Suzy & Wally Marks, Jr. z"l 2025 Trailblazer Forum

Our Trailblazer has been rescheduled for March 5, 2025. Please visit the new event page for more information.

Join us for a critical conversation between our honorees about bias and narratives in media

Registration starts at 10:30 AM. The program will begin at 11:15 AM.

We're eager to announce that our Trailblazer honorees this year are the Forward and MSNBC chief correspondent Ali Velshi.

The honorees have delved into complexity in their news coverage of events in Israel Palestine, the Middle East region, and how those events have spurred action and conversation in the US.

Trailblazer Honoree: The Forward

The Forward delivers incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews. Its rigorous reporting and balanced commentary on politics, arts and culture have won numerous awards year after year, including repeated recognition by the Society of Professional Journalists. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily, the Forward soon became a national paper, the most widely read Jewish newspaper anywhere. Its perspective on world and national news, and its unparalleled coverage of Jewish arts culture and opinion have made it the most influential nationwide Jewish media outlet today.

Trailblazer Honoree: Ali Velshi

Ali Velshi is an award winning journalist, host of "Velshi" and Chief Correspondent for MSNBC, and a weekly economics contributor to NPR's "Here And Now." He has covered multiple US Midterm and Presidential elections and significant news stories around the globe, including extensive reporting from Israel Palestine during the current crisis, Ukraine and across Central and Eastern Europe during the Russian invasion, the Syrian refugee crisis from Turkey and Jordan, and the Iran Nuclear Deal in Tehran. Velshi is known for his immersive on-the-ground reporting and his interactive discussions with small groups, which form part of his ongoing series, Velshi Across America.

Change-Maker Honoree: Clean Shelter

Clean Shelter is a non-profit founded by Palestinian Seba Abu-Daqa and Israeli Tom Kellner, and they seek to provide immediate relief to displaced communities in Gaza by offering essential sanitation and shelter solutions, including tents, toilets, community structures, and access to clean water. During the past year, they have been working with a devoted team of local volunteers to provide toilets, showers, tents, and community spaces for IDP camps and displaced communities in Gaza. We're looking forward to hosting Seba at the Trailblazer Forum and hearing more about Clean Shelter's work.

Ali Velshi and Forward editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren will join us at the Trailblazer Forum, to help us contend with our bias and challenge our narratives -- and with their own as well.

Diamond Sponsors

Suzy Marks and Wally Marks III

Ruby Sponsors

Paul Beck | Josh & Lisa Hofheimer | Paula & Barry Litt

Nurya Shabir & Muhammad Adaya

Sapphire Sponsors

Pervez & Jasmine Delawalla | The Fakhri Family | Abby Sher

Dr. Lo Sprague, PhD | Ali Velshi | Sandy Weiner

Platinum Sponsors

Rachel Andres & Ben Tysch | Halim & Saranya Dhanidina | Lisa Friedman

Farah Khan & Pedro Gonzalez | Luis & Lee z"l Lainer | Dennis Levitt & Jane Gordon

David Weiner & Marieke Oudejans

Gold Sponsors

Tzivia Schwartz Getzug & Steve Getzug | Aziza Hasan & Sani Abdul-Jabbar

Zuzana, Shawn, Abby & Talia, and Renata Landres

Drs. David Myers & Nomi Stolzenberg | Molly & Zach Rubin

Silver Sponsors

Jaime Rapaport Barry | Celia Bernstein & Bradley Kesden | Loren Bloch & Ping Ho | Judy Glass

Andrea Hodos & Rabbi Aryeh Cohen | Daniel Giesberg & Carol Lifland

Sean B. Hecht & Rebecca Weiker | Steven Kaplan | Saaliha Khan | Muizz & Nazmina Kheraj

Rabbi Susan Laemmle & John Antignas | Rabbi Ephraim Pelcovits & Rachel Weber

Yuval Bar-Zemer

Bronze Sponsors

Melissa Balaban & Adam Wergeles | California Conference for Equality and Justice

Rabbi Ken Chasen & Allison Lee | Michele DeRosa | Dodi Fromson

Janet Halbert | IKAR | Tobi Inlender

Ismaili CIVIC | Kathy Kobayashi & Hal Barron | Jim & Sandra Kohn

Jeanney Kutner | Susan Leonard | Janet Offel | Gary Richwald & Sue Bayley

If you would like to pledge a donation, you can do so here: https://mjnewground.dm.networkforgood.com/forms/pl...

NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change is fiscally sponsored by Community Partners, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. To learn more about Community Partners, please visit https://communitypartners.org/.

We welcome donations by check or from your DAF account. All checks must be payable to Community Partners (EIN 95-4302067) with “NewGround” in the memo line. Please use the pledge form link above to inform us of your DAF contribution.

If you sponsor by check, please email Andrea Hodos at andrea@muslimjewishnewground.org so that we can list your sponsorship as soon as possible!

NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change

3183 Wilshire Blvd, Ste #196, C9

Los Angeles, CA 90010