Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi (born May 8, 1964 in Durham, North Carolina) is a person with a disability and a champion for the 1-in-5 people who have a disability. The co-founder/director of the Mizrahi Family Charitable Fund. A former political strategist, advocate, and commentator. She currently writes columns for the Huffington Post,[1] Times of Israel,[2] The Mighty.[3] In addition to taking an active role in President Bill Clinton's Presidential campaign, she has founded or co-founded multiple non-profit organizations including The Israel Project and Laszlo Strategies.

She is currently the co-founder and CEO of the disability advocacy nonprofit, RespectAbility, based in Bethesda, Maryland. As such she and the group have met 1-1 with 43 of America’s governors on disability employment issues.[4] They also rank each state on their employment levels for people with disabilities. 

Education

Mizrahi earned her BA from Emory University [5] in Atlanta in Jewish Studies and International Studies.

Politics and public service

Mizrahi worked as a consultant on Bill Clinton's Presidential election campaign.[6]

Non-profit leadership

Three times The Jewish Forward has named Mizrahi one of the 50 most influential Jews in North America – each time for a different body of work. First it was for her work in organizing campaign training seminars behind the Iron Curtain to help defeat communism. Most recently it was for her work in Arabic to reach out to Arabs for peace with Israel.[7] She was profiled in the book Jewish Sages of Today.[8]

In 2002, Mizrahi co-founded the Israel Project,[3] a non-profit educational and outreach organization. She spent 10 years as president of the group.

In 2012, shortly after stepping down from the Israel Project, Mizrahi established the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, Laszlo Strategies [4] where she advises clients on issues such as medical research, and education.

Along with Donn Weinberg and Shelley Cohen, she co-founded RespectAbility, a disabilities-focused non-profit, in 2013. She currently serves as CEO of the organization, whose focuses include advocating on behalf of disability policy as well as general advocacy and empowerment of individuals with disabilities, promoting their independence, particularly in the domain of employment.

She is the co-author, along with Philip Pauli, Janie Jeffers and Eddie Ellis, of Disability & Criminal Justice Reform: Keys to Success. The report was featured on the PBS NewsHour.

 During the 2016 election, Mizrahi and RespectAbility were extremely active in raising the awareness of the importance of the disability. Their publication, The RespectAbility Report, covered all the presidential candidates and swing races for Senate and Governor. During the election Mizrahi was quoted on page one of both The New York Times[9] and the Washington Post.[10] The PBS NewsHour also did a segment, featuring Mizrahi and RespectAbility on the disability vote.[11]

 

Mizrahi has come under fire from some within the disability community for what some perceive as racist commentary on the 2016 election.[5] Mizrahi apologized for the comment and reaffirmed her lifelong commitment to social justice and equality. 

Mizrahi and RespectAbility run the National Leadership Program to advance a diverse leadership talent pool for the disability movement. So far more than 70 people have graduated from the program. 

Personal life

Mizrahi is married to Victor Mizrahi, who heads the company Mizrahi Enterprises.

References

  1. ↑ "Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi | HuffPost". www.huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  2. ↑ "Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi | The Blogs | The Times of Israel". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  3. ↑ "Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi | The Mighty Contributor". The Mighty. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  4. ↑ "The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Unprecedented Opportunities for Philanthropists| Nonprofit Quarterly". Non Profit News For Nonprofit Organizations | Nonprofit Quarterly. 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  5. ↑ http://js.emory.edu/news/Fall2012Newsletter/jennifer_laszlo_mizrahi.html
  6. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/24/us/president-under-fire-defenders-clinton-s-rapid-response-squad-now-moves-slow.html?pagewanted=2
  7. ↑ "Jewish Sages" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "Jewish Sages" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Flegenheimer, Matt; Chozick, Amy (2016-09-21). "Hillary Clinton Outlines Vision of More Job Opportunities for People With Disabilities". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  10. ↑ "Clinton makes an unusual push: To win over disabled people and their families". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  11. ↑ "What the candidates offer to Americans with disabilities, a growing voting bloc". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 2017-05-21.


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