Washington Institute

BELIEF IN ACTION: NCJW DAY ON THE HILL

AUSTIN

FEBRUARY 19-20, 2007

On a bright, sunny Monday, nineteen Greater Dallas Section members journeyed to Austin to learn about issues of concern for NCJW. We joined over thirty NCJW members from Houston, Austin, and San Antonio for an afternoon of informative speakers and an evening of inspired speakers. On Tuesday, Dallas members visited with sixteen legislators or their aides.

The program included Deece Eckstein, People for the American Way; Bee Moorhead, Texas Impact; Sarah Wheat, Planned Parenthood; and Kathy Miller, Texas Freedom Network. We learned about civil and individual rights – immigration and the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgendered persons; children’s issues – healthcare, child welfare and protective services, and early care and education; access to reproductive heatlth and sexuality education – emergency contraception, access to abortion care, and sexuality education; and separation of religion and state – education vouchers and stem cell research.

In the evening, the Woman Who Dared Award was presented to Carter Casteel. Ms. Casteel was recognized for her courageous, steadfast, and articulate commitment to Texas public schools while serving as Representative from District 73 ( New Braunfels area) during the 2005 legislative session.  The pro-voucher lobby subsequently targeted Representative Casteel and she was defeated in her bid for re-election in the Republican primary in March 2006.

The “Belief in Action Award” was awarded to Jan Soifer, Austin NCJW member, who so capably organized a statewide Jewish coalition on No Nonsense in November, the campaign to defeat the Constitutional Amendment prohibiting marriage between same-sex couples in 2004. Though, regrettably, the Amendment passed, Jan was honored for her courageous and steadfast leadership on this issue and on many other endeavors on behalf of human rights and civil liberties in the Texas Jewish community and beyond, over many years.

A new award, “Texas Trailblazer”, was presented to Deece Eckstein, Regional Director of People for the American Way, for his longtime commitment to promoting social justice and civil and individual rights and his leadership in bringing progressive organizations in Texas together at the Texas Table to collaborate and communicate on issues of mutual concern.

The evening concluded with remarks by newly elected Representative Ellen Cohen of Houston who is the CEO of the Women’s Center there and founder of Reach to Recovery, a post-mastectomy self-help program.

Tuesday, it was off to the Capitol and visits with Senators Carona, Harris, Shapiro, and West. We also visited with Representatives Jackson, Goolsby, Madden, Vaught, Hartnett, Branch, McCall, Hodge, Davis, Solomons, Anchia, and Hill.

At the end of the day, all agreed – it was an informative, inspiring two days. We hope you will join us in 2009 when we go again.

Position Papers

To see where we stand on the issues, please see our talking points. Click on the titles below.

Civil and Individual Rights

Children's Issues: Healthcare, Protective Services, Early Care and Education

Separation of Religion and State: Education Vouchers and Stem Cell Research

Access to Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education

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Washington Institute

Texas was well represented at WASHINGTON INSTITUTE! 33 members from the four sections traveled to DC, joining more than 400 members representing 31 states for NCJW’s premier public policy event that is held triennially. As in Austin, two days of informative and inspirational workshops and speakers on the key issues gave us knowledge and self-confidence for our visits to Congress.

• The Talking Points on the key issues of SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program), Hate Crimes and the REAL (Responsible Education About Life) Act are available below. Feel free to distribute to your members and in Section Bulletins, etc. and look for action messages on these issues as they move through Congress. And, of course, go to www.action.ncjw.org to sign up to receive updates and action alerts on these and other issues.
• Again this year, we were all disappointed that our visit with aides of Senators Cornyn and Hutchison took place in a hallway rather than in a meeting room as we had requested. But we are pleased that we had an “overflow” crowd and that many of you contributed to the lively discussion of the issues.
• At Washington Institute, National President Phyllis Snyder also unveiled an exciting new initiative: Plan A: NCJW’s Campaign for Contraceptive Access, an effort to secure and protect all women’s access to contraceptive information and health services. To sign on and to receive updates, resources and action opportunities, go to action.ncjw.org/ncjw/planA_signup.html.
• Another highlight of Washington Institute was presentation of the Woman Who Dared Award to Dr. Susan Wood, former commissioner for women’s health and health director of the FDA’s office of Women’s Health who resigned in protest over the FDA’s years-long delay in approving over-the-counter emergency contraception.
• Divestment from Sudan: the NCJW delegate body voted to endorse targeted divestment from Sudan to put pressure on the government there to end the genocide. Read more at www.ncjw.org/html/News/PressReleases/070323/.

Position Papers

To see where we stand on the issues, please see our talking points. Click on the titles below.

SCHIP

Hate Crimes

REAL (Responsible Education About Life) Act

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