Chapter Leadership Requirements

The most fundamental requirement to become a JVP chapter is a core group of leaders who collectively have the combination of skills, qualities, commitments, and identities/experiences to build and lead a JVP chapter successfully.

We believe every single person who is part of JVP has something to contribute, and we want to build a leader-ful base where we are all working to improve our skills and develop each other’s leadership. JVP operates from a definition of leadership where leadership means developing others’ leadership.  In the words of Ella Baker, "I have always thought that what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others." 

We know that building a local chapter of JVP is a significant organizing project, and that having a group of core leaders with specific qualities and skills is essential to build powerful & durable local chapters. 

Leadership Commitments 

In order to build the massive, multi-generational, multi-racial base of Jews that has the power to shift US policy and narrative, every JVP chapter must have at least 4 core leaders who collectively hold the following commitments:

• To build power among US Jews toward Palestinian freedom by engaging in the full organizing cycle: base-building, leadership development, and taking action. 

• To hold responsibility for the whole of the chapter and create transparent approaches to decision-making & communication.

• To create an organizing culture and political home that welcomes, develops, and mobilizes a truly multi-racial, multi-generational Jewish base.  Specifically, this means leaders should be focused on bringing in an ever greater proportion of young Jews while also enhancing our multi-generational nature, taking guidance from the experience of elders and investing in members' ability to work together across generational differences. It also means chapter leaders value the leadership of those most targeted by the interconnected systems we seek to dismantle, and actively build spaces–for example our Black, Indigenous, Jews of Color, Sephardi and Mizrahi (BIJOCSM) network, Mizrahi community events, space for queer and trans members–that allow for us to build community and belonging both within our identity groups and across them. 

Leadership Characteristics  

In addition to those commitments, chapter leaders must collectively hold leadership characteristics that can build and lead a JVP chapter successfully. 

These leadership characteristics are dynamic and numerous, and we’ve organized them into three categories: political analysis, strategic capacities, and organizing skills. Within each category, we’ve identified key areas and specific examples of what it looks like in the day-to-day work of a chapter.

Note: Not every individual leader will hold every characteristic listed here. We all have different strengths we bring to the whole. Approach this section from the holistic perspective of your chapter. Reflect on your own leadership characteristics and those of your comrades– to unlock potential areas for individual and collective growth.

• Political analysis in the following areas:

  • Collective liberation and intersectional movement building 

    • 1. 1. • For example: Comfortable explaining how supporting Palestinian liberation is connected to fighting white supremacy and all forms of oppression. 

  • Opposition to Zionism

    • 1. 1. • For example: Able to articulate how Zionism is the political movement responsible for the ongoing Nakba. 

  • US-Israel Alliance and the basics of Israeli apartheid 

    • 1. 1. • For example: Is able to teach someone else about how the US-Israel alliance is driven by military, economic, and ideological interests. Can explain in human terms and values-based language what Palestinians on the ground are experiencing. 

  • Our role as Jews in the Palestine Solidarity Movement

    • 1. 1. • For example: Has a working understanding of how antisemitism must be fought along with anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, and all of white supremacy. Understands, openly names and works to challenge white Ashkenazi-dominance in chapter & coalition spaces.

• Strategic capacities in the following areas:

  • An orientation to organizing and building power

    • 1. 1. • For example: Defines building power as bringing people in, developing their leadership, and taking collective action that makes a material impact on ending the US-Israel alliance. Offers new members welcoming energy and ways to plug-in. Always asking what winning will look like, in small and large ways. 

  • Strong relationships with Palestinian-led and other movement partners

    • 1. 1. • For example: Has honest and nuanced conversations with partners about accountability, tactics, and collaboration. Works to have accountable relationships held by more than one member of the chapter. 

  • Strengthening our base-building in Jewish communities

    • 1. 1. • For example: Already have or eager to have a base-building strategy centered on bringing in more Jews. Connects political action to Jewish rituals, holidays, and diasporic histories. 

• Organizing skills in the following areas:

  • The ability to build trusting relationships across difference

    • 1. 1. • For example: Enthusiasm for meeting and engaging with others. Meets people where they’re at. Comes across as genuine. Says what they mean. Cares about the leadership of others and works to support them. Understands their own positionality, notices power dynamics in a space, and works to lovingly interrupt them. 

  • Creating a culture of organizing, collaboration, and belonging

    • 1. 1. • For example: Works to create and steward transparent systems for decision-making. Inspires and agitates people into action in honest and respectful ways. 

  • Commitment to giving and receiving thoughtful feedback 

    • 1. 1. • For example: Co-creates and stewards structures for ongoing feedback and growth. Listens closely to understand needs, concerns, and feedback and takes steps based on that input. Requests and values feedback. 

  • Campaign building & protest skills

    • 1. 1. • For example: Can select local targets for a national campaign based on research and power-mapping. Enthusiasm to identify and train members in protest roles: de-escalation, security, chant leading,  etc.  Weaves ritual & cultural work into actions and campaigns.

This is not a small set of requirements, and JVP national is committed to supporting the ongoing leadership development of chapter leaders and finding solutions to make these roles doable and meaningful. It’s a substantial volunteer role, and these requirements are intended to transparently illustrate what’s needed to do so effectively. 

If a group desires to be/become a JVP chapter, but according to their own and/or staff organizer assessment, does not meet these leadership requirements, there are two potential paths:

• The group becomes or remains a pod -- which is an important and valuable way to maintain a local presence when building out an entire chapter is not viable or useful at a given moment. As the pod continues its work, new leadership may emerge that makes growing into a chapter possible.

• The current leaders work to recruit/build the leadership needed to meet these requirements in a time-bound way (e.g. within 6 months), with some support/coaching from chapter organizers and ability to participate as a chapter in the interim. This option can be pursued if there are only 2-3 leaders who meet these requirements.

In particular situations, where there is a strong strategic need to build a chapter in a given city but the leadership according to these requirements is not in place, the national organization may invest staff time & resources to recruit and build a leadership team who in turn grow the chapter.