Jennifer Meeropol is the granddaughter of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and the daughter of RFC Founder, Robert Meeropol. Jenn became the Executive Director of the RFC on September 1, 2013. Prior posts on this page were written by Robert (unless otherwise noted), and represent his opinions, which are not necessarily shared by the RFC.
The RFC has had a busy spring: in the last month, we granted over $230,000 in funds to support the children of targeted activists. After two whirlwind granting meetings, we are closing our spring granting season with 88 total grants awarded to RFC beneficiary families, including four amazing families who are new to our community.
In 2017 the RFC embarked on what became a deeply engaging 18+ month strategic planning process. It began with a survey of current and former Board, staff and consultants and resulted in a plan that we committed to using in our daily work to help guide key decisions. As part of the process, we revisited our founding documents, recommitted to our core mission and values, drafted a vision statement, identified key priorities and crafted strategies and targets to guide and evaluate our programming for the next few years. The final version of the plan was approved by the Board in January 2019 for 2019-2023.
In August 2017 an envelope with no return address arrived at the RFC office. Inside were two pieces of blank, lined paper and seven $1 bills. There was no note or identifying information other than a postmark from Greensboro, NC. I recorded the donation as an anonymous contribution and didn’t think much more about it.
“This is my first letter to many of you as the Executive Director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children. I am excited by the opportunity to nurture the organization my father created out of the nightmare he experienced as a child and am honored by the trust he has placed in me to carry forward his legacy.” Ten years ago, those words began the first letter I sent to our community as Executive Director of the RFC and they remain true today.
Guest blog by Cleo Rohn, RFC granting coordinator
Like any good millennial, I spend too much time on the internet. Lately, the internet has been a particularly awful place to be. And yet, this weekend, there I was again, sitting at the table with my coffee and consuming another day of news about the world falling apart all around us. But as I scrolled through videos of despair, death and fascist rhetoric, my eyes landed on a quote that has stuck with me ever since:
“All we can do is everything we can.”