Institute for Sephardic Studies at the Graduate School of the City University of New York
The Foundation has funded the Sephardic Education Initiative, a three-year effort to train approximately 1,000 teachers in Jewish day schools, supplementary schools and Hebrew Teacher colleges. Previously, the Foundation funded a National Summer Teacher Training Institute in Sephardic Studies. For more information contact Jane Gerber, Director, Center for Jewish Studies and Institute for Sephardic Studies at The City University of New York www.gc.cuny.edu

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
The Foundation is funding a major initiative to integrate Sephardic Studies into the curricula of HUC-JIRs professional schools to expand students' knowledge and develop students' capacity to incorporate the Sephardic experience into their view of Jewry and Jewish identity.

Middle East Institute Columbia University
The Foundation provided funds for both the book and a CD to accompany the text, The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. The book, edited by Reeva Spector Simon, Assistant Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, Michael Manachem Lasker, Department of Middle East History at Bar-Ilan University and Sara Reguer, chair Department of Judaic Studies of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York was published in 2003.  This book is geared to a varied audience; scholars, teachers in secondary schools as well as college and university professors who wish to teach about all cultures that once existed in the Middle East, and to teach about all Jews, to study them comparatively. The book is available through Columbia University Press.

Jewish Publication Society
The Foundation is provided assistance for the publication of the book Folktales of Joha: Jewish Trickster by Matilda Koen-Sarano. The Sephardic folk character know as Joha is a combination of trickster, villain and fool. The nearly 300 stories in the volume are from Sephardic oral literature and ethnic culture. It is the first collection of these tales to appear in English. The target audience for this book is storytellers, teachers, folklorists and Jewish educators. The book was published in February 2003 and is available through the Jewish Publication Society www.jewishpub.org

Judéo-Espagnol A Auschwitz
The Foundation provided funds for the distribution of the booklet, The Judeo-Spanish People: Itineraries of a Community.  The edition is in English and Judeo-Spanish.  For more information contact www.sepharadshoah.org

Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) Press
The Foundation provided funds for The Atlas of Great Jewish Communities: A Voayage Through History by Sondra Leiman. This full-color book uses colorful mapa, timelines, photographs and art to bring Jewish history alive for young people.  There is also A Teacher’s Guide that includes a music CD.  For more information contact Rabbi Hara Person, Editorial Director, UAHC Press hperson@uahc.org.

Out of Spain
Out of Spain is a new curriculum for 10-12-year-old students. Out of Spain takes students on a journey through history from the earliest arrival of Jews on the Iberian Peninsula to the present day. The series consists of three class books, a video, an audio tape and a teacher's guide. For more information go to www.outofspain.com.

Folk Literature of Sephardic Jews
The Foundation has provided funds for a web-based digital archive titled "The Folk Literature of the Sephardic Jews." This collection, called the Armistead-Silverman archive contains 1500 Judeo-Spanish narrative ballads, together with other genres, including lyric poetry, folktales, proverbs and riddles. You can access the site at www.sephardifolklit.org.

Stanford University Libraries
The Foundation provided funds for the Library to purchase the Rifat Bali collection of 20th century Sephardic Judaica published in Turkey. This collection consists of 700 monographic and serial titles, mostly in Turkish but also in French, English, Hebrew and Judeo-Spanish. Subject areas covered include history, social issues, politics, literary publications, religious books and Turkish-Jewish authors.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum
The Foundation provides ongoing supporting of the Confino apartment. The Confino apartment is an interactive exhibit designed for children and families. This exhibit explores and celebrates Sephardic culture through the story of the Confino family who immigrated to America from Kastoria.

The Rhodes Jewish Historical Foundation
The Foundation has supported the work of The Rhodes Jewish Historical Foundation which is dedicated to preserving the Jewish history of Rhodes. The Foundation's support has helped to expand and improve the Jewish Museum of Rhodes, restoration of the Kahal Shalom synagogue as well as the preservation of the Jewish cemetery. www.RhodesJewishMuseum.org

Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California
The Foundation provided support for the exhibit, Myer Myers, Jewish Colonial Silversmith in Colonial New York (see Yale University grant). The exhibit closed May 26, 2002. The Foundation also provided support for the exhibit, "The Jewish Wedding," which closed in February 2002. For more information about the Skirball go to www.skirball.org.

Autry Museum of Museum of Western Heritage, Los Angeles, California
The Foundation supported an exhibition titled The Jewish West. This show explored the Jewish presence and influence in the region from the late 16th century through the early 20th century.

"A Portion of the People" Three Hundred Years of Jewish Life in South Carolina
A cooperative venture of the McKissick Museum, the College of Charleston and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, this exhibition was at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston in September 2002.

"They Came for Good: A History of the Jews in America" is a two-set video series that tells the story of Jews in America. The film highlights the experience of the Sephardic Jews who arrived in 1654. Contributions Sephardim made to American history are woven throughout the film. This film has been widely distributed on PBS stations and is available for purchase. For more information contact the Isaac in America Foundation at 212-643-1717.

Flory Jagoda video
The Foundation made a grant for the film, "The Key from Spain: The Songs and Stories of Flory Jagoda. The film focuses on the life of Flory Jagoda, a survivor of World War II from Sarajevo, Bosnia. Ms. Jagoda is a well-known composer of modern Ladino songs. This film documents her life and her music.

"The Optimists"
The Foundation provided support to produce this award-winning documentary which is the story of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust. For more information about the film go to www.theoptimists.com.

Sephardic Education Center
The Foundation helped underwrite the 6th Annual Los Angeles Sephardic Film Festival that took place in November 2002.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 17th Annual Jewish Music Festival
The Foundation underwrote two concerts by the Gerard Edery Ensemble, a Sephardic music group, in a program entitled, Music in the Land of Three Faiths. Winner of the 1997 Sephardic Heritage Award, Edery and his group presented a program of songs from the Golden Age of Spain. The program features 12th and 13th century songs in Ladino, Hebrew, Arabic, Galician-Portuguese and Latin and provided a historical content for the interwoven influences of each culture upon the other during this pre-Expulsion era. For more information go to www.brjcc.org.

Brandeis-Bardin Institute
The Foundation helped underwrite a weekend arts festival, Bezalel 2002: A Weekend of Jewish Arts. This festival celebrated Jewish music, dance, drama and art. The festival took place March 15 - 17, 2002 at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute located in Simi Valley, California (a 45 minute drive from West Los Angeles). Bezalel 2002 comprised of a 3-day residential experience for Jewish artists and arts educators as well as an arts festival open to the entire community. Master artists will explore Sephardic and Ashkenazic cultures on equal footing. For more information go to www.thebbi.org.