National Council of Jewish Women Colorado Section

NCJW, Colorado Section is the oldest women’s philanthropy group in Colorado. Founded in 1893, we are 129 years old and still going strong.   

As a grass root organization of volunteers advancing social change through advocacy and community service, we use a Jewish lens to bring activists and volunteers together in our communities across generations. We build leaders in our community and strive for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children and families and by safeguarding rights and freedoms. 

Our Advocate Efforts are currently concentrated on:

•  Women's Health and Reproductive Rights:  We work to assure all women have full access to health care including full access to reproductive medicine and control over their own bodies.  
• Ending Gun Violence:  Every day people are dying due to senseless gun violence.  We fight to end these tragic incidents and the peripheral issues of mental health and victim recovery.  
• Poverty Issues:  There are so many issues that effect those who struggle everyday to make ends meet.  From assuring people have food, clothing and housing to addressing unfair practice such as taxes on products people must purchase, to helping people better their own lives and job status, to addressing mental illness concerns, we work hard to address issues that affect those in our communities who struggle the most. 
• Protect Voter Rights:  We produce candidates' Forums to help educate the voters on the ballot issues and candidates' positions.  We work hard to get out the vote, protect voter rights, and educate voters, especially new voters, on what they will see on the ballot and why it is important for them to vote.

Our Community Service work focuses on:

• Children:  We work with an adopted Title 1 School whose population is primarily English as a second language learners by providing tutoring, after school enrichment, needed school supplies, food over breaks and reading books over summer vacation, we work with the Denver Children's Home to provide meals, other children in need throughout the state to assure they have science, math, and arts related enrichment, schools to assure girls are not shunned into staying home because they cannot afford feminine hygiene products, and the court system to address timing kids who have timed out of the foster care program.
• Women:  We help women who are battered, who need assistance in finding housing and providing food for their families, and who need help integrating into the community.  We have worked with women's day shelters, family facilities, the Colorado Coalition for the homeless, shelters for battered women and much more.   We have knitted to keep women warm in the winter, and provided hygiene bags to the people on the streets.  We also provide scholarships to women young and old who are working to further their education.
• Immigrants:  In partnership with groups like Casa de Paz, Jewish Family Services, and other organizations, we welcome new immigrants into our community and help them integrate into daily life in Colorado.  We also have worked with DACA students and people taking sanctuary from deportation in our state.  
• Reproductive Rights:  In partnership with other organizations we are working to make it possible for women from states with restrictive abortion laws receive the needed medical care in Colorado.

Our Educational Efforts are focused on both educating our members as well as the community at large.  We conduct educational programs on a variety of topics such as hate in our communities (from Antisemitism to Black Lives Matters, to homophobia), the Jewish position on abortion, immigration struggles, battered women, homeless concerns, educational gaps, other poverty related concerns, mental illness, and gun violence.  In the greater community we have programs such as Candidates' Forums, symposiums on mental health, aging, tough questions people face around death and dying, an Ask the Doctor program (an opportunity for teens and women to focus on bettering their health and get their medical questions answered), and a forum for Teenagers to bring their solutions to gun violence in schools to school administrators, prosecutors, sheriffs and politicians.  

In short, our work demonstrates our faith in the future and our belief in action.