JCRC Town Hall to Help Set Agenda
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta invites the community to a town-hall meeting Tuesday, Aug. 18, on five resolutions for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs’ national conference.
The resolutions address the following:
- Anti-Semitism. The proposal builds on existing policies focusing on Europe and college campuses to take a broad view of worldwide anti-Semitism, including when criticism of Israel crosses the line.
- Early childhood education and day care. The proposal calls for a comprehensive system of child care, education and other services from birth through age 5 to break the cycle of poverty.
- Paid sick leave. The proposal backs legislation requiring this employee benefit.
- Marijuana. Rather than call for legalization, the resolution urges studying a range of reforms that would stop jailing people for low-level drug offenses.
- The Armenian genocide a century ago. The proposal calls for recognizing the genocide carried out by Turkey and for pushing the United States to call it genocide.
The decisions on those resolutions by the JCRC of Atlanta and the other 124 JCRCs across the country will be part of the national advocacy agenda discussed in Washington at the JCPA’s Jewish Community Town Hall from Oct. 11 to 13.
“This is the Atlanta Jewish community’s chance to weigh in on these important issues,” said the president of the JCRC of Atlanta, Harvey Rickles. “This meeting is an important way to have strong representation at the local level.”
The experts lined up for the Aug. 18 meeting include Frida Ghitis, a columnist on world affairs and a former CNN correspondent; Jay Strongwater, a criminal defense lawyer; Mindy Binderman, the founding executive director of the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students; and Dr. Vahan Kassabian, the Georgia chairman of the Armenian Assembly of America.
The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at Congregation B’nai Torah, 700 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs.
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