For more than three centuries North Carolina has welcomed Jews with hospitality and opportunity. And Jews, often escaping poverty and persecution, have brought their energy and talents to their new homelands. As peddlers in the countryside, storekeepers in small towns, and industrialists in emerging cities, Jews helped create the prosperity that has made North Carolina a leader of the New South. Committed to faith, family, and community, Jews have endowed hospitals, educated our youth, and led the struggle for racial and social justice.

Yet, despite their remarkable contributions to our state, the Jewish story remains little known and largely untold.

Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina, a multimedia project of the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina, will tell this compelling story in:

• a national broadcast quality documentary film,
• an educational video and teaching guide for the state’s 1.5 million public school students;
• a museum exhibition which will travel to all of the state’s major metropolitan areas;
• and an engaging, well-researched book with full-color illustration.

Fragments of North Carolina’s Jewish history can be found on the shelves of libraries, museums, and archives. But the stories that make this history come alive remain forgotten in attics and closets, and waiting in the memories of community elders. As letters and photographs fade, as parents and grandparents pass away, and as small-town synagogues close and their records disappear, this heritage may be lost forever.

Down Home will preserve this history and chronicle its compelling story in a personal way. It will tell how an immigrant people became Southern while retaining its distinctive character and its traditional faith. Down Home will address many audiences – young and old, Jews and non-Jews, natives and newcomers, city residents and country folk. For new Americans especially, the North Carolina Jewish story can be a living example of a people reaching for their dreams, creating their own opportunities, and contributing to their communities for the common good.

Former Governor Jim Hunt, Jr., who volunteered to become Honorary Chair of the "Down Home" campaign, spoke about the importance of the “Down Home” project to the entire state, not solely to its Jewish community.

“In North Carolina, where new immigrants are an increasingly significant part of our communities, our capacity to respect each other’s traditions and values is critical to our continued growth. The North Carolina Jewish story is a living example of a people reaching for their dreams, creating their own opportunities, and participating in their communities for the common good. The Down Home project will acquaint millions of our citizens, both children and adults, with Jewish values and beliefs. It will tell about the remarkable civic, educational, and philanthropic contributions that Jews have made to North Carolina. It will help to develop acceptance, tolerance and respect amongst our citizens. North Carolina’s Jewish story sets an example to which we might all aspire.”