RAC-PA

What is a Welcoming Schools Policy?
Across the country, thousands of immigrant students and their families are facing fear of deportation as they enter schools. A Welcoming Schools Policy affirms a district’s commitment to welcome all students regardless of immigration status, as required by federal law; has a plan for how schools will interact with ICE; and sends a clear message to immigrant families that their rights are being protected and prioritized. View a full sample policy.

Who are we working with on this action?
The Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition (PIC), of which HIAS is also a member, is coordinating efforts across the commonwealth to ask school boards to pass Welcoming Schools Policies.

Why are we doing this during the High Holidays?
The High Holidays are a time of reflection and action. We are commanded to “...love [the stranger] as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34). This year we have the opportunity to act together and take one more step in building the world we want, one in which all students can thrive.

Send a Message to Your School Board

Learn about our work across the country to organize, mobilize, and advocate so that all people can thrive in multiracial, inclusive democracies in North America and Israel.

• Joining with nearly 2,000 Pennsylvanians to combat gun violence and reach voters.
  
  1,900 Pennsylvanians joined our state campaign to end gun violence and the RAC's national Every Voice, Every Vote campaign in 2024. That is three times more people joining us than in any other year in RAC-PA's history!
   
• Engaging over 100,000 voters in 2024.
  
  Our 2024 Every Voice, Every Vote campaign volunteers reached more than 100,000 Pennsylvania voters through postcards. These postcards were sent to members of OnePA4All, who are part of historically marginalized communities with low voter propensity and weren't being reached by other voter outreach efforts.
   
• Passing new gun violence legislation.
  
  As part of our 2024 campaign to end gun violence, we joined a coalition that advocated to advance six new gun violence prevention bills through the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, which passed four of those bills. This effort led to more bills addressing gun violence prevention being active in a legislative session in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives than in the last 20 years.

• Why is this Primary Different from all the Others? (Penn Live, 2023)
• Rabbi Lindsey Danzinger and Rabbi Stacy Rigler: A Redistricting Win for RAC-PA (2022)
• On Bringing Light and Promoting Justice (Lancaster Online, 2021)
• Every Person, Every Voice, Every Vote: Fighting Gerrymandering in Pennsylvania (2021)