Participants in the Eisendrath Legislative Assistant Fellowship are key to the work we do to educate, inspire and mobilize the Reform Jewish Movement to advocate for social justice. But for many years, the fellowship has not fully reflected the diversity of the Reform Movement and wider Jewish community. Amid today's divided climate, our commitment to racial equity, diversity, and inclusion is more important than ever.

We are thrilled and honored to introduce ourselves as the 2023-2024 Eisendrath Legislative Assistants ! Our cohort brings a wealth of diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences to our roles. We are united by a shared dedication to advancing the URJ's vision of peace and wholeness, justice and equity, and belonging and joy.

Power for Purpose: The Reform Movement’s 2023 Campaign for Climate Justice is our opportunity to bring the full strength of our movement together to address the climate crisis and deliver a clean, healthy, and livable future for all communities, particularly those most impacted by climate pollution.

With 2023 in full swing, leaders and officials at every level are setting their agendas and priorities for the coming year. We continue to be proud of the power we built and mobilized in 2022 as a Reform Movement as we gather to set the agenda for our work in 2023.

For more than six decades, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism has worked to educate, inspire, and mobilize the Reform Jewish Movement to advocate for social justice both within our Jewish community and outside of it. Key to that work are the emerging leaders of the Eisendrath Legislative Assistant Fellowship.

Last week, the FBI released its annual compilation of hate crimes statistics, summarizing all hate crimes reported to the FBI in 2021. While the statistics themselves are grim and disturbing, the most alarming statistic in this year’s announcement is what was not reported. While underreporting of hate crimes has been an ongoing issue, this report is more inaccurate than usual.

Whenever I see the notice that the Religious Action Center (RAC) is recruiting for Legislative Assistants (LAs), I immediately flash back to 1983 when I was an intern at the RAC. It was an amazing experience!

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) in the U.S. Each of us likely knows someone, either in our Jewish community or our secular communities, who has been impacted by or is a survivor of domestic violence.

As a graduate of both Tougaloo College and Jackson State University, the bomb threats to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are personal to me. Since January 2022, over a dozen HBCUs have received bomb threats; several of those threats were received on the first day of Black history month. The continuous attacks on institutions of higher learning; places of worship and individual attacks are a direct threat to our everyday existence.