Effort Includes Multiple Voter Sites Which Will Offer In-Person Voter Registration, Voter Education, Absentee Ballot Assistance, Jewish Community Engagement, and Volunteer Opportunities
Teach New York State (NYS), a division of Teach Coalition, has announced a new and unprecedented nonpartisan ‘Get Out the Vote’ initiative focused on the upcoming elections in Westchester County. Teach Coalition advocates for equitable funding and resources for all nonpublic schools including Jewish day schools and yeshivas.
The Jewish community of Westchester County is mobilizing to counter a wave of anti-Jewish hate incidents and other antisemitic threats and rhetoric in New York in the aftermath of the 10/7 attacks in Israel. Teach Coalition is responding to and providing support for the parents of children in Jewish schools who are concerned about security threats to their children, their educational institutions, and their houses of worship.
As a part of this campaign, Teach Coalition will open a voter site at 1297 North Avenue in New Rochelle, offering residents voter-registration support, absentee-ballot assistance, as well as community outreach to engage current and newly registered voters. The voter site will open in early February. In the following weeks, Teach Coalition will open other field offices for nonpartisan voter mobilization across southern and central Westchester County.
Teach Coalition is preparing to spend up to $1.6 million on voter-registration and voter-turnout operations and has already raised over $1 million to fund the initiative. Teach Coalition has set a goal of registering thousands of new minority voters.
This initiative builds on prior successful ‘Get Out the Vote’ campaigns organized by Teach Coalition across multiple states and communities. This includes the recent New Jersey election which saw the Jewish community voting in higher numbers than district averages across the state. In Florida, the Jewish community more than doubled average citywide voter turnout in the 2023 Miami Beach and North Miami Beach mayoral elections following Teach Florida’s efforts.
“Now more than ever, it is essential that our communities come out and vote,” said Dan Mitzner, Director of Government Affairs for Teach Coalition. “We are excited to leverage our expertise in voter engagement to work with the Westchester community at this time. This is a first of its kind effort, and we are confident Jewish communities across the county will do their part to vote and make a difference.”
Synagogues, Jewish day schools and Jewish institutions throughout Westchester representing the broad Jewish community have signed on in support of this effort, encouraging their communities to mobilize and vote. The full list of partner organizations is in formation and can be found below.
“These elections hold critical implications for our Jewish communal institutions and especially for our schools,” said Rabbi Dani Rockoff, Principal of Westchester Day School. “Right now, it is our responsibility to show up and vote in large numbers in this election. We are grateful for the efforts of Teach NYS to mobilize our communities around this.”
Teach Coalition is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and does not support any political party or candidate.
The New York State Primary Election is set for June 25, 2024; Federal Congressional primary election dates are yet to be determined. The New York State General Election is November 5, 2024. For more information, head to: https://teachcoalition.org/votenys/
Schools
Kinneret
Ohavei Torah
SAR Academy and High School
The Leffell School
Westchester Day School
Westchester Hebrew High School
Westchester Torah Academy
Synagogues
Anshei Shalom
Congregation B’nei Yisrael
Hebrew Institute of White Plains
Riverdale Jewish Center
Young Israel of New Rochelle
Young Israel of Scarsdale
Young Israel of White Plains
Organizations
UJA-Federation of New York
Westchester Jewish Council
About Teach Coalition
Teach Coalition, a project of the Orthodox Union, is a nonpartisan, multi-state, grassroots movement devoted to advocating for equitable funding for nonpublic schools. Teach Coalition works to make nonpublic schools better, safer and more affordable. Teach Coalition advocates on behalf of approximately 90% of Jewish day school and yeshivah students nationwide and counts more than 90,000 dedicated volunteers, activists and subscribers among its supporters.
For more information about Teach Coalition, visit teachcoalition.org.
