JCRC-NY Celebrates Pilot Launch of Groundbreaking Jewish American and Muslim American Education Initiatives

NEW YORK, NY (11/12/2025) (readMedia)-- Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY) CEO Mark Treyger was thrilled to join New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos to kick off a pilot program in over a dozen schools across the city of a Jewish American history and identity and Muslim American history and identity curricular resource, in addition to a new Student to Student program launching in a subset of those schools.

JCRC-NY joined the Chancellor for the announcement at Tweed Courthouse, where they celebrated the achievement alongside Jewish and Muslim scholars who were influential in developing the curricular resources and Jewish and Muslim student leaders.

Hidden Voices: Jewish Americans in U.S. History, Volume 1 will showcase prominent Jewish figures who helped shape the country and city. They range from early settlers in New York like Asser Levy, to jeans innovator Levi Strauss, and suffragist and abolitionist Ernestine Louise Rose who helped shape the early women's rights movement.

You can view and download the Hidden Voices curricular resources here.

The pilot officially began on November 10 with a training session for participating educators. Each school has an assigned teacher who will adapt and teach lessons inspired by the Hidden Voices materials, weaving Jewish and Muslim American stories into classroom discussions. Throughout the pilot, these teachers will gather feedback from students, reflect on what works best, and collaborate in focus groups to strengthen how the curriculum promotes understanding and inclusion. The resource is woven into existing social studies and civics curricula and is available to all NYCPS classrooms for the 2025-26 school year.

JCRC-NY has also partnered with New York City Public Schools to bring the national Student to Student program to New York for the first time ever, where Jewish high school students visit classrooms to share their lived experiences and foster understanding between diverse groups of students. JCRC-NY hopes the program can become a model for multifaith engagement.

At its annual Somos reception in Puerto Rico on Thursday, JCRC-NY honored Chancellor Aviles-Ramos for her continued partnership, including her support of these initiatives. JCRC-NY is proud to serve as a citywide convener for these programs and other educational initiatives in partnership with the New York Education Coalition, which has been essential in amplifying Jewish identity and concerns in New York's educational system.

"Education, especially at the K–12 level, is our most powerful tool against hate," said Mark Treyger, CEO of JCRC-NY. "With antisemitism and Islamophobia on the rise across our city, we must give young people the knowledge and perspective to understand one another and build bridges across communities. These new Hidden Voices resources on Jewish and Muslim Americans bring a fuller, more inclusive story of our nation into classrooms, highlighting the deep connections and contributions of both communities to the United States and New York. Alongside our new Student to Student partnership, which fosters meaningful dialogue among students, these initiatives represent a major step toward combating bias through education. I thank Chancellor Aviles-Ramos and the NYCPS team, including all of the educators piloting these programs, as well as UJA-Federation of New York and all our partners in the New York Education Coalition for their leadership in making this vision a reality, creating both mirrors for students to see themselves and windows for all students to learn from one another."

"These Hidden Voices pilot programs embody NYCPS' dedication to inclusion," said Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. "Our students represent every possible background and identity, and our curricular materials and classroom conversations should reflect that rich legacy. Today's announcement is about deepening the use of our Hidden Voices resources through implementation support as well as building bridges through our new multicultural student coalition, which will build on JCRC's Student to Student model. At NYCPS, we are equipping schools with the knowledge and tools to foster cultural understanding and tell a more complete story of our city."

"UJA-Federation of New York applauds JCRC-NY and New York City Public Schools for launching this groundbreaking pilot program. Incorporating Jewish identity into classroom resources is a powerful step toward fostering understanding and inclusion. Jewish Americans have made indelible contributions to our city and our country, and we're proud to see those stories highlighted as part of NYCPS' commitment to celebrating the rich diversity of New York," said Daniel Rosenthal, Vice President, Government and External Relations, UJA-Federation of New York.

"It's been a tremendous privilege and honor to work on the Jewish American Hidden Voices project. The task of teaching Jewish-American history as U.S. history -- rather than as an isolated subfield -- is so important, especially in our moment of heightened antisemitism. New York City is the city home to the greatest concentration of Jews outside of Israel; teaching about the history of Jews in this city and this country should be an important part of the public school curriculum, and now it can be," said Natalia Mehlman Petrzela.

The Jewish Education Project is proud to have partnered with JCRC-NY and UJA-Federation in supporting the development of Hidden Voices: Jewish Americans in United States History and is thrilled with its launch in New York City Public Schools. Alongside this new curriculum, our collaboration with JCRC-NY to bring the Student to Student program to New York City will help ensure that Jewish identity and experience are represented through authentic voices of Jewish students themselves. Too often, Jewish stories are told solely through the lens of trauma or folded into a universal narrative. We are deeply grateful to Chancellor Aviles-Ramos and her team for their leadership in advancing a fuller, more nuanced understanding of the Jewish people and our contributions to this great city," said David Bryfman, CEO, The Jewish Education Project.

JCRC-NY has been leading the charge in advocating for comprehensive Jewish identity curricula for K-12 schools. JCRC-NY hosted a panel with education experts at the Center for Jewish History, Combating Antisemitism on Campus through K-12 Jewish Identity Education, and JCRC-NY CEO Mark Treyger, who is a former educator himself, penned an op-ed for the NY Daily News on how Jewish identity education is the most powerful tool against antisemitism.

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JCRC-NY, a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York, serves as the primary community relations agency for the Jewish community in the metropolitan New York area. As an active force in New York civic and communal life, JCRC-NY operates as a central coordinating and resource body with a mission to build relationships to advance the values, interests, and security of the Jewish community and to create a more interconnected New York for all.