As protests against President Trump’s travel ban and standing up against discrimination continue to take place across the United States, some young Jews have decided to take action and volunteer to help marginalized communities.

One of the organizations that allows them to do so is Repair the World.

Founded in 2009 with the goal of “make meaningful service a defining element of American Jewish life”, it aims to engage Jewish young adults with the communities around them.

The group operates across the United States, with a focus on programing in six cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In each city, Repair The World partners with local NGOs and allows members to volunteer and impact their communities.

“When we say meaningful service we mean work to improve equity and fairness especially within marginalized communities using tools that include direct volunteering, contextual education and reflexion so the service comes through a Jewish lense,” CEO of Repair the World David Eisner told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

This year, Repair The World expects to engage 25,000 young Jews across country.

“We saw a beginning of a spike a couple of years ago around the black lives matter movement when discussion of social justice and racial justice peaked in general,” Eisner said.

“There is just an increased attention to this.”

He added that the group also recorded a “very strong increase” in Jewish young adults moving into intercity multi-cultural, multi-racial communities.

“And of course the recent election has brought a lot of the discussions around equity and fairness, vulnerable populations and marginalized communities into focus in a way that there are more people that want to find outlets to stand in solidarity with [these] communities,” he went on.

Last month, over 10,000 young Jews joined Repair the World’s Martin Luther King day volunteering activities and the organization also held service projects and discussions in Washington DC during the weekend of President Trump’s inauguration.

Thirty year old Cheryl Pruce, who has been living in Washington DC for the past seven years, in originally from Baltimore and became involved with Repair the World last November, just a few days after the presidential election.

That week, Pruce, who works in education policy research, joined other young Jews in Repair The World’s delegation to the Facing Race conference, a national gathering focused on racial justice, which took place in Atlanta.

“It was absolutely instrumental in my trajectory forward after the election of Donald Trump two days prior. It connected me to [other Jews serious about racial justice],” she told the Post. “That work with Repair’s Jewish delegation at Facing Race was very pivotal in solidifying my work in racial justice.”

Following that first interaction with the organization, Pruce recently worked to initiate a retreat with members of Repair the World to discuss racial issues further.

She explained that growing up in Baltimore, these topics were always very important to her.

“Race and class were extremely salient factors,” she explained. “These concepts have not been new to me. I’ve been interested in the intersection of race poverty and education for the last decade.”

Although her work was triggered years before the November 8th 2016 election, President Trump’s controversial appointments to key positions in his cabinet, she said, have amplified her motivation.

“It has made me very very concerned and made me want to double down. I will absolutely push ten times harder than I did before,” Pruce told the Post. “I’m not convinced that the people in power are going to protect all Americans.”

“I am disheartened but extremely now motivated to fight for my community and to fight for others,” she added.

Repair the World’s David Eisner explained that the organization sees significant Jewish value to volunteering and conducting the kind of work that Pruce has engaged in. One of the group’s main goals is in fact to help young Jews make the connection between their passion for helping their communities with their Jewish identity.

“Loving the stranger because you were once a stranger in Egypt, taking care of the widow and the orphan and not putting stumbling blocks in front of the blind: these are not optional pieces for people that hold Jewish values,” he explained.

Eisner added that “there is nothing more hopeful than “watching Jewish young adults make change in communities that improves justice, that strengthens relationships, that builds community understanding and that strengthens their personal character and their understanding of their own connect to their Jewish identity.”

When asked whether she feels volunteering is part of her Jewish identity, Cheryl Pruce responded: “This is my Jewish identity. This is what it means for me to be Jewish in the world.”

By Danielle Ziri