Newtown Quakers to Hear “Harrisburg Update" from Rep. Joe Hohenstein

Newtown Quakers to Hear “Update from Harrisburg from the Only Quaker in the House.”

Pennsylvania State Representative Joe Hohenstein will speak about his experiences as a Quaker in the Pennsylvania State Legislature during the current national Trump Administration to the adult class at the Newtown Quaker Meetinghouse, 219 Court Street, on Sunday, March 9 at 9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship in the manner of Friends will begin at 11 a.m. The public is invited to attend both events.

Prior to being elected, Hohenstein was an attorney and small business owner. In his professional career, he’s been dedicated to helping the community and fighting for justice as a nationally renowned lawyer on immigration rights and keeping families united. He has served for years on the National Amicus Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). When President Donald Trump signed the Travel Ban in early 2017, Hohenstein was part of the legal team that successfully sued the President to reunite a Syrian Christian family who was legally immigrating to our country but was ruled ineligible mid-flight.

Hohenstein’s top legislative priorities include full fair funding for Philadelphia schools, solutions to the drug crisis, and tax structures that are fair to working families and make corporations pay their fair share. He supports women’s rights and pay equality, a clean environment, sensible laws to curb gun violence, protecting workers and raising the minimum wage, and fair districts to provide everyone an equal voice in government.

Joe Hohenstein also is the Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania House Philadelphia Delegation.

Hohenstein serves as a faculty member at Temple University Beasley School of Law and helped develop its first immigration law clinic. He is currently on the board of directors of Philadelphia's Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT) which takes in nearly 18,000 animals annually.

Hohenstein grew up in a union household, and lives just blocks away from his childhood home in Philadelphia with his wife Brandi. They have two children, Emma and Mars. His mother was a shop steward with AFSCME DC 47 and his father was a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

Joe is a member of Frankford Quaker Monthly Meeting and has served as Clerk (Head) of both the Meeting and Frankford Friends School, of which he is a graduate. He is also a graduate of Earlham College ('89) and the University of Minnesota Law School

Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded by the Quaker artist and minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, holds services every First Day (Sunday). During the school year, First Day classes for children and adults are at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship is at 11:00 a.m. Professional childcare is provided. All meetings are open to the public and visitors are warmly welcomed.