On June 18, forty lay leaders and staff from ADL, the Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and Israeli American Council headed to Harrisburg to advocate for a variety of civil rights issues including LGBTQ rights, hate crimes, religious freedom and more.
The participants first met with Governor Tom Wolf in his office for a Q & A session. Following the meeting, participants heard from Representative Dan Frankel of Pittsburgh, where he shared emotional insight into what it was like on the ground after the Tree of Life Synagogue attack in his district. Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai also spoke to the group. Over a working lunch, participants met with Representative Movita Johnson-Harrell of Philadelphia, first Muslim woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature.
In the afternoon, attendees broke into six teams and met with eighteen Representatives, Senators and staff to lobby for a variety of bills that tackled various civil rights issues.
ADL is grateful to our partnering organizations and we thank the elected officials and staffers who spoke with us during Advocacy Day. We look forward to continuing our ceaseless efforts “to secure justice and fair treatment to all” across the Commonwealth.