Updates

After the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, our NewGround fellows rallied around our Muslim community members. Emily Grant ‘26 and Brooke Wirtschafter ‘22 organized solidarity gatherings at Friday jummah prayers at the Islamic Center of Southern California and Masjid al-Thoir in Koreatown. One of our fellows even made it down to San Diego to show support for ICSC.

As part of the 10th annual Interfaith Awareness Week, Aziza will lead a seminar on August 15 on Zoom called “Making Peace a Reality.” The seminar will discuss The Future Is Peace by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, a joint memoir we recently discussed as part of our Exploring Blind Spots & Biases learning series. You can learn more about Interfaith Awareness Week at world-interfaith.com

Join @communitynexusorg for a thoughtful exploration of how faith and wisdom traditions can help us move past binary thinking, embrace complexity, and foster meaningful dialogue across differences.

NewGround's Facilitation Skills Workshop can help you learn and practice the skills necessary to hold conversations on the most challenging, contentious subjects. Join a "Community of Practice" dedicated to listening, speaking, and guiding others through conflict. Our next workshop is April 29-30 in Rancho Palos Verdes. Sign up HERE for more details!

Join us on Friday, April 24th at 11 AM for a conversation with Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, who just published a book together called The Future Is Peace. 

Join us for a screening of The Law In These Parts, and a discussion about the film and the current state of the West Bank.

The next installment of our Exploring Blind Spots & Biases film screening series starts on Monday, April 20 with The Other, an award-winning documentary exploring the complex relationship between Israelis & Palestinians

The next installment of our Exploring Blind Spots & Biases film screening series starts on Thursday, March 26 with Listening from the Heart, a film by the Parents’ Circle Bereaved Family Forum. This film uplifts the stories of families who have lost loved ones to political violence in Israel Palestine, and how they have comforted each other and worked towards a shared vision of peace. We hope you’ll join us for this film and conversation.

Our next round of facilitation training is on April 29-30. This seminar is a chance not only to learn dialogue and facilitation tools, but join a group of interfaith leaders committed to supporting each other through difficult conversations and bringing those conversations to their communities.

We gathered at Pico Union Project for NewGround's annual interfaith iftar on March 9th. In a moment when we are beset by frightening headlines, rising antisemitism and Islamophobia, and rising challenges to vital peace-building work, NewGround chooses to do things differently. We bring community together to listen more deeply, to talk about the difficult issues, and understand one another. 

Meet our Change-Maker honorees!

The Voice of Hind Rajab follows Red Crescent volunteers as they fight to rescue a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza. Inspired by real-life events, the film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. RSVP here!

NewGround is partnering with Jewish Story Partners, Nefesh, and New Israel Fund to hold a screening and discussion of Holding Liat on December 3 at Laemmle Glendale. If you missed our screening of Holding Liat last month, this is a great opportunity to see this powerful film. A conversation with Director Brandon Kramer, Producer Lance Kramer, Rabbi Susan Goldberg of Nefesh, Aziza Hasan of NewGround, and Joe Goldman of New Israel Fund will follow the screening. We hope to see you there. 

For the first time in our history, this program is open to applicants of all faith backgrounds, and also to all alumni of past NewGround programs as well as newcomers. To meet this moment, we ALL need to transform our leadership.  Application deadline: December 1

On Sunday, February 1, 2026, join us, once again, for a timely and significant gathering at the Skirball Cultural Center for NewGround's annual Trailblazer Forum. We will celebrate 20 years of NewGround with a conversation between our two honorees, each of whom model leadership with steadfastness and compassion.