“I think about how different my life would have been if I had Keshet there for me when I was growing up,” mused Tracey Labgold. “I literally did not know that I could be both Jewish and lesbian. I thought that I had to hide my queer identity, and I did for a long time, and I was miserable. Helping to create spaces for others like those I really needed myself is my reason to get out of bed every morning.”
Labgold is the Florida education and training manager for the 30-year-old nonprofit Keshet, which takes its name from the Hebrew word for rainbow. The organization works for the full equality of all LGBTQ+ Jews and their families in Jewish life by assisting Jewish organizations with building welcoming communities, creating safe spaces for all queer Jewish youth, and advancing LGBTQ+ rights nationwide.
“It is my job to work with the staff of Jewish organizations across the state of Florida to help them examine their programming, their policies and their culture to see what they do well and what they could do better,” Labgold said. “Then we do that work in a whole variety of ways: consulting, training, coaching and providing resources. Having The Our Fund Foundation support and their name behind us means so much because it really is elevating our access, our visibility, and the work that we’re able to do.”
Our Fund provided the support for Labgold to bring together 11 Jewish organizations in Broward into a year-long process called shivyon, a Hebrew word for equality.
“We launch a day of in-person, hands-on training and then each organization creates an action plan of goals they want to implement over the course of the year,” she explained, “I coach each organization through the process of implementing their goals. They concluded in early December of 2025 and were wildly successful.”
Our Fund’s support enabled Labgold to visit each organization and provide training on how best to serve their Jewish LGBTQ+ members.
“In order to best provide spaces of true belonging, we need to better understand the range of the human experience,” she said. “When we spend time learning together and engage in training about the way folks with marginalized identities can experience institutions, then we can actually be more effective at creating safe spaces.”
In addition to education and training, Keshet offers youth programs, virtual and in-person programming for LGBTQ+ Jews of Color, and community mobilization and advocacy. Our Fund is also assisting in expanding Keshet’s programs for teens.
“The number of Jewish organizations who feel it is imperative that they do this work has skyrocketed. My biggest challenge is being able to meet the need of organizations who want to do better and show that the anti-LGBTQ sentiment is not their value system.”
“We created what we call the Queer Jewish Youth Alliance,” she said. “We don’t ask them how they identify. If they show up, they’re welcome. It’s free, it’s largely social where they can spend time being together as their full selves not having to hide any part of their identity.”
The Palm Beach County teen group meets once a month and Labgold is creating one for Broward teens. It is one of several new initiatives that include Thrive: The Jewish Coalition to Defend Trans and LGBQ+ Youth, the circulation of a letter affirming trans dignity that has been signed by Jewish clergy nationwide, and an updated online equality directory.
“In the public sector, there’s a real erasure of LGBTQ identity,” Labgold said. “When the local government is not caring for you, it’s imperative for the nonprofit world to step up. And that is what we’re trying to do in the Jewish space and what Our Fund is doing in the larger community. We’re just really grateful to be working with them and seeing the ways that they’re lifting up all of the work that’s being done in our communities.”
The Art of Community
Many in the LGBTQ+ community have mixed feelings about religion. The Pew Research Center found that while roughly half of U.S. adults who are LGBT (48%) say they identify with a religion, a nearly equal amount, 46% of LGB respondents, said that religion does more harm than good.
The need to resolve this conflict is important as we move forward as a community. The Trevor Project reports LGBTQ youth who said that their religion or spirituality is important or very important to them (55%) reported significantly lower rates of symptoms of depression.
In this series, we invite you to learn more about the organizations Our Fund Foundation supports. Perhaps you will find resources to enhance your life or an organization that matches a passion and one you can support with your time, talent or funds.
David Jobin
The Our Fund Foundation
President & CEO
