Jeremiah Fellowship Participants
Jeremy Aron-Dine
Jeremy Aron-Dine grew up as a rabbi's kid in Los Gatos, CA. He returned to the Bay Area in 2010 to work for Google after studying linguistics and math at Harvard, where he also took on leadership roles at Hillel. In his spare time, he rows on San Francisco's LGBT rowing team and hangs out in his grad-student friends' labs. He's very much looking forward to participating in this year's Jeremiah Fellowship program. He is particularly excited by the focus on tax policy, a topic of special interest to him thanks to years of discussions with his economist sister and brother-in-law.
Kendra Joy Berenson
Kendra is passionate about education and works as a high school English and history teacher at a diverse public school in Marin County. She loves learning with teenagers, developing innovative curriculum, and discussing the purpose and future of education. She is a lover of words and can often be found reading, writing, browsing in a book store, or playing word games. Her other interests include hiking, camping, dancing, painting, and going on adventures. She is an optimist, a thinker, and a seeker.
Ashley Berman
Ash hails from the great state of Wisconsin and came to the Bay Area to participate in the Urban Adamah fellowship last fall. When she's not knee deep in horse manure feeding her millions of red wigglers she manages for Urban Worm, her worm composting business, you'll find her running around with the three year old she nannys for, playing guitar, or daydreaming about her future homestead. Ash is an avid hiker and backpacker and has spent the summer exploring the magnificence that is California. Her latest project is studying acupressure at the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley.
Elizabeth Bieber
Liz Bieber is a recent Bay Area transplant from Washington, D.C., where she finished a two year position as a senior program officer at the national nonprofit Partners for Livable Communities. She is passionate about urban planning and equitable grassroots community development, specifically through the arts. While she acquaints herself with the Bay Area this year, she will apply for a Masters in urban planning programs. Liz grew up as a third generation Habonim Dror kid, attending Camp Moshava in Maryland where she identifies as a liberal and left-leaning Jew. She is excited about joining the Jeremiah Fellowship to get involved in the local community and learn from experienced organizers.
Julie Bressler
Julie Bressler grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and was very active in her synagogue community (Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, CA) and teen programs. She has always felt a strong connection to tikkun olam and social justice and even had a childhood cat named Mitzvah! Julie graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010 with a BA in Women and Gender Studies and American Culture Studies. Since then, she has worked with various nonprofits primarily in student engagement and outreach. Currently, she serves as the project director for the Jewish Teen Foundation of the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay, which aims to cultivate the next generation of Jewish philanthropists and leaders. Julie loves California's amazing weather, spending time with family and friends, discovering new brunch spots, and cheering on her favorite sports teams! She is so excited and honored to be a part of the Bay Area Jeremiah Fellowship for 2012-2013.
Aaron Brickman
Aaron Brickman grew up in Houston, TX where he attended a Modern Orthodox day school. He moved to California to study at American Jewish University and graduated with a B.A. in Jewish Studies and Political Science. While in Los Angeles he was active with the Workmen's Circle where he developed culturally Jewish and politically progressive events and programs. Aaron also booked and promoted punk rock shows to raise funds for a variety of social and economic justice causes. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2006, he has worked in the labor movement and organized airport workers, preschool teachers, and hospital staff. In his role as an organizer, he holds democratic decision making and direct action as the most vital components in creating meaningful change that transforms individuals and communities.
Vincent Gary Calvetti, Jr.
Vincent Calvetti-Wolf is a 28-year-old graduate from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where he focused on Jewish Studies and taught Sunday School at the local synagogue Temple Beth Hatfiloh. He recently returned to the Bay Area after a three year absence to be closer to his family. He is the first person in his Mexican-American family to graduate from college. It was in the dynamic social justice atmosphere of Evergreen where he discovered his passion for human rights activism and began to learn the histories of the struggle against colonialism fought by indigenous peoples like his ancestors in the Americas. He connects these histories with those of the Jewish Bund in Europe and the Black Panthers in Israel, groups which struggled for visions of self-determination for all peoples during the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2010, after five years of study, Vincent converted to Judaism, drawn by his long-time love and identification with the Jewish tradition of social justice. He enjoys spending time with his wife Amanda and their dog Lily Latke, baking loaves of his award-winning Vegan Challah for his friends, and singing Fiddler on the Roof songs at Karaoke night.
Hannah Ellenson
Hannah is a recent transplant to the Bay Area. Although she is a native Californian, New York, Boston, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv have all been home bases over the past ten years. After studying history in college, Hannah went on to receive a Masters in Public Policy with a focus on Conflict Resolution and Mediation from Tel Aviv University. She now works at the New Israel Fund, a non-profit organization that focuses on building civil society in Israel. On the weekends, Hannah enjoys sitting in parks, daydreaming about ways to fix any number of problems the world faces, and finding the best burrito in San Francisco.
Daniela Gilbert
Daniela works for California Partnership for Safe Communities, a nonprofit organization working with cities to reduce violence through partnership-based, data-driven strategies that also reduce recidivism. Daniela graduated from Harvard with a degree in Sociology and a Spanish language citation. There she also led a group that educated the student community on issues of sexual assault and rape, as well as a mentoring program that paired diabetic college students with local diabetic youth. Born and raised in Oakland and Berkeley, Daniela currently lives in San Francisco. She loves to dance, cook, eat, laugh, explore new places, and spend time in the sun.
Justin Gold
Justin graduated from UC Davis in 2011 with a degree in philosophy and political science. During his time at Davis, he served as an ASUCD Student Senator and Student Assistant to the Chancellor. He is also the founder of a food bank called The Pantry. After Davis, Justin participated in the Coro Fellowship where he engaged in community building, facilitation training, and outside the box problem solving. He is currently working as an Account Manager at Elastic Inc, a rapidly growing start-up in Mountain View.