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Please join us for the 12th Annual
Rabbi Marshall T.Meyer Risk-Taker Awards
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun
Honoring Ann Cook, Deborah Meier, Mikey Weinstein & Families for Freedom Hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez
To purchase tickets, click here.
2008 Honorees: Ann Cook is co-director of the Urban Academy Laboratory High School, a NYC public school that primarily serves a transfer population. Founded in 1985, the school emphasizes an inquiry-based approach to education and is a model of student-centered education. Over 95 percent of Urban Academy students go on to college. Ann is the co-chair of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, a statewide coalition that has successfully pioneered the use of performance-based assessment for graduation used in lieu of high stakes Regents exams. Ann is also a leader in the fight to save the Julia Richman Education Complex (JREC) from demolition by Hunter College. JREC, formerly a large failing high school now houses four high small high schools, a pre-K to 8 elementary school and a middle school for children with autism. The Complex also includes, an adolescent health center, an infant toddler center for the children of teen parents and a teachers' center.
Deborah W. Meier is often considered the founder of the modern small schools movement. In 1974, Meier became the founder and director of the alternative Central Park East school, which embraced progressive ideals in an effort to provide better education for the children of East Harlem. Meier then served as founding principal for two other small public elementary schools in East Harlem, and in 1984, with the support of the Coalition of Essential Schools, Meier founded the Central Park East Secondary School. The success of these schools has been documented in David Bensman's “Central Park East and its Graduates: Learning by Heart” (2000), and in Frederick Wiseman's documentary film, "High School II" (1994). Meier went on to help establish a network of small high schools in New York City based on progressive principles as part of an Annenberg grant and in 1987 Meier received a MacArthur Fellowship for her efforts. In 1996 Meier moved to Boston where she became the founding principal of a small public K-8 pilot school, Mission Hill. She is currently a senior scholar and adjunct professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education, as well as Board member and director of New Ventures at Mission Hill, director and advisor to Forum for Democracy and Education, and on the Board of The Coalition of Essential Schools.
Mikey Weinstein is an undisputed leader of the national movement to restore the separation of church and state in the US military. Mikey's family military history stretches back three generations. When his children entered the military, he was appalled to see the influence of Christian evangelicalism that had infiltrated almost every part of the military. In 2006, Mikey left his work in the corporate world to found the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, to directly battle the evangelical, fundamentalist religious right. Mikey is the author of With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military and is featured prominently in the new documentary “James Carroll's Constantine's Sword”, directed by Oscar nominee Oren Jacoby. Mikey was named one of the 50 most influential Jews in America by the Forward, one of the nation’s preeminent Jewish publications. He also has received nomination for the JFK’s Profile in Courage Award and received the Buzzflash Wings of Justice Award.
Families For Freedom (FFF), is a New York-based multi-ethnic grassroots organization by and for immigrants facing and fighting deportation. Founded in 2002, FFF is comprised of immigrant prisoners (detainees), former immigrant prisoners, their loved ones, and/ or individuals at risk of deportation from around the world. FFF is not just an organizing center against deportation but a source of support, education, and action for directly affected families and communities – both locally and nationally. FFF is a leader in the New Sanctuary Movement, a powerful national interfaith network that is changing the public debate on immigration by welcoming immigrant families into religious congregations for sanctuary.
* * * Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (1930-1993) Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer, rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York City, was a fighter for social justice who spoke out against the military dictatorship in Argentina, fought for Israeli-Palestinian peace and opposed racism, homophobia, and economic inequality wherever he encountered them. (Jacobo Timerman dedicated Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number to him.) He was a man of energy, vision and commitment who was willing to put acceptance and safety at risk to struggle for a better world. Teacher, comrade, friend, rabbi, Marshall was an inspiration for JFREJ, for countless others, and for generations of activists to come.
* * * For information on the 2007 Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk Taker Awards, click here. For information on the 2006 Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk Taker Awards, click here For information on the 2005 Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk Taker Awards, click here For information on the 2004 Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk Taker Awards, click here For Background information on Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer, click here To learn more about past honorees, click here Jews For Racial & Economic Justice - 135 W. 29th St. #600 New York, NY 10001
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