolina for all. Check out our list of working groups, and then sign up below to learn more about getting involved!

Immigrant Justice Working Group

CJJ is proud to foster a deep and long standing relationship with Siembra NC, a grassroots group of Latinx and immigrant people in Greensboro, Burlington and other parts of the Triad. We have supported their organizing for a more just  community by resisting deportations, fighting wage theft, speaking up at school board meetings, and organizing to keep ICE out of our state. We recently provided on the ground support for the Alamance People’s Referendum as well as facilitated multiple ICE Watch and Court Accompaniment training sessions. Reach out to plug into the fight back - el pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!

Economic Justice Working Group

Our chapter continues to support the Fed Up project in Durham  that is providing food, face masks and resource information to people and families in need, as a form of solidarity, not charity. We are stepping in to help do what our government hasn’t,  alongside Raise Up/Fight For 15 and NC Poor People's Campaign. Through our chapter’s economic justice work, we are assisting local efforts to build worker power and keep bellies full. The Fed Up project is part of a movement led by low-wage workers  to push, with dignity and grit, for economic justice. The goal of the Fed Up project is not only to meet some of the most urgent needs of people in our community but to also understand how we got to this point where people are hungry and houseless in the richest nation in the world. This crisis did not start with this pandemic: workers have been Fed Up for a long time about evictions, low pay, and out of control utility bills and healthcare costs. Join us as we get to know each other and our communities, learn together and distribute groceries and face masks.

Other opportunities include providing support to Down Home on their Stop Criminalizing the Poor Working Group (SCTP). Down Home NC is a new organizing project led by the working people of North Carolina’s small towns and rural communities, taking action to increase democracy, grow the good in our communities, and pass a healthy and just home down to our grandbabies. Their SCTP Working Group recently celebrated a win in the courts challenging Alamance County’s outdated and unfair bail schedule.

Racial Justice Working Group

The CJJ-D/OC Racial Justice Study Group recognizes that we are all both teachers and students. Please join us if you are looking for a supportive and affirming space to explore race through a Jewish lens. This project is coordinated and facilitated by white Jewish folks who follow the leadership and work of Black organizers and educators. Our first two inaugural sessions focused on establishing group agreements, common language and an introduction to critical race theory. Our next session on October 28th from 7pm-8:30pm will explore both reconciliation and reparations throughout modern history, specific calls for reparations in this contemporary moment, liturgical interpretations, and related Jewish practices/traditions.

Voting Rights Working Group

The protection of voting rights is essential to the protection of democracy — voting rights underlie all other rights. Our local Voting Rights Working Group partners with organizations like Democracy NC, You Can Vote, Common Cause, All On The Line, and Reclaim Our Vote to advance this work. As the redistricting process unfolds in North Carolina, we are advocating for greater transparency and public input, and helping to lay the groundwork for nonpartisan redistricting reform. We are also focused on addressing voter suppression and increasing access to the ballot, especially paying attention to the rules for voting in person and by mail, and protecting and expanding voter registration. To increase civic engagement in Durham, we  also have plans to involve Durham residents in this year's Participatory Budgeting process. Please join us for our meetings or simply plug into volunteer opportunities that suit your interest and availability.

Jewish Ritual and Culture Working Group 

This working group will lead the community in celebrations and observances of Jewish holidays with cultural traditions. We will plan shabbat meals, holidays, special events, and traditions for the CJJ community by incorporating non-traditional and traditional, religious and non-religious, and reimagined celebrations.

Past events include a Zoom passover seder, Hammantashen making and Purim party, and Tisha B’av observance.