Jews have been present in Brazil since the Portuguese arrived in the year 1500. Commonly known as conversos (converts), many of them were forced to convert to Christianity to avoid the wrath of the Inquisition. Jewish immigrants from the Netherlands established a synagogue in Recife, Brazil in 1637 – the oldest in America. Since the 16th century, waves of Jewish immigrants arrived to Brazil, including from Morocco and Russia and Poland escaping pogroms, in the mid-1800s. The largest group of immigrants came as war refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s. To respond to the large influx of Jewish refugees, JDC established programs to assist with the medical and welfare needs of this community, and to help build Jewish life. Today there are some 120,000 Jews living in Brazil, the second largest community in Latin America after Argentina. Primarily concentrated in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the Jewish community of Brazil is vibrant and diverse, with established institutions catering to all aspects of Jewish life, culture and religious practice. JDC works across the Latin American region, including in Brazil, in partnership with local communities. JDC has organized regional conferences and trainings to enhance the leadership capacity in local Jewish institutions and encourage more participation by women in leadership roles. In 2018, JDC organized women’s leadership conferences in Santiago, Chile and in Sao Paulo, Brazil.