Good People Talk

Guest: Gavi Welbel, Co-Founder of Zumwalt Acres About Zumwalt Acres: Zumwalt Acres is an ecological farm in Sheldon, Illinois, founded by twin sisters Gavi and Remi Welbel in 2020. As sixth-generation stewards of their family’s land, they’ve transformed a conventional farm into a regenerative agriculture hub rooted in Jewish values and climate-forward practices. The farm grows food reg...

Evie Litwok walked out of federal prison in 2014 with $30 and a Greyhound ticket. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Evie founded Witness to Mass Incarceration to help formerly incarcerated people rebuild their lives with dignity and support. Her work is deeply informed by her family’s experience of survival and her commitment to bearing witness to injustice. Witness to Mass Incarceration...

In this final episode of our Building Bridges series on Good People Talk, Naomi Eisenberger, The Good People Fund’s Founder and Executive Director, speaks with Jon Adam Ross, founder of Inheritance Theater Project, a Good People Fund grantee that uses performance art to build bridges between community members in cities across the country. Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, Jon’s family considered c...

In this episode of Good People Talk, Julie Fisher, associate executive director of The Good People Fund, speaks with Matt Fieldman and Charmaine Rice, co-founders of Rekindle, a Good People Fund grantee bringing Black and Jewish leaders together for dialogue, friendship, and shared action. Matt and Charmaine share what inspired them to create Rekindle and how they’ve built brave spaces for d...

In this moving episode of Good People Talk, Julie Fisher, associate executive director of The Good People Fund sits down with Mo Al Samawi, Founder of Abrahamic House and author of The Fox Hunt, to explore a life shaped by hardship, faith, and extraordinary moral courage. Born and raised in Yemen, Mo grew up navigating disability, social isolation, and the deep impacts of conflict. His worldview b...

Rabbi Elhanan Miller is the Israel-based Founder of People of the Book, a Good People Fund grantee harnessing the power of original video and social media to advance coexistence between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East … and beyond. With hundreds of thousands of followers, and a reach into unlikely spaces, he is using creativity and vision to build new narratives and understandings … and change r...

Everyday Boston is a Good People Fund grantee that is weaving shared storytelling into the civic fabric of Boston. The intention is to elevate empathy, dismantle barriers, forge connections and build stronger community within and among neighborhoods in a multicultural city with its own history of fracture. “Stories can link us when almost nothing else can,” says Cara Solomon, Everyday Boston’s Fou...

Almog was 20 when he embraced his gender identity, nearly 13 years ago. Public consciousness of transgender issues — and support for individuals and families — was far from present. For Merav Livni Keish — Almog’s mother — silence was no option. She began talking to people, uncovering others’ experiences. She dug deep into the medical world, accumulating facts and realities. Eventually, she founde...

It was five years ago that three mothers of college-bound students founded TribeTalk, a Good People Fund grantee. Their mission … to empower Jewish students with tools, information and resources to evaluate college environments … and also to address antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on campus and beyond. “We are providing a shield for Jewish students to move through their spaces,” says Jude Sydney...

MyChild’sCancer — founded by Oded Grinstein in 2010 and a Good People Fund grantee — is a result of his family’s arduous and ultimately successful journey through pediatric cancer. It is a growing, grassroots ecosystem of emotional, logistical and informed support for parents navigating pediatric cancer. It empowers and equips them as advocates for their child’s care, survival and recovery. Oded r...

He was 16 and on a well-worn path of societal isolation, educational stagnation, and other barriers to promise. One of 14 children in an Arab-Bedouin family in Israel’s Negev region, Ahamad was immersed in a cycle of inertia common to his generation. A New Dawn in the Negev — a Good People Fund grantee — is embracing possibility and elevation … not constriction and stagnation. “The invisible stude...

The graffiti was vile, sprayed on buildings in Tur’an, a mainly Arabic village in Israel’s Galilee region. Soon after, a delegation from Tag Meir went to meet council members and residents as an act of solidarity and compassion. Gadi Gvaryahu, founder of Tag Meir, was there. “It starts with graffiti … if it is ignored, it ends with much worse … and it has.” As a Good People Fund grantee — Tag Meir...

Dr. Rutie Pilz-Burstein is the Founder and CEO of Sport – Bridge to Education, a nonprofit organization using sports to empower Israeli children and young adults in risk situations … enabling them to break cycles of failure and take alternate paths toward responsibility and success. She describes how a vision became a reality and the lives being uplifted and changed. Rutie speaks with GPF Co...

Dr. Mark Fenig — Founder and Executive Director of Medical Justice Alliance, a Good People Fund grantee — describes alarming inequities and injustices in medical care afforded incarcerated individuals in the US … and how he was moved by ethics and conscience to change that reality, advocating for compassionate or medical care releases on a case by case basis. He speaks with GPF Associate Executive...

Refugees, asylees and immigrants — and grassroots organizations providing them with critical services and community — are challenged as never before as xenophobia and official policies create an increasingly oppressive environment. Shoshana Barzel of New Neighbors Partnership, Kristen Bloom of Refugee Assistance Alliance, and Kari Miller of International Neighbors lead Good People Fund-supported o...

As a Latina woman, Yurani Sandoval knows well the cultural, familial and personal challenges to work-life balance and achievement. She founded Women Palante — a Good People Fund grantee — to empower other Latinas to find their voices and entrepreneurial success by building skills, networking, and importantly … practicing self-care, awareness and purpose. Good People Fund Associate Executive Direct...

At Kaima Hukuk — a non-profit organic farm in Israel’s Galilee region — teens and young adults seeking alternative educational and social frameworks are finding connection, purpose and promise. Founder Asaf Zaiden speaks to Good People Fund Associate Executive Director Julie Fisher about the vision and impact of Kaima Hukuk and how lives are being changed there. The Good People Fund: www.goodpeopl...

Considering societal trends and schisms threatening the robust functioning of American democracy, Civic Spirit — a Good People Fund grantee — works with educators and students in faith-based schools across the country to bolster civic fluency, skills and engagement. Civic Spirit’s Executive Director, Rabbi Charles Savenor, speaks with GPF Executive Director Naomi Eisenberger about the organization...

Jamal Alkirnawi is a leader in the Bedouin community in Israel and the Founder and Executive Director of A New Dawn in the Negev, a Good People Fund grantee. The organization uplifts Bedouin youth facing socio-economic challenges in the region, and with a Bedouin-Jewish core, promotes equality, co-existence and peace. “I have the responsibility for the young people … to bring them the light for to...

Shoshana Barzel founded New Neighbors Partnership in 2020, establishing clothing partnerships for newly resettled families in New York City. The clothing partnerships are the foundation of long-term community support networks, an invaluable anchor for refugee, asylee and asylum-seeking families. Shoshana speaks with GPF Executive Director Naomi Eisenberger. The Good People Fund: www.goodpeoplefund...

Esty Shushan is a Haredi woman who founded Nivcharot — a Good People Fund grantee — to promote the status and rights of ultra-Orthodox women in Israel through education, advocacy and cultivation of women leaders. In conversation with GPF Executive Director Naomi Eisenberger, Esty describes her personal journey finding her voice as a social visionary, and the remarkable and growing impact of the or...

Individual and collective trauma affects our potential to do good in the world as social visionaries, especially now in a broken landscape. So, how we seek awareness, perspective and healing is critical. Rabbi Igal Harmelin — who is active in the trauma field and spoke at The Good People Fund (un)conference last fall — talks with GPF Executive Director Naomi Eisenberger about the imperative to add...

The first-ever Good People Fund (un)conference brought nearly 70 GPF grantees from throughout the US and Israel to New York in November — for two intensely rewarding days sharing experiences, origin stories, professional development and more … and shattering the isolation inherent in visionary leadership. In this post-(un)conference episode of Good People Talk, GPF Executive Director Naomi Eisenbe...

Merav filled her tote bag with fresh fruits and vegetables, a typical scene at a farmer’s market anywhere. But this one in West Jerusalem is different: food is rescued, prices are non-existent, and individuals and families facing food insecurity — like Merav’s — are welcomed and respected. The whole environment, created by JLM Food Rescuers — a Good People Fund grantee — is a seed planted to grow...

Often their life experience includes being ostracized from family … being homeless … being a sex worker … being abused … being shunned. So at Trans House in Tel Aviv, trans women are embraced for who they are without judgment or whispers. Linor Abergel is CEO of the Israeli Transgender Association — a Good People Fund grantee advocating for rights and services for the trans community. “Here we are...