Karla van Praag

About Karla van Praag

Karla Van Praag is the Senior Advisor for JOIN for Justice. From 2012 to 2022, Karla served as JOIN’s founding executive director, after leading its predecessor organization the Jewish Organizing Initiative for four years. During her tenure, she grew JOIN into a national organization — more than quadrupling its annual budget and cementing its status as the go-to organization for rabbis, nonprofit leaders, and Jewish groups in North America to receive mentoring and training in how to advance social justice. Karla has a rich background in leadership development, youth programs, nonprofit management, service learning, and organizing. She served as the Director of Planning and Leadership Development at Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council and as Deputy Director of the Somerville Community Corporation. Karla holds a graduate degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Public Service Fellow, and is a graduate of Wesleyan University. She served as an Advisory Board Member at Real Food Challenge, and was a longtime member on the leadership team of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable — a network of 78 American Jewish social justice organizations that pursue justice from a Jewish perspective. A recipient of the prestigious Schusterman Fellowship for Jewish Leaders, she is a member of the Selah Network and was named a ‘Chai in the Hub Honoree’ by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP).

Experience

1. Senior Advisor

   Join For Justice

   Mar 2022 — Present · Boston, MA, US

Education

• Harvard Kennedy School

  Masters in Public Policy, Housing and Urban Development/Leadership and Negotiation

  1998 — 2000

• Wesleyan University

  BA, Anthropology/Sociology

  1990 — 1994