Staff

Morgan Blum Schneider, MA

Director

Morgan has been an instrumental leader in the development and success of the JFCS Holocaust Center in San Francisco since 2005. As Director, she leads a team that inspires more than 28,000 students, teachers, and individuals annually to be socially responsible and morally courageous citizens. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Clark University (2002) in history, with a concentration in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, she went to Deakin University in Australia where she focused her MA thesis on the forced removal of Aboriginal children as a case of genocide. A staunch advocate for innovative and interactive Holocaust education, Morgan has published articles and appeared in the press on topics such as the patterns of genocide, best practices for teaching the Holocaust, and the future of Holocaust education in the post-survivor era. Morgan is deeply invested in the California education system. She often serves as an advisor to school districts, California legislators, and civic leaders on Holocaust and genocide education, confronting antisemitism, and best practices for teaching the Holocaust. She is currently on the advisory board of the Genocide Education Project.

Rebecca (Becky) Hausammann

Associate Director

Joining the JFCS Holocaust Center in 2022 as the Associate Director, Becky brings educational and operational expertise to the team. She is passionate about expanding the work of the JFCS Holocaust Center – and advancing Holocaust and genocide education throughout the state of California  – as an important response to rising acts of antisemitism, racism, and hate. Deeply steeped in schools, systemic change, and the needs of students and teachers, Becky brings a strong practitioner and systems-awareness lens to her work which guides her approach to providing operational and strategic leadership. Becky has served as a leader in education for more than twenty years as an English teacher, school administrator, and in the nonprofit sector, most recently with PBLWorks where she coached school leaders to equitably implement and scale project based learning and managed one of the premier professional development consulting teams in the country. A graduate of University of California at Berkeley, Becky holds a Masters of Education from Stanford University, with credentials in Education Leadership and Secondary Teaching. 

Yedida Kanfer, PhD

Director of Programming

Yedida Kanfer is the Director of Programming at the JFCS Holocaust Center. She has been teaching at the JFCS Holocaust Center since 2013, and loves to share her passion for Jewish history and social responsibility with high school students, educators, and the larger community. Yedida received her PhD in East European and Jewish history from Yale University.  Since then, she has been the recipient of multiple honors and awards, including the Twersky Education Fellowship (Jewish Women’s Archive) and Voices for Good Leadership Fellowship (Jewish Learning Works). She has published commentary on topics ranging from resistance in the Holocaust to immigrant rights. In Yedida’s free time, she enjoys playing with her dog and taking classes at the Academy for Jewish Religion―California (AJRCA).

Simone Miller

Marketing Manager

Simone is the new Marketing Manager for the JFCS Holocaust Center. Before joining the team at JFCS, she founded a catering company, taught cooking classes, authored and photographed three cookbooks, and ran an online food-focused business. Throughout her winding career, Simone has always incorporated education, and advocated for social justice. As a 3G descendant, she is passionate about honoring the lives lost and inspiring empathy and action in others.

Andrew Roth, M.A.

Project Archivist

Andrew is the Project Archivist at the JFCS Holocaust Center. He obtained a BA in American Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles and then pursued a career in publishing and marketing in New York, Berlin, and San Francisco. Andrew completed a Master’s Degree in Archives and Records Administration at San Jose State University in 2021.

Andrew has long had an interest in Jewish history. He is the author of the Goldapple Guide to Jewish Berlin and The Opposite of Treason, the story of the Jewish anti-Nazi resistance figure Helmut Hirsch. It was during the research for these two books that he became enthralled by the theory and practice of archives. He left publishing and marketing and completed a Master’s Degree in Archives and Records Administration at San Jose State University in 2021.

Sadie Simon, MSW

Education Program Manager

Sadie is the new Education Program Manager for the JFCS Holocaust Center. Sadie brings a plethora of different experiences with her. After graduating with a master’s in social work, she began her career working with Holocaust Survivors at JFCS in Minneapolis. In 2017, she moved to San Francisco and continued her work in the Jewish community with the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation. Before joining the JFCS Holocaust Center, Sadie spent time teaching social emotional learning and serving as a social worker in SFUSD.

Andrea Struve, EdD

Director of Education

Andrea is the Director of Education at the JFCS Holcaust Center. In this role, she focuses on direct service to students and educators, leading the effort to research, design, and publish curriculum with a focus on adaptability and accessibility, strengthening relationships with educators in California, spearheading student programs and teacher-based professional development, evaluating programs, and increasing partnerships with other organizations. Prior to this role, she spent 7 years focused on teaching and curriculum development as a high school history and research teacher in the Northern California public schools. Her love of education, history, and mixed methods/qualitative educational research knows no bounds. She has a BA in History (U.S. and European Studies), an MA in Teaching, and EdD in International and Multicultural Education with an emphasis in Human Rights Education.

The JFCS Holocaust Center is a program of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. For more information about JFCS and its leadership, please visit www.jfcs.org.