By ROCKNE ROLL
The Jewish Review
Looking to build Jewish community in your part of Portland? The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland can help through their new Gather Grants program to support small Jewish gatherings throughout the area. 
Caron Blau Rothstein, the Chief Planning and Engagement Officer for the Federation, explained the Gather Grant program is based off a model that was pioneered in Atlanta and is an expansion of the idea behind OneTable and PJ Library’s Get Together Grants. 
“You give community members a small amount of money,” to help defray the expenses of hosting a program, Blau Rothstein said, “and you help to support them with resources to do Jewish themselves in micro communities.”
The Federation is launching the program as a response to findings from their 2023 Community Study showing that Portland Jews are looking to connect with one another in grassroots ways and that geographic distance from physical institutions of the Jewish community is one of the challenges to building community.
“People seem to really want to find community, but geography can be a barrier because they live all over town,” Blau Rothstein said, “or that what’s being offered is not of interest or they don’t feel confident in their Jewish literacy.”
The Gather Grant model comes from the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, which developed the idea in response to its own community study. The program was initially targeted to the northern suburbs of Fulton County, where it was quickly successful. 
“There were a lot of geographic locations in Atlanta here individuals wanted to do more Jewish programs and didn’t have access to the infrastructure that was providing them,” Carla Birnbaum, the Relational Engagement Manager for JFGA, said. “What we realized by piloting in the northern suburbs is that there were people who sort of came out of the woodwork.”
The program has now expanded to 33 zip codes in the Atlanta metropolitan area, with around 1,100 grants being issued in total since the program began in 2022. In addition to supporting Jewish community programs, the grants have given the Atlanta Federation even more data on who’s engaging Jewishly, where and how. 
“What we’ve learned is that Jewish Atlanta is much larger and more spread out than even our community-wide studies have shown,” Birnbaum said. “There are Jews in rural areas that are looking to have meaningful Jewish experiences and those look different in various areas of the city.”
Data on Gather Grant recipients in Atlanta has shown that around 25 percent have moved to Atlanta in the last three years and that 48 percent want to be more involved in Jewish life in the area. Hosts seem to like it, too – 99 percent in Atlanta said they would recommend hosting a Gather Grant-funded program. 
Portland isn’t the first to bring in this model.
“Close to a dozen other communities have adopted Gather Grant models in different ways,” Birnbaum said. In Portland, applications for events held through the end of March are now open. To be eligible, programs should include at least six people outside the host’s household, and hosts will need to complete a post-event survey to receive their funds as a reimbursement. Grants are available for a maximum of $120. 
What kind of program? The options really are endless, and Federation staff are available to talk about ideas and help connect you with people who might be interested in joining you. 
“It’s not just about the money, it’s about helping you feel confident to host these things,” Blau Rothstein said. “Gather Grants are for people to be empowered and supported in doing community-based, DIY Judaism.”
The Gather Grant program in Portland is supported by the Federation’s Catalyst Fund as well as the Community Endowment Fund of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation. 
Learn more and apply for your own Gather Grant at jewishportland.org/gathergrants.