News & Views

Why Does Advocacy Matter?

​Refugees and immigrants are impacted by federal, state and local laws, policies and procedures every single day. Many of these laws, policies and procedures hurt these vulnerable newcomers and, ultimately, hurt ourselves as Americans. The only way to change these is to contact your elected representatives and let them know that you want them to make changes or else you will make your displeasure felt when it is time to vote.

Engaging in these discussions with legislators – whether by email, snail mail letter, or phone call, can feel unimportant but it is not. Every legislator, at every level of government, tracks the issues about which their constituents contact them. The tracking happens every single day and when, at the end of a week, the number of contacts about a particular issue is really high, that issue will get their attention. The trick, therefore, is to keep the number of contacts about issues related to immigration high and constant.

We have created a list of issues that need public attention. For each issue some background information is provided as well as call scripts and paragraphs to be cut and pasted into emails, letters and faxes for you and your friends and loved ones to use on a regular basis. Make contacting your legislators a regular part of your routine – daily, after reading the morning paper, weekly, as a fun activity to engage in with your family, or monthly, as an engaging activity with your book club – the more continuous and consistent voices there are the more likely it will be that our legislators will act.

Contact your legislators.

G'mar chatima tova.

HIAS Pennsylvania's office will be closed on Monday, September 25th, in observance of Yom Kippur. 

TONIGHT (4/20) - Join us ONLINE at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!

Join us ONLINE at 6:45PM TONIGHT, Thursday, April 20th, for HIAS PA's 2023 Golden Door Awards: United for Immigrants!

Happy Passover from HIAS Pennsylvania!HIAS PA is closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover

HIAS Pennsylvania will be closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover from 1PM on Wednesday, April 5th through Friday, April 7th, and on Wednesday, April 12th and Thursday, April 13th.

Join us at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!United for Immigrants

The Golden Door Awards is HIAS Pennsylvania's annual fundraiser. Your generous support helps us serve low-income immigrants from all over the world as they build new lives in our community.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

TONIGHT: Join us at the table!Join us for Thankful Together!

Thankful Together, formerly known as Refugee Thanksgiving, is happening TONIGHT at 6PM!

Register here to join us tonight: https://hiaspa1.wpengine.com/event/thankful-together-2021/

Celebrate our volunteers who make this all possible!Click here at 11:45AM to join our Annual Meeting!

Click here to join our virtual Annual Meeting!

The Annual Meeting starts at noon, but join us at 11:45AM for an informal chat before the event!

POSTPONED! Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan

Today's Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan Facebook Live event has been postponed due to a worldwide Facebook outage. We will update you as soon as possible about rescheduling the event.