2015 Town Hall Honorees
At Sunday night’s Chair’s Dinner, on October 11, there will be a special tribute to our outgoing President, Rabbi Steve Gutow, who has championed the issue of social justice for decades. During his ten years leading JCPA, Steve has devoted countless hours to fostering relationships with our partners and working tirelessly towards a good and just world through an unwavering and profound quest for tikkun olam. Almost all of his efforts have included an interfaith component. He has helped JCPA become one of the leading interfaith organizations in American Jewish life.
At dinner we will also recognize the remarkable accomplishments of two Washington-area leaders — Vivian Bass and Stuart Kurlander — with our Chair’s Tikkun Olam Award: Partner in Repairing the World.
For more than 30 years, Vivian Bass has been committed to improving the quality of life, independence, community inclusion, and dignity of individuals with disabilities throughout the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, nationally, and internationally. Since 1995, Vivian has led The Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, providing supportive services to adults and serving as a model for services in more than 25 communities over five continents. Chair-Elect of Jewish Women International and a proud Ruby Lion of Judah, Vivian has received numerous distinctions and serves on the Boards of the JCPA, Leadership Montgomery, Maryland, and Potomac Community Resources.
Stuart Kurlander, a Washington, D.C. Partner and Global Co-Chair of the Israel Practice Group of the international law firm Latham & Watkins, LLP, has a long history of activism in the Jewish and LGBT communities, and serves as National Chair of the 2016 Jewish Federations of North America LGBT mission to Israel. A past President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Stuart currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Jewish Endowment Fund and is Founder and Chair of the Kurlander Program on Gay and Lesbian Outreach and Engagement at the District of Columbia Jewish Community Center. Stuart serves on the Executive Committee of the American Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC) and is Chair of the AJDC’s Government Relations Committee. In 2008 Stuart was awarded the Judge Learned Hand Award by the American Jewish Committee.
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