All Stars Project INC.

Together and Giving Back, one of the All Stars Project's newest bridge building initiatives, is bringing together African-American, Latino and Jewish youth from across New York City and Northern New Jersey to create new kinds of performances both on stage and off.

Together and Giving Back Partners include Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Ramaz School, affiliated with Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, MetroWest Jewish Community Center/Project Kavod, and the Jewish Children's Museum.

The initiative was launched in 2008 with the help of Howard Teich, Attorney and Past-President American Jewish Congress New York Metropolitan Region. Mr. Teich received the All Stars Project's "2008 Bridge Building Award for Leadership in Community Relations."

Jewish performer Neshama Carlebach with the Green Pastures Baptist Church Choir directed by Reverend Roger Hambrick performs an annual benefit concert to support Together and Giving Back. In a special awards ceremony, the All Stars Project presents the Harmony through Understanding Lifetime Achievement Award to two distinguished leaders who are dedicated to improving relations between diverse communities. Marty Begun, former president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and Dr. Roscoe Brown, Director of the Center for Urban Education Policy of The City University of New York were honored in 2008. This year's honorees are Elinor Tatum, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, New York Amsterdam News; and Jeff Mann, President and Executive Editor, Mann Publications.

In its Summer 2009 issue, Lilith magazine profiles the All Stars Project's President and CEO Gabrielle L. Kurlander and highlightes the powerful performance created by Black and Latino All Stars youth with Jewish young people from the Ramaz School, as part of the Together and Giving Back Inititiative. Click here to read the article as it appeared in Lilith.