June 18, 2020 — New York
Reasserting its longstanding commitment to the struggle for racial justice, pluralism, and social harmony, American Jewish Committee (AJC) today announced the opening of new regional offices in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, and Louisville, Kentucky.
“We share the promise of America for all,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “We can help restore the breath of America, even if we cannot help restore the breath of George Floyd.”
Harris announced the Twin Cities and Louisville offices in his remarks at the closing plenary of the AJC Virtual Global Forum today. “We have more than a century of experience in our unswerving commitment to the civil rights struggle. AJC will bring that dedication and experience to the Twin Cities and Louisville. We want to contribute to the solution on the ground and do so in close partnership with likeminded institutions and individuals,” said Harris.
Melanie Maron Pell, AJC Managing Director of Regional Offices, lives in Louisville, and Jacob Millner, Associate Director of Regional Offices, lives in Minneapolis. They will also serve as directors of the new AJC offices. The offices are established in memory of George Floyd, murdered in Minneapolis on May 25, and Breonna Taylor, murdered in Louisville on March 13.
The current crisis was discussed most recently during this week’s AJC Virtual Global Forum in a conversation with Senator Cory Booker. Last year, at the 2019 AJC Global Forum, in Washington, D.C., the Congressional Black-Jewish Caucus and AJC’s Community of Conscience were launched to advance intergroup cooperation and create a broad-based alliance in support of American pluralism, mutual respect, and justice.
The AJC Global Forum is the global Jewish advocacy organization’s signature annual event. Originally scheduled to take place this week in Berlin, Germany, the venue was changed to an online meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 8,000 people from 70 countries have registered for the conference, June 14-18.
