The Jewish Chronicle

Director of KeshetUK announces departure

- BY ELIANA JORDAN PHOTO: KESHETUK

THE EXECUTIVE director of Jewish LGBT+ charity KeshetUK has announced that she will be stepping down from her role in the summer.

In an email sent to community members, Dalia Fleming shared the news that after seven years as KeshetUK’s first executive director, it was time for the charity and its trustees to enter a “new phase”.

“I’ve been executive director since November 2017, but I’ve been a volunteer with KeshetUK since 2012 – years before we were a charity,” Fleming wrote. “I would take annual leave from my previous job to go into a school and deliver a session to young Jewish people, who at the time had often never met or seen a Jewish LGBT+ person.”

KeshetUK is an education and training charity that aims to ensure that Jewish LGBT+ people and their families are included in Jewish life.

Staff members and volunteers work with Jewish schools, youth and adult organisati­ons, synagogues and other community organisati­ons to instil LGBT+ inclusivit­y. “KeshetUK has been a core part of my Jewish identity for over a decade and I love it,” Fleming said. “The honour I feel supporting communitie­s learn and create spaces for Jewish LGBT+ people is something I will never take for granted.” Fleming said that the trustees would begin the process of appointing a successor shortly and that she was looking forward to continuing her work at KeshetUK until the summer.

“KeshetUK will still be doing the amazing work we’ve been doing well beyond my profession­al departure,” Fleming added.

“I’ve already started a monthly donation and am thinking about how I can volunteer in the future – and KeshetUK’s work is needed more than ever and so any support you can offer is greatly appreciate­d.” KeshetUK was founded in 2011.

It has been a core part of my Jewish identity

 ?? ?? A fond farewell: Dalia Fleming
A fond farewell: Dalia Fleming

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