Alumna Makes the News Organizing for Change in Philly

Posted on April 22, 2013 by JOIN for Justice

Alumnae Cecily Harwitt, Liz Manlin and Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann have been hard at work organizing congregants in Philadelphia to stand up and demand a living wage for workers at Philadelphia International Airport and a more democratic and transparent school system for all Philadelphians. Their organization, POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower and Rebuild) recently held a 3,400 person action around these issues and others. Check out this story covering the action from WHYY in which Rabbi Grabelle Herrmann is quoted.

Faith Groups Come Together To Rally for Living Wages for Airport Workers – Aaron Moselle, WHYY Philadelphia

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Building Jewish Power in Philadelphia

Posted on April 16, 2013 by JOIN for Justice

Two months ago, a story was posted on this website about alumna Cecily Harwitt working through POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower and Rebuild) to build Jewish power in the Philadelphia area and bring more synagogues into the larger broad-based organizing movement. Since then, Cecily has been hard at work engaging congregations to stand up and demand a living wage for workers at Philly’s airport.

Check out this story from The Jewish Exponent about POWER’s work with synagogues and see how Cecily’s efforts are beginning to bear fruit.

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Jewish Immigration Campaign Underway

Posted on April 11, 2013 by JOIN for Justice

Check out excerpt this from Zeek.com, originally posted by Erica Brody, highlighting Jewish advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform and in particular the work of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable which JOIN is supporting through training, coaching, and strategy consultation.

“…Despite different priorities, Jewish groups are demonstrating broad support for President Obama’s call for a pathway to citizenship, including a letter to the president and Congress signed by 100 local and national Jewish organizations and faith leaders, and drafted and circulated by HIAS.

What can we expect in the days ahead, beyond the rhetoric? Liza Lieberman, HIAS’s associate director of US Policy and Advocacy, translated the timeline for those outside the beltway: the hope, she said, is that after the bipartisan Senate bill is introduced, the legislation will make its way to a House committee in June. “Ideally,” she said, “something will happen like a floor vote before the August recess.” These next few months will be crucial, and already Jewish groups are meeting with legislators in district offices around the country. Online, individuals can add their names to the We Were Strangers, Too, petition.

Behind the scenes, the 33-year-old Abby Levine of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable is forging new ground bringing different Jewish groups together. “I want my people to stand up for the issues I care about,” she says.

Ten years ago, while Levine was on the 2003 Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, she met Emilio, who “shared his immigration story of coming to this country in the trunk of a car to find a better life for his children,” she says. “I shared with him my grandfather’s story, who left Lithuania for Ellis Island for a better life for his family. It was then that I began to believe that we as a Jewish community cannot shut the door behind us for the immigrants coming to this country today.” That ride marked a “push for equal rights, improved work conditions and … a path toward legal residency and citizenship…”

Read the whole article including an interview with Abby Levine at Zeek.com.

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Alumnus Dan Gelbtuch Recognized For Excellence in Civic Engagement

Posted on April 9, 2013 by JOIN for Justice

Dan Gelbtuch, (Jewish Organizing Fellowship c/o 2008) has spent over 6 years developing the next generation of community activists in Boston through  Dorchester Bay Youth Force and, since 2009, the Youth Jobs Coalition, a coalition of 29 Eastern Massachusetts organizations dedicated to preserving and creating job opportunities for teens. He’s organized and trained hundreds of teens and youth workers who’ve stood up for youth jobs and prevented millions of dollars in cuts to state funded youth employment programs. Dan was honored for his work last week by the Trefler Foundation and Social Capital Inc. with a Community Social Capitalist Award at the 6th Annual Social Capitalist Luncheon. Dan found himself in auspicious company  at the April 3rd luncheon including Mark Culliton, CEO of College Bound Dorchester and James Dwyer the State Representative from the 30th Middlesex District. All honorees, including Dan, were recognized for spurring greater civic engagement in their communities.

We hope you’ll join us in wishing Dan a hearty “mazel tov”. If you’d like to learn more about youth jobs in Massachusetts and Dan’s work, check out this recent article from the Boston Globe, featuring a number of quotes from Dan himself.

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Fellowship Alums at Real Food Challenge Win Big

Posted on April 5, 2013 by JOIN for Justice

This week, Jewish Organizing Fellowship alumni, David Schwartz and Nina Mukherji recorded a significant victory in their organization’s (Real Food Challenge) on-going campaign to bring sustainable and ethical food purchasing to America’s college campuses.

Amidst growing demands from college students for university leadership in sustainable food systems, Real Food Challenge and Sodexo(one of the world’s largest food service companies) jointly announced an agreement that advances supply chain transparency on Sodexo-contracted campuses.

This announcement comes after years of on-the-ground student organizing and months of discussion with the company’s leadership.  The agreement cements a commitment by Sodexo to universally honor student requests for food chain transparency on their 500+ campuses–including sharing a complete record of farms and food vendors they work with–and making public the results of student-driven Real Food Calculator assessments.

Read more about what this means for  transparency in the institutional food service industry at realfoodchallenge.org.

 

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