Alison Laichter
Jewish Meditation Center
www.jmcbrooklyn.org
The Jewish Meditation Center (JMC) is a growing organization that supports Jewish meditation, learning, spiritual practice, and community building through weekly programming, holiday workshops, guest speakers, social events, and a vibrant online presence. As the only Jewish meditation community created and run by young Jews, the JMC is a groundbreaking organization that fosters a thriving community of meditators and spiritual leaders, transforming the world through the cultivation of awareness, compassion, and Jewish wisdom. More hip than hippie, more grassroots than guru, the JMC is building a replicable model that incorporates open-source collective resource sharing, multi-focal leadership, and a belief that true and sustainable Tikkun Olam happens from the inside out.
Bio
Alison is a co-founder and the executive director of the Jewish Meditation Center. A meditation teacher, community organizer, and urban planner, Alison has practiced and studied meditation locally and abroad since she was fifteen. She co-piloted a meditation and stress-management program in New York City public schools and has taught Jewish meditation classes and workshops for children and adults throughout the world.
As an urban planner, Alison has practiced economic consulting for cities throughout the United States, worked for the United Nations Development Programme, and is currently directing a community action plan to re-imagine the entire east side of Manhattan for bicycle and pedestrian safety.
Alison graduated from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art with a B.E. in Civil Engineering, and she received an M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University, where her thesis won the Charles Abrams Award for Best Masters Thesis.