APRIL 15 • 2021 | 21

them a pattern to follow. 
“We don’t have to recreate 
the wheel. There’s a wheel that 
already exists,” Dandridge 
said. 
Noticing the burgeon-
ing partnership, the Max 
M. & Marjorie S. Fisher 
Foundation gave a grant to 
support the BLD and HFL 
partnership. 
Doug Bitonti Stewart, 
executive director of the 
foundation and a mutual 
friend of Contorer and 
Dandridge, was key in the 
process. 
 Contorer recalled, “As 
I met with Dwan, Doug 
found out about it and said, 
‘I’m so glad you guys have 
connected. You two should 
be working together, and 
we’re a Foundation that’s 
going to be first in the water 
to support your efforts.’”
Contorer added, “The 
Fisher Foundation made 
a significant grant and 
will continue to make sig-
nificant grants to BLD to 
support [Dwan’s] capacity 
and encourage the ongoing 
relationship between Dwan 
and me and the sharing of 
knowledge in the partner-
ship. [Dandridge] is like we 
were in 1895. He’s just get-
ting his sea legs and putting 
things together.” 
Contorer hopes to even-
tually see serious numbers 
of Black business owners 
going to BLD for inter-
est-free loans to start up and 
expand their businesses.
Dandridge hopes this 
partnership is a sign of 
more collaboration between 
the Jewish and Black com-
munities. 
“I would love to see our 
communities step out of 
the norm and find other 
ways to partner,” Dandridge 
said. “I think a lot of our 
problems could be solved by 
expanding our networks.” 

 

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before Israel became a state. We take immense pride in being Israel’s 
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medical care for the soldiers who have ensured Israel’s existence. 
Join us in celebrating Israel’s independence on Yom HaAtzma’ut. 

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at afmda.org or call 888.674.4871.

Ever since there’s been an IDF 
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