The closing dinner for Washington Institute for 2010 brought everyone together again to honor the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Michael Lieberman, Washington director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  NCJW President Nancy Ratzan paid tribute  to CAP as the missing piece in the arsenal of the progressive coalition. We have often lamented and even envied the role played by the Heritage Foundation in leading the opposition to our agenda — finally, in CAP we have found the combination of academic rigor and advocacy on multiple issues that our side desperately needed. CAP founder John Podesta accepted NCJW’s Social Action Award and warned that the achievement of health care reform could only be the beginning of efforts to enact a broad agenda for change. He reminded the audience that no administration can do it alone, and reiterated the key role played by NCJW in the struggle for progress.

Next NCJW honored Michael Lieberman, who has come to Washington Institute again and again over the years in support of hate crimes legislation. When the struggle to enact a bill at times seemed endless, it was Lieberman’s  leadership that kept the idea alive, and the White House signing ceremony underlined the value of dogged persistence.

Finally, President Ratzan told members of the audience that they came to Washington to “deliver your voice, to seek change, to transform the world,” and that they had “delivered big time.” She urged us “to continue our tenacious work to create sustainable change — to multiply and bring home to our sections, friends, and all progressive Jewish women the power and value of NCJW engagement.” With her words echoing the hall, NCJW completed a rewarding and productive three days in our nation’s capital, exhausted but renewed for the days and months ahead.

Early on a cool and damp Tuesday morning, NCJW members picked up their bagged breakfasts at the hotel and boarded seven buses for Capitol Hill. With a brief delay on a barricaded post 9/11 street for a bomb check of each bus by an enthusiastic sniffer dog, members disembarked for the Cannon Caucus Room, an ornate and historic space that barely contained us all. There NCJW saluted three members of Congress for their work on our issues. Rep. Rosa deLauro (D-CT) received a certificate of recognition for her work on fair pay for women; Rep. Nita Lowie (D-NY) for her efforts on behalf of international family planning programs; and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), a Iraq veteran, for his campaign to end “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) was honored for her work attempting to preserve abortion rights in the health reform package. Reva Price, senior advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, received a special award for her skillful and dedicated work behind the scenes on issues of concern to NCJW over the years. NCJW’s Washington office director Sammie Moshenberg delivered her traditional send-off and NCJW members fanned out to walk the long and unyielding halls of Congress, still buzzing from Sunday’s epic vote on health care reform, to lobby their senators and representatives. Those halls were flooded with others making their case, but NCJW members stood out for their preparation and left a lasting impression they will build on in the coming months.

At its gala luncheon on Monday, NCJW proudly presented Lilly Ledbetter with its Woman Who Dared Award in recognition of her tireless efforts on behalf of fair pay for women. The unassuming Ledbetter said the last thing she expected in her life was to become a “poster child” for fair pay — but that’s what happened when she lost her Supreme Court case against Goodyear Tire and Rubber. She decided to become far more than a poster child, and put herself at the service of the fight for fair pay for women — testifying before Congress, buttonholing legislators, and doing endless media interviews to use her experience on behalf of others. After losing her case against Goodyear when the Supreme Court ruled she should have filed her complaint  before she could possibly have known of the pay discrimination against her, she stood to gain nothing for herself. But she fought for the rest of us, and finally saw victory with the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — the first bill signed into law by President Obama after his inauguration. NCJW members gave her the rousing ovation she deserved.

Eve Ensler, playwright, performer, and activist, is the author of The Vagina Monologues. Her experience performing The Vagina Monologues inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.

Watch Part one of Eve Ensler’s Speech:

Part 1

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Sunday evening delegates heard a more sobering though hopeful discussion of the status of women’s progress around the world from Melanne Verveer, US Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues. Verveer was appointed by President Obama as the first such ambassador in our nation’s history. She outlined the growing understanding worldwide of the critical role played by women in such leading issues as peace, stability, economic justice, and public health. Verveer pointed out that where women’s rights are respected and violence minimized, governments are more stable and just overall. She also outlined the efforts of the Obama Administration to bolster efforts against violence through the UN and international agreements.

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See what NCJW WIX attendees are saying about Washington Institute:

Linda Slucker, NCJW Vice President

Susan Gertner, NCJW Greater Detroit Section

Bobbie Shkolnik, NCJW Columbus Section

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Higher Ground: NCJW’s Domestic Violence Campaign is a national effort to end domestic violence by improving the economic status of women. Grounded in the understanding that economic security is critical to women’s safety, Higher Ground educates and mobilizes advocates, community-members, and decision-makers to promote progressive policy solutions that champion women’s economic autonomy.

Get the facts on Higher Ground and sign up to receive Higher Ground updates.

On Sunday at midday, the sound of the shofar signaled the start of NCJW’s 2010 Washington Institute as delegates gathered for an opening plenary packed with energy and inspiration. NCJW President Nancy Ratzan invoked the tenacity of change to rally NCJW members to action, pointing to NCJW’s persistent leadership advocating for progressive change since 1893. President Ratzan recounted her experience as a member of the White House Council for Faith-Based and Community Partnerships, and how an unlikely cast of characters, including a Catholic lawyer, an evangelical megachurch preacher, a civil rights leader who marched with Dr. King, and the head of a liberal Jewish women’s organization together produced a report to President Obama with an agenda for action on social change. At the same time, she restated NCJW’s conviction that the wholly inadequate and for many oppressive status quo cannot be changed without struggle and without conviction.

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On Tuesday, March 23, Washington Institute 2010 (WIX) participants will head to Capitol Hill. Return here to read personal reports from WIX attendees about their meetings with their representative and senators on critical public policy issues.

In 2007, Washington Institute participants met with nearly 200 congressional offices on issues of concern to NCJW.