Mazon is an organization for social change, that focuses on advocacy and public education on hunger and food insecurity in the US and Israel. Food insecurity is the most serious feature of poverty, manifested in lack of economic capacity and regular access to basic nutrition that is required for a balanced and healthy existence.
In Israel, we promote the issue of a responsive and consistent national policy to prevent food insecurity among all citizens and develop collaborations with social organizations that deal with food security. We believe that together, we are stronger and have more impact. We support our partners through grants, advocacy and the creation of a network of associations that work together for the common goal of eradicating hunger in Israel without discrimination.
In the US, we are a leading voice in the fight against hunger and food insecurity, especially in communities and areas that have so far been ignored or denied.
Mazon is an organization for social change, that focuses on advocacy and public education on hunger and food insecurity in the US and Israel. Food insecurity is the most serious feature of poverty, manifested in lack of economic capacity and regular access to basic nutrition that is required for a balanced and healthy existence.
In Israel, we promote the issue of a responsive and consistent national policy to prevent food insecurity among all citizens and develop collaborations with social organizations that deal with food security. We believe that together, we are stronger and have more impact. We support our partners through grants, advocacy and the creation of a network of associations that work together for the common goal of eradicating hunger in Israel without discrimination.
In the US, we are a leading voice in the fight against hunger and food insecurity, especially in communities and areas that have so far been ignored or denied.
Our way
We promote the demand for government responsibility and the need for a responsive and consistent national policy to ensure food security among all citizens. We foster collaborations with organizations active in the field of food security, believing that together we are stronger and more able to bring social change. We support our partners through grants, networking and the promotion of joint activities for the common goal of eradicating food insecurity in Israel, without discrimination of any part of our society.
Our truth
We believe that food insecurity is a social wound that requires public consideration and the promotion of governmental responsibility. The improvement of food security requires making strategic decisions and investments. Therefore, we focus on advocacy and public education on issues of hunger and food insecurity in Israel and the United States. Hunger and food insecurity is a growing issue in Israel, even more so since the pandemic. We are here to inform the public and decision makers about this and to encourage collaborations to eradicate it.
OUR STAFF
Abby J. Leibman has been President & CEO at MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger since 2011. Prior to her current tenure, Ms. Leibman had a consulting practice to assist social justice organizations, businesses, and public institutions meet the challenges of growth and change, including leadership development, managing diversity, and implementing strategies to respond to discrimination. Among her clients, Ms. Leibman worked with some of California’s most innovative organizations, including Jewish World Watch, Food Forward, L.A.’s BEST, UCLA Hillel, Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue, the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles and the Progressive Jewish Alliance (now Bend the Arc).
For over 20 years, Ms. Leibman has worked with and led some of California’s most prominent nonprofit organizations, including the California Women’s Law Center, which she co-founded and directed for 12 years. Prior to founding the California Women’s Law Center, Ms. Leibman was the Directing Attorney/Community Programs for Public Counsel, where she developed and then directed its Child Care Law Project and managed its project providing pro bono transactional assistance to nonprofit organizations. Ms. Leibman served a two-year term as one of five civilians appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to the Equity Oversight Panel for the L.A. Sheriff’s Department. Ms. Leibman directed the New Leaders Project of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, for which she developed the project’s curriculum to guide emerging leaders on making civic engagement a priority.
Ms. Leibman also has a distinguished record of community leadership including: the Board of Directors for Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, the Board of California Women Lawyers, the Court and Community Outreach Task Force of the California Judicial Council, Women Lawyers’ Association of Los Angeles and as President of the California Children’s Council. She served as chair of the West Hollywood Human Services Commission, a member of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Child Care, a member of the Women’s Advisory Council to the Los Angeles Police Commission. Ms. Leibman has served on the Board of the Progressive Jewish Alliance and on the Executive Committee of the Jewish Community Relations Commission.
Ms. Leibman served as adjunct faculty at UCLA and the Graduate School of Management at American Jewish University.
Ms. Leibman has received a number of prestigious honors, including the Hastings College of Law Alumnae of the Year, California Women Lawyer’s Faye Stender Award, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles’ Ernestine Stalhut Award, UCSD’s Top 100 Influential Alumni Award, USC Law Center’s Public Interest Advocate Award, and the So. California Employer Round Table’s Carol F. Schiller Award.
She has a J.D. from Hastings College of Law and graduated magna cum laude from UC San Diego with a B.A. in Political Science.
Mia Hubbard is the vice president of programs at MAZON. She provides leadership and direction for MAZON’s advocacy, grantmaking, and strategic program efforts to reduce and eliminate hunger and expand low-income communities’ access to healthy food in the United States and Israel. Since Mia joined the organization in 1993, MAZON has established itself as a leading advocate, funder and capacity builder in the field of hunger as well as a critical source of expertise, leadership and inspiration for advocacy and public policy solutions to hunger. Mia has served on several boards of directors, including most recently as the international program committee chair for an international association of food and nutrition programs serving people living with HIV/AIDS. Mia holds an M.A. in International Relations and Public Policy from the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UC San Diego and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.
Dr. Ishai Menuchin is MAZON’s Israel Director, leading activities to reduce poverty and eliminate food insecurity in Israel. Since joining the organization in 2016, Ishai has established MAZON as a leader in the field — building an anti-hunger infrastructure, providing critical expertise, and promoting awareness about the scope of hunger in Israel among the broader Israeli civil society movement.
Prior to joining MAZON, Ishai lectured in the department of social work at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and served as Executive Director of the Jerusalem Spinoza Institute, coordinator of the Coalition for Freedom of Information Law, Executive Director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and Chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International Israel.
Ishai is academic editor of the November Books publishing house and has published and edited various publications. He is the 2003 recipient of Laurent of the Rothko Chapel “Oscar Romero Award for Commitment to Truth and Freedom” and 2020 recipient of Laurent of “Yeshayahu Leibowitz Award for Social Change.”
OUR PARTNERS
Social TV
Activist Communications Organization. Working to strengthen democracy and equality, to expose the mechanisms of power and exclusion, while resisting occupation and oppression of all forms.
They are our partners in public education campaigns to raise public awareness of government policy in relation to food insecurity, hunger, and poverty.
The Forum for the Reduction of Poverty
A forum that unites about 25 groups, organizations, and institutions to promote a social policy that is based on ongoing dialogue with people living in poverty. The forum works to reduce poverty in Israel by changing policies that lead people to life in poverty.
They are our partners in the struggle to promote government responsibility for poverty and food insecurity.
Leket
The largest food bank in Israel, which rescues nutritious food surpluses and delivers them to those who need it. The organization works by collecting agricultural products and providing cooked meals. All of the organization’s activities are supervised and strictly adhere to the standards of quality food and healthy eating habits.
They are our partners in the struggle to change government policy and to ensure food security funding in the state budget base.
Latet
An organization that works to reduce poverty in order to create a just and better society, by assisting populations in distress on a universal basis, motivating civil society to mutual guarantee and giving, and leading a change in national priorities.
They are our partners in the struggle to change national priorities and to include funding for the reduction of food insecurity in the state budget base. MAZON also supports Latet’s annual Alternative Poverty Report.
121 – Engine for Social Change
An organization that specializes in advocacy for issues concerning employment, education, health, welfare, and housing. 121 works to promote targeted policy and legislative improvements, which will improve the social safety net and reduce social disparities.
They are our partners in activities to promote a national nutrition program in post-primary schools for at-risk youth, and in promoting the fight against unemployment and poverty following the covid-19 crisis.
The Food Rescuers
The Food Rescuers Group works inside the wholesale market in Jerusalem to promote a sustainable urban food system in Jerusalem, with an emphasis on reducing food waste on all levels. The group works with communities in low-income places to create support networks.
They are our partners in raising awareness of food insecurity and the values of sustainability and food rescuing.
Adva Center
A research institute that specializes in monitoring social and economic trends and analyzing government policy. The Center develops policies that lead to injustice or inequality. Its publications provide information to anyone who struggles for a fairer distribution of resources in Israeli society.
They are our partners in research focused on trends in Israeli society and the publication of “Social Situation,” a study that is published annually and includes information on food security in Israel.
Sidra – Lakiya
An organization operating in the Negev area that focuses on strengthening the status of Bedouin women living there. The organization works to empower women in the areas of education, employment, gender equality, and access to resources.
They are our partners in promoting policies that support the employment of women, as well as in the project to establish domestic agricultural greenhouses, both for self-consumption and for sale and income generation.
Sikuy
A joint organization for Arabs and Jews that works to promote equality and partnership between Arab and Jewish citizens in Israel. The organization works with the aim of bringing about policy changes that will lead to material and substantive equality, shared living, and shared communities.
They are our partners in promoting equality in planning and implementation of food security policy in Arab Israeli society.
Solidarity Festival
An organization that produces an annual human rights film festival and runs annual programs that include discussions, courses, and screenings of social films.
They are our partners in the “Solidarity in the Periphery” program, which promotes social-cultural events that provide a platform for discussion on issues of poverty, food security and education for activism.
Forum for Coexistence in the Negev
An organization that creates a framework for Arab-Jewish cooperation as a basis for a joint struggle for full equality of rights between Arabs and Jews. This enables social justice and distributive justice to the populations of the Negev. Among other things, the organization is engaged in the struggle to create basic living conditions for residents of the unrecognized villages in the Negev.
They are our partners in promoting policies that support the employment of women, as well as in promoting policies and economic development in the Negev.
Pithon-Lev
An organization that works to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty in Israel. The organization distributes food to the needy and assists those in need with exercising rights, education, and empowerment.
They are our partners in the struggle to change government policy and to introduce food security funding into the state budget base. Work is also being done to promote the state’s responsibility for eradicating poverty.
Rabbis for Human Rights
An organization of rabbis from all sects of Judaism, which works to promote the rights of the underprivileged and excluded in Israeli society, as well as for Palestinian farmers in the territories. The organization also deals with education and provides a Jewish voice for human dignity.
They are our partners in the struggle to change government policy and to introduce food security funding into the state budget base, as well as to advance the state’s responsibility for the fight against poverty.
Local Call
An activist press collective, which publishes an online news alternative magazine. The collective operates with a commitment to democracy, resistance to occupation and the pursuit of peace, equality, social justice, transparency, and freedom of information.
They are our partners in promoting awareness and public debate in the areas of poverty, inequality, and food insecurity.
