Allie Zeff
she/hers
Executive Director
Allie Zeff assumed the role of DJJ’s Executive Director in early 2022 after three years in the role of Organizer for Campaigns and Education. She started her career in Detroit in 2014 as a Music Teacher. Her transition into community organizing was catalyzed by the local and regional political climate, especially in the ways it affects Detroit’s education system. Allie served as a volunteer leader with Detroit Jews for Justice for 4 years, serving in multiple roles including chair of the Grassroots Fundraising Committee, Steering Committee Member, chair of several cultural events, including Festival of Rights and Purim, and contributing artist for several campaigns. Allie established both a political and spiritual home in the Detroit Jews for Justice community. The shift from volunteer role to staff was a natural progression and a testament to the organization’s commitment to creating organizers and leaders out of their members. As Executive Director, Allie is committed to stewarding DJJ’s growth into a new era of work. She is passionate about cementing DJJ as a major player in the Detroit organizing community that is truly progressive, trustworthy, and effective.
Eleanor Gamalski
she/hers
Deputy Director
Eleanor joined DJJ in its early stages as a “Community Organizing Intern.” She then became the first Organizer on staff, a role she held from 2016 to 2018, before moving onto the Office of Congressman Andy Levin. In recent years, Eleanor has enjoyed supporting DJJ as a volunteer leader, advising on the structure redesign process and serving as a Co-Chair on the Freedom Team. In 2022, she was delighted to return to Staff as Deputy Director, bringing her passion for DJJ’s mission, intentional organizational culture, and relationship-building. She holds a Master’s in Public Affairs from Brown University and has received training on facilitation, movement organizing, and nonprofit management from Training for Change, Spring Up, and Nonprofit Democracy Network. A passionate student of urban studies and the city of Detroit, she previously worked as Outreach and Recruitment Director for the University of Michigan Semester in Detroit program and participated in the Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL) fellowship. Eleanor’s staff role is part-time; she also works as a freelance facilitator for meetings and retreats and consults on organizational processes.
Solomon Medintz
he/him
Community Organizer
Solomon is thrilled to serve DJJ as a community organizer, bringing his passions for building reciprocal communities and understanding political journeys. He came to organizing because he believes in people's ability to solve collective problems together. At U of M Ann Arbor, he did many kinds of political work—statewide election campaigns for Abdul El-Sayed and the Michigan Democratic Party, climate justice organizing with the Climate Action Movement, among others—and is eager to continue that journey with DJJ. In the last two years, Solomon has been building skills to better support his communities by serving as a preschool child carer, getting his Emergency Medical Technician certificate, and developing his construction skills. In his new role, he is committed to making life easier for those driving DJJ’s work, especially people who have been alienated from organized Jewish life. He is excited to be back in SE Michigan, back in organizing spaces, and back in Jewish community.
Laura Mason
she/her
Community Organizer
Laura’s path to organizing has been a winding one, but she firmly believes it unfolded as it was supposed to. After graduating University of Michigan with a degree in Public Policy and a minor in Museum Studies, Laura dove into working as an Educator in several museums and after-school programs. It turns out chronic illness and the hectic schedule of outside-school-hours teaching don’t mix, so she left that world for the wellness sphere and spent several years working and eventually teaching (again!) in yoga and pilates studios. During this time, she organized her workplace to take anti-racism training and provide a teacher training scholarship for BIPOC applicants. She loved that experience, but worried about her capacity to take on organizing work professionally due to her disabilities. Instead, she pivoted again to administrative and programmatic work at Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor - her first experience working in the Jewish community! In addition to discovering deep threads of activism and social justice work, she found DJJ and took the leap to apply for their Community Organizer position. Although she is not Jewish and not a Detroiter, she believes strongly that she has a role to play in DJJ’s work in the community, and she’s thrilled to be here. In addition to her degree from U of M, Laura has taken transformative justice trainings from Spring Up and mental health education and community development courses from the Institute for the Development of Human Arts.