Dear Friend,

What happens in the Supreme Court, Congress, and state legislatures starts with local organizing.

In my role as Field Organizing Manager for Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, I work with our organizers who train and coach local groups to stand with communities under attack, hold elected officials accountable, and win local progressive victories.

Across the country and for years, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action’s local leaders have built relationships with directly impacted people within our communities and organizations — creating a powerful ecosystem to both mobilize quickly in urgent moments, like the one we’re in now, and fight long-term for systemic change.

It’s how, for example, our leaders in New York jumped in to push for the successful repeal of 50-a — a crucial step towards increased police transparency and accountability (more on that below).

Help us continue this local organizing work with a donation of $18 today. Our end-of-fiscal year deadline is June 30th and your support helps us mobilize our multiracial Jewish community to fight for a country where we are all safe and free.

In this moment, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action leaders are showing up to fight for long-overdue justice in this country. It’s a fight we’ve been in for a long time, and we’ll be here until Black lives truly matter in this country.

We are amplifying the longtime leadership of Jewish and non-Jewish Black-led organizing, which has brought us to this powerful moment of nation-wide uprising to dismantle white supremacy and build a more just America in its place.

Here are just a few examples of how Bend the Arc leaders are showing up:

Fighting for a budget in LA that invests in communities

The Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Southern California chapter has been following the lead of Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles to push for a People's Budget for Los Angeles that divests from police and invests in communities.

This week the People’s Budget LA coalition presented the People’s Budget to members of the City Council and to the public on Facebook Live. The coalition is already seeing responses from elected leaders: several members of City Council introduced a motion to divert all non-violent calls away from the LAPD, and a motion to create an Office of Violence Prevention that would respond to interpersonal conflicts with mediators, conflict interrupters, and restorative justice teams. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Southern California is proud to be a member of this coalition and is making plans with partner organizations for upcoming advocacy.

Police accountability in New York

Organizers in New York won a major victory for police accountability last week when the state legislature voted to repeal 50-a — a decades-old law that allowed police to obscure misconduct records.

Groups like Communities United for Police Reform and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and families whose loved ones were killed by police have been building this campaign for years, leading the way to this critical win. Amidst a groundswell of New Yorkers protesting for an end to police brutality, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island leaders got involved in the final push by texting thousands of New Yorkers to drive more than 800 calls and emails to key legislators.

The collective public pressure put on Long Island legislators worked! All Democratic Long Island Senators voted to repeal 50-a — a huge win, given their painful votes to roll back important bail reform measures just a few months ago.

City council vigil in Champaign-Urbana

Leaders from Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Champaign-Urbana worked with partners from Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) earlier this week to organize an “end white silence” vigil to protest police violence outside the city council building, while the city council met virtually. Together, they mobilized nearly 100 people to show up, including many folks in cars.

And, leaders are organizing members of their community to email councilmembers, urging them to address police violence and bring about much-needed changes to policing.

Here’s what local leader Diane said when speaking to local news:

“We have asked local leaders, we have asked Congress, and we’re going to ask again — we’re going to keep asking until they hear us and do the right thing.”

There’s still significant work ahead, and we’re in it for the long-haul. Help us finish our fiscal year strong with a donation right now.

Your gift supports a multiracial Jewish community showing up alongside our partners in directly impacted communities to fight for a country where we are all safe and free.

Your donation is an investment — we know that the work of dismantling our country’s violent, racist systems and replacing them with systems that truly protect our communities is decades-long work. We’ve been here and we will stay here in this fight.

In solidarity,

Anjuli Kronheim Katz
Field Organizing Manager

PS: I hope you’ll donate $18 before our June 30th deadline to help us build the world we want to see. Your gift will allow us to continue to organize Jews around the country to show up for racial justice in this moment and beyond.