Regional Work

The Federation works with many regional organizations that cater to the needs of the southern Jewish community.

Anti Defamation League (ADL)

Founded in 1913, the ADL is the oldest organization dedicated to combating antiSemitism and bigotry. The ADL monitors and combats individual manifestations of Anti-Semitism, especially serious crimes such as bombings, arson, and cemetery desecrations. It also monitors the activities of extremist groups, and educates the public on anti-Semitism, extremism, the Holocaust and the Arab Israel conflict. The ADL is a national organization, and there is a regional office in New Orleans.  

 

 

Henry S. Jacobs Camp

Henry S. Jacobs Camp is our region's Reform Jewish overnight camp located in Utica, Mississippi, serving the Deep South: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Western Tennessee. Since 1970, Jacobs Camp has been providing a caring Jewish community that builds young people. The opportunity to live as part of a close-knit community and develop new skills, assisted by dynamic and enthusiastic staff, coupled with Jewish values and the development of one's Jewish identity results in the experience of a lifetime.

For over 45 years, Jacobs Camp has served a region that does not have one large Jewish community. Many of its campers come from small cities and towns. For them, Jacobs Camp is a Jewish oasis. It provides a Jewish world that just does not exist for most campers during the rest of the year. As the Jewish communities in the camp region have evolved over the years, with several small congregations closing, Jacobs Camp has remained a center of Jewish life in the Deep South. 

 

 

Camp Dream Street

Dream Street is a camp that brings together disabled youth and Jewish teenage counselors for a week of fun at Henry S. Jacobs Camp. Dream Street was founded in 1975 with the mission that we believe all children, regardless of their abilities, must be offered the chance to have fun, make new friends, achieve, be accepted for who and what they are, and learn from the challenges of group life. Both the children and the staff at Camp Dream Street benefit from the life-changing experiences the camp has to offer. Dream Street is a place where children with physical disabilities are given the chance to be children – not “special” children, not children with disabilities, but just children. This is the true magic of Camp Dream Street.   

 

 

Temple Shalom, Lafayette

The Federation provides funding for use in the Religious School.

 

Museum of Southern Jewish Experience

The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience explores the many ways that Jews in the American South influenced and were influenced by the distinct cultural heritage of their new homes. Through exhibits, collections and programs focused on the unique and remarkable history of Southern Jews, the Museum encourages new understanding and appreciation for identity, diversity, and acceptance.