jews d

PHOTOS BY JOHN HARDWICK

in
the

Advocate, Activist,
Agent of Change

VIVIAN HENOCH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Meet David
Kurzmann,
JCRC/AJC
executive
director.

A

ABOVE: Speaking at
the Hope Against Hate
conference.

David Kurzmann

18

January 4 • 2018

jn

ll roads lead to Jewish Detroit, or so it
would seem for JCRC/AJC Executive
Director David Kurzmann. “A third-gener-
ation Detroiter, I’m a product of this community,”
he claims. “That is to say, I had the great opportu-
nities my parents, Danny and Lisa, afforded me.”
David is a graduate of Hillel Day School, a
member of the founding class of the Frankel
Jewish Academy and holds a bachelor’s degree in
Hebrew and Jewish cultural studies and political
science from the University of Michigan.
David’s entry to the world of Jewish communal
work put him in the right place at the right time
in his first job out of college, working as program
assistant at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and
Education Center, three months before the muse-
um’s grand opening. For two event-filled years at
the museum, he facilitated public programs and
other outreach initiatives for widely diverse audi-
ences in the community.
Prior to joining JCRC/AJC, David worked as
assistant regional director at the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL) Greater Chicago/Upper Midwest
Regional Office. At ADL, he facilitated the agen-
cy’s “Confronting Anti-Semitism and Words to
Action,” programs to empower Jewish students
to address bias in their communities. His respon-

sibilities also included campus outreach, law
enforcement initiatives, Jewish communal secu-
rity programs and the Glass Leadership Institute
— a young leadership development program.
Now at the helm of JCRC/AJC Detroit, David is
also an active volunteer in the broader commu-
nity, proud to serve on the boards of the Interfaith
Community Leadership Council (IFLC) and New
Detroit. At home in Royal Oak, David and his
wife, Katie, are new parents, still discovering the
joys of first words and first steps in the first year
of life of their daughter, Sari.

WHAT JCRC/AJC STANDS FOR

Q: In five words, describe your agency.
We’re community representatives, a voice of
advocacy in action.
In other words, the Jewish Community
Relations Council/AJC stands for the Jewish com-
munity in relation to the community at large in
Greater Detroit, in Israel and around the world.
JCRC/AJC is an agency of the Jewish
Federation, which means our role is to
take action, specifically to build relationships that
strengthen ties with our diverse neighbors.
We’re a complex agency in a complex world:
Every day and especially in times of crisis, JCRC/