An open letter to friends and colleagues from Ayecha’s Board of Directors:

After a year of worthy deliberation, The Ayecha Resource Organization has decided to close its doors. Through its work, Ayecha has brought together thousands of people, from various backgrounds, affiliations and cultures to consider what binds Jews to one another, despite difference, and to examine the misunderstandings around difference that can, unfortunately, keep people apart. We would like to thank the national community of Jews of Color that has become further empowered through our work and our many supporters in the Jewish professional community who rose to the challenge of inclusion, under the guidance of stellar leaders and funders that Ayecha was blessed to make partnerships with. We would like to thank Hyim, Karen, and Phillip for all their work, as a small board committee, to bring Ayecha to a soft landing and acknowledge all of Ayecha’s staff, board, and advisory committee members, past and present, for their hard work and committed service.

Ayecha’s mission of building a more inclusive Jewish community through increased awareness of Jewish Diversity and support for Jews of Color in the United States is one that we aimed to realize elegantly during the eight-year span of our organizational life. There were many successes and challenges that we endured through this work, and there is still much work to be done that we hope will be absorbed and adopted by the various individuals and organizations that were inspired by our model. Our founder, Yavilah McCoy, dedicated endless amounts of her time and energy toward moving Ayecha’s mission forward, and in leaving the organization, challenged our community to answer Ayecha’s call by doing more to integrate the work of inclusion into all aspects of increasing the quality of Jewish life.

As we close our doors, we pass on this challenge to each individual within the Jewish community and look forward to the greater expansion of our work and message through the daily practices and professional accomplishments of all friends, allies, and fellow advocates in the Jewish inclusion movement.

Ayecha’s Board of Directors