Liza Levy | |
---|---|
Born | Cape Town, South Africa |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Jewish community activist |
Years active | Late 1980s—present |
Known for | Past president, Jewish Federation of Greater Washington Co-founder, Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse Co-founder, Tikkun Olam Women's Foundation |
Spouse | Michael Levy |
Liza Levy is a community activist in Washington, D.C. She is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, co-founder of the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, and co-founder of the Tikkun Olam Women's Foundation.
She has been honored with the Kipnis/Wilson Friedland Award from the Jewish Federations of North America as well as the Jerome J. Dick Young Leadership Award.
She was born in Cape Town, South Africa, to a Jewish family. [1] She graduated from the University of Cape Town Teachers College with a degree in childhood education. [2] In 1984, she and her husband immigrated to the United States, settling in Washington, D.C. [2] [3]
She taught at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington's Early Childhood Department satellite center in Silver Spring, Maryland, later becoming director of the center. [1] [2] She joined the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington in the late 1980s, finding it a venue both to make friends and retain her Jewish identity. [3] In 1998 she became a Federation board member, [2] and served as president of women's philanthropy, chair of planning allocations, and chair of financial resource development. [3] In 2013 she was elected to a two-year term as president. [3]
In 2000 Levy co-founded the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, for which she is an executive board member. [2] In 2003 she co-founded the Tikkun Olam Women's Foundation, which invests in programs for women and girls. [1] [4]
She has been a member of the board of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School since 2001, and the board of the Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Synagogue from 1999 to 2003. [2]
In 2012 she was named one of the Women to Watch in the category of Community Leadership by Jewish Women International [5] [6] and received the Kipnis/Wilson Friedland award "for women demonstrating the highest ideals of leadership, philanthropy and volunteerism" from the Jewish Federations of North America. [5] In 1999 she received the Jerome J. Dick Young Leadership Award. [2]
She and her husband, Michael Levy, have three children. [1] They reside in Potomac, Maryland. [7]
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