Jennifer Meeropol is the granddaughter of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and the daughter of RFC Founder, Robert Meeropol. Jenn became the Executive Director of the RFC on September 1, 2013. Prior posts on this page were written by Robert (unless otherwise noted), and represent his opinions, which are not necessarily shared by the RFC.
As we ring in the new year at the RFC, we are taking time to reflect on our most recent granting period. Our fall 2025 granting season was busy, urgent and emotional. For me, each new application period feels like a window into the current state of activism in the United States. As new applicants come to us and existing beneficiaries send in updates, a picture of the activist landscape is revealed. This fall, that picture was a grim one.
The Rosenberg Fund for Children marked our 35th anniversary earlier this fall. While the public celebration won’t happen until the spring of 2026, I still took the opportunity presented by that milestone to marvel at the growth, success and longevity of this organization my father willed into being out of the pain of his childhood. In the last three and half decades, because of your support we’ve awarded close to $10 million in grants supporting children in more than 500 activist families across the country!
Earlier this summer, RFC beneficiaries and their parents joined staff and Board members for a virtual art show. Fourteen beneficiaries ages six to 21 shared a range of art in a variety of mediums, including paintings, photographs, collage, portraiture, music, and poetry. The call for art centered around the theme of “Hope for a Better World.” Activist art has been an important component of our work since our founding and we know how important it can be to activist movements. We applaud these young people's creativity and are grateful they shared their vision for a better world with all of us!
The last time I was at the RFC office I found a soup can that expired in 2020. A bit of context: after about 20 years in the same office suite in the Eastworks building in Easthampton, the RFC is moving our office this summer. We’re not going far, just across the hall to a new suite in the same building...
I'm not sure why, of all the terrible news stories lately, this is the one that stopped me in my tracks and left me in tears at my computer one afternoon last month. The government leaked the address of the family of a man they disappeared (they say mistakenly) to a Salvadoran prison known for its human rights abuses and horrific conditions. The threats and harassment the family immediately faced resulted in supporters moving them to a safe house. Something about the casual cruelty of that action felt like a breaking point to me. Perhaps it was how chillingly reminiscent it was of the harassment my father and uncle experienced when they were children and their parents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, were targeted.