San Luis Obispo Hillel and the Diversity Coalition of San Luis Obispo County are partnering next week, on Wednesday, May 8th, from 5-7pm for a special event to honor Jewish Heritage Month and feature a program, Shine a Light on Jews of Color. Please join us for a light reception starting at 5 p.m., followed by a keynote talk given by Kiyomi Kowalski at the SLO Museum of Art next Wednesday evening.
More about the Jews of Color program:
Kiyomi is coming to San Luis Obispo to speak about Jewish identity, her lived experience as a Jew of Color, and detail how diversity, equity and inclusion efforts can and should protect the identities of all marginalized and minority communities, including diaspora Jews. Participants will leave the session with a framework to better understand intersectional Jewish identity and what the Jewish community needs from non-Jewish allies to ensure that Jews feel psychologically and physically safe in the SLO community.
This evening is made possible through the City of San Luis Obispo’s DEI High Impact Grant and the Cal Poly Office of University Diversity & Inclusion. It follows SLO Hillel’s December program on campus entitled “Shine a Light on Antisemitism,” and is the second iteration of a Jews of Color series, featuring Rain Pryor at the Palm Theatre last year.
Lauren Bandari, SLO Hillel’s Executive Director shared, “We are thrilled to provide this educational program for our San Luis Obispo community, so we can feature and understand our stories in a more intentional and deeper way together. Hillel is grateful to the Diversity Coalition of SLO County, the City of SLO, Cal Poly’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion and our venue host, the SLO Museum of Art, for their partnership in celebrating and furthering diversity on the Central Coast.”
Kiyomi is an Afro-Latin, queer, Jewish, Marine Corps veteran, mother who works to ensure that all of the intersecting identities of her and her children feel welcome in any space. If there is one word to sum up her life’s work it would be “inclusion.” Kiyomi’s social justice activism is centered on creating more inclusive spaces for Jewish people of all backgrounds as well as eradicating racism and antisemitism. To that end, she develops, produces and facilitates panels, workshops and discussions on the topics of race, racism and antisemitism. She utilizes non-violent communication approaches to coach people through tough conversations and promote productive dialogues. In 2020, Kiyomi co-founded Jewbian Princess, a Black, Jewish women-led organization to deliver corporate-level diversity and inclusion education to Jewish organizations through a Jewish lens. Kiyomi joined the Project Shema team as a coach and facilitator to help educate people on antisemitism and its root causes within social justice activism in 2021. In her role as the Vice President of Partnerships at Project Shema, Kiyomi works with Jewish organizations and activists to provide a training and support strategy with the goal of slowing the tide of antisemitism in justice spaces. Additionally, Kiyomi is a member of the facilitator team at Ta’amod to “stand up” for creating psychologically safe Jewish workplaces through empathy, education and equity.
In addition to her day jobs, Kiyomi serves as a board member of the Los Angeles section of the National Council for Jewish Women (“NCJW”), the national boards of Jewish Council of Public Affairs (“JCPA”) and Keshet. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a juris doctorate with an emphasis in public service. Kiyomi lives with her partner and two children in the suburbs of Los Angeles where she can be found watercolor painting, embroidering, and sewing pieces of flare to inspire a more just world. Learn more about her at KiyomiKowalski.com.
