Jewish Families of Color Weekend
An intentional affinity space for Jewish families of color (JOC+*) to build community and rejuvenate in the stunning beauty of the Sierra Mountains. Join us to celebrate and center our multiracial Jewish community and cultural richness.
When
October 1 – 4, 2026
(Thursday – Sunday)
Who
Multigenerational space open to families that include at least one person of color in their household; all ages; grandparents welcome as well as individuals who identify as Jews of color.
How to Sign Up
Families new to Tawonga can get started here. Returning families can click here.
Cost
Participants age 2+: $685 / Babies (under 2): $350
We do not want cost to be prohibitive for any families. Please explore our financial assistance options here.
Program Overview
For the sixth year, we are thrilled to offer an affinity space for families with at least one person of color in their household. This weekend will celebrate multiracial Jewish community by centering JOC+* and offering dynamic workshops, discussions and other programming led by JOC+* guest educators on topics of interest and relevance to you.
Plus, all the classic Tawonga Family Camp offerings, like campfires with s’mores, a community shabbat celebration, talent show and more.
We understand that the language of “person of color” may not capture the nuance of everyone’s identities. Our goal is to create a big tent while maintaining this weekend as a special affinity space. If you have questions about if this weekend is right for you or your family and would like to have a conversation, please reach out to Director of Equity, Inclusion & Justice Kiyomi Gelber.
Affinity Space Program Highlights
We hope to empower participants to co-create the experience with us! Please let us know if there is a workshop or offering you would like to be paid to contribute to the weekend. Below are some offerings you can expect to experience at the weekend, led by JOC+ family guest educators and program facilitators:
- Fun and uplifting camp music and multicultural-themed songleading inclusive of many languages and including Spanish, Arabic, Ladino and cultures such as Sephardic, Mizrachi, African Jews and more.
- Yoga and mindfulness practices.
- Adult workshops facilitated by JOC+ educators focused on a range of topics such as an affinity space for Jews of Color, another affinity space for people of color who do not identify as Jewish, a workshop on how to talk to your kids about race, a workshop for white allies and conversations/workshops about adoption experiences.
General Program Highlights
- Activities – In addition to specialized programming, we’re offering all of our classic Family Camp activities, including yoga, arts and crafts, the challenge course, hiking, campfires and s’mores, boating on the lake, shabbat, stargazing and more!
- Day Groups and Childcare – Morning day group childcare for kids two and older. For those with little ones under two, we will have some fun baby/toddler and parent activities to enjoy! Children under three pay a reduced price. Parents can enjoy evening childcare for all ages once the children are asleep.
- Shabbat – As a community, we celebrate Shabbat with singing, dancing and a delicious Friday night dinner followed by participatory, kid-friendly services in our beautiful outdoor sanctuary on Saturday morning.
- Meals – Tawonga will serve tasty buffet style meals to families in our dining hall. Free-flowing Peet’s coffee available daily.
- Housing & Bathrooms – Each family will have their own cabin Read more about Tawonga’s location and facilities here.
Learn More – You can learn more about what to expect from a Tawonga Family Camp here and read our Family Camp FAQs here.
Testimonials
This whole weekend has felt like a breath, an opening of the heart.
If you are a blended multiracial family then this is the camp for you! As a person of color it was so beautiful to just show up as myself and not have to worry about whether I fit in. I recommend this camp to families with children of color and only wish it was in existence when I was little.
Camp Tawonga gave our family the rare gift of sacred space for community-building with other multi-racial families, authentic sharing, and a time to celebrate spirit in nature with multiracial Jewish families. This was a first for us, but hopefully, not the last!
Finally a place that looks like our Jewish family. Lots of fun, joyful, restful, and an amazing experience!
What a welcoming, affirming and joyful weekend for my family. It was so thoughtfully planned and implemented. Tawonga was a place where I felt unique belonging as a child and teenager. Getting to see my own kids experience their own versions of that was truly delightful.
Being at Jews of Color Family Camp was an absolute dream. I was happy every single minute. Really more than happy – elated and like I was exactly in the right place. I kept singing the line from the Tawonga song Tall Tall Trees “There’s no place else that I would rather be” again and again. My kids and husband had a great time. We can’t wait for next year and I want to bring so many more families I know.
Camp Tawonga is where I want to come with other Latin Jewish families. We are surrounded with love, belonging, and the many faces that represent the growingly multiethnic Bay Area Jewish community.
The families of color weekend was the single most important Jewish experience we have had as a family, and one of the most powerful Jewish experiences I’ve had in my adult life. This is coming from someone who is fairly observant and has raised her family that way. I couldn’t believe how powerful an experience it was for me to see the kids in a Jewish space with a cohort of other kids who look like them, and to meet other families who are committed to being Jewish in a multicultural way. We’ve never had that before. It was a profound experience of belonging, touching to feel the Jewish container to grow in such a necessary way.
Press
Tawonga Blog – “2,435 Miles Away From Home, I Finally Found a Family that Looked Looked Like Mine”
Gabriela Orozco (Families of Color Family Camp Staff 2022 and Tawonga Summer 2025 Jewish Program Assistant) writes: “Tawonga’s Jewish Families of Color Family Camp gave me a special kind of magic — the strength, courage and community to continue existing in the world as my whole, uncompromised self. . . ”
The J. – “‘Breath of fresh air’: Camp Tawonga weekend for Jewish families of color coming up Aug. 25-28”
“It was a space where we could be ourselves without some of the concerns or worries or discomforts that can come from being a Jew of color in traditionally white Jewish spaces,” McCarty-Caplan, 41, told J.
Forward – “This California camp lets Jews of Color like me just be ourselves”
Jordan Daniels reflects on the powerful experience of joining Tawonga’s inaugural Jewish Families of Color Weekend in 2021: “Many stories written by Jews of Color, including myself, discuss our ‘othered’ experiences in Jewish spaces … But we also have stories of belonging — where we can just be — and with places like Camp Tawonga, they’re finally being written. I’m grateful to write this one.”
Questions?
Visit our Family Camp FAQs page for more information. Please reach out to Kiyomi Gelber at kiyomi@tawonga.org if you have questions about if this weekend is right for your family or if you have participated in the past and would like to be part of this year’s planning committee.