NCJW Advocacy Wrap-Up:

Friday, May 17, 2024

In this issue...

Webinar: Six Months from 2024 Election – Protecting Refugees & Asylum Seekers

Screams Before Silence: Conversation with Sheryl Sandberg

Not Too Late to Encourage Arizona Residents to Protect

Abortion Rights

Write Postcards & Letters to GOTV and Protect Abortion Rights

Standing Up for Refugees & Asylum Seekers

Thursday, May 23, 1 pm Virtual

Join us to learn what you need to know and what you can do

between now and Election Day to stand up for the rights, safety,

and dignity of refugees and asylum seekers.

Six Months Out from the 2024 Election – What Do You Need to Know?

Thursday, May 23

4:00 pm ET | 1:00 pm PT



Register for the webinar today >>

Featured speakers include:

• Naomi Steinberg, Vice President for Policy and Advocacy, HIAS
• Amy Spitalnick, CEO, Jewish Council for Public Affairs
• Dylan Corbett, Executive Director, Hope Border Institute

Advance registration is required. 

Login details will be sent before the start of the event. If you can’t make it, you can still register, and we’ll send you a recording of the conversation afterwards.

Screams Before Silence:

Conversation with Sheryl Sandberg

Tuesday, May 28, 5:15 pm Virtual

Join Sheryl Sandberg and National Council of Jewish Women CEO, Sheila Katz, for the Jewish Community Conversation about the importance of bearing witness, lifting up the silenced voices of the October 7th attack, and demanding justice. 

Screams Before Silence, led by Sheryl Sandberg, is a powerful documentary that captures first-person testimony from survivors, first responders, forensic experts, eyewitnesses, and released hostages from the attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7th. Their harrowing accounts reveal the uncompromising truth: Hamas used sexual assault as a weapon of war.

Register To Join Us On 5/28 at 5:15pm PT

We encourage you to watch the film before joining us. You can do so by attending a local screening in your community or watching from home here. Check with the cosponsoring organizations in your area for local screening information.

This event will be recorded. We will send the recording to all those who register.

Here are important resources to help you learn more about the film and the work to demand justice:

• OpEd by Sheryl Sandberg: ‘Something we can all agree on' 
• New York Times article: Accounts of Sexual Violence by Hamas Are Aired Amid Criticism of U.N. 
• Video: 'Hear Our Voices, A Special Session at the U.N.'
• Sheila Katz’s testimony at the Congressional Roundtable on sexual violence on and after Oct 7th 
• Sheryl Sandberg on MSNBC: 'Rape is never resistance'
• New York Times article: ‘Sheryl Sandberg Screams Back at the Silence'
• Washington Post article: The Wartime Outrage in Israel that No One is Talking About'

Not too Late to Encourage Arizona Residents to Protect Abortion Rights

Join Planned Parenthood virtual phone banks to make calls to Arizona residents encouraging them to sign the petition to put abortion access on the ballot in November. Arizona currently bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.  While the legislature has repealed the 1864 Civil-War era total abortion ban, the proposed ballot measure, “The Arizona Abortion Access Act” would establish the right to abortion in the Arizona state constitution, ensuring that Arizonans can make the decisions that are best for them and their families — free from government interference.

Nervous about phone banking? There will be training and your phone number need not be exposed.

SIGN UP TODAY for a virtual phone banks to help our neighbors in Arizona protect abortion access in their state!

• Dates: May 22nd & June 5th, 12th
• Times: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
• Location: Zoom – Link provided via email after registration.

Write Postcards & Letters to GOTV

and Protect Abortion Rights

Florida 

On May 1, 2024, Florida's six-week abortion ban took effect, stripping Floridians of their right to bodily autonomy and reproductive healthcare. You can write postcards to encourage Floridians to vote Yes on Amendment 4 for Reproductive Freedom this November and overturn this ban.  Postcards come in packs of 30 and can be mailed as soon as you complete them.

If you are interested in writing postcards to Florida, contact Deb Lelchuk at advocacy@ncjwlongbeach.org.

North Carolina "PLEDGE TO VOTE AND DO MORE" Campaign:

Reclaim Our Vote is heading into North Carolina for their "Pledge to Vote and Do More" campaign. Registered Black voters in N.C. will be contacted twice this year -- once with our Pledge to Vote postcards (where voters will be given information on registration, how to find info about candidates, and ways to spread the word about the importance of voting) and then again with our Get Out the Vote campaign.  

If you are interested in writing postcards to North Carolina that need to be mailed by July 1, contact Deb Lelchuk at advocacy@ncjwlongbeach.org.

If you’d like to write Vote Forward letters, you can sign up for your own account at https://votefwd.org/ncjw. Or we can get you everything you need to write letters to North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada or Pennsylvania.  They are to be held and mailed in October.  contact Deb Lelchuk at advocacy@ncjwlongbeach.org if you’d like to write letters.

NCJW Partner Event: Voter ID Assistance Orientation with Vote Riders

• VoteRiders is seeking dedicated virtual and in-person volunteers to provide free voter ID assistance to eligible voters in key communities where VoteRiders has staff on the ground including Houston (TX), Columbus (GA), Pittsburgh (PA), Orlando (FL) and Charlotte (NC), Madison (WI), Milwaukee (WI) and Atlanta (GA).
• This orientation will set those who attend up to provide virtual and, if convenient, in-person ID help to those who have requested assistance. Volunteers will work one-on-one with voters on their own schedule! 
• This is a commitment of 1-3 hours per week. 

Questions about anything you have read or related to our Section’s advocacy? Email advocacy@ncjwlongbeach.org.