Labor Expert Alice Hoffman to Speak About Social Security At Sholom Aleichem Club Meeting

 Labor Expert Alice Hoffman
to Speak on Who Will Defend Social Security?
at Sholom Aleichem Club
May Meeting

Last year marked the 75th anniversary of Social Security being enacted and 2011 represents 75 years since the first check was issued, emphasizes celebrated labor scholar Alice Hoffman. Now, Social Security is under attack with its future uncertain as opponents claim it contributes to the budget deficit. Ms. Hoffman, who lives in Haverford, will speak to the Sholom Aleichem Club about Who Will Defend Social Security? on Sunday, May 15. The program, which is free and open to the public, begins at 2 p.m. at the Bala Cynwyd Library, North Highland Avenue and Old Lancaster Road, Bala Cynwyd.

Social Security, one of the cornerstone accomplishments of labor and the progressive movements during the days of the Great Depression and the New Deal, is a critical issue for Americans of all ages.

Ms. Hoffman serves on the Board of the Philadelphia Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), as well as an instructor at the Comey Institute of Industrial Relations at St. Joseph’s University.

She is also on the Board of the Academy of Social Insurance and has recently been writing and speaking about Social Security. Ms. Hoffman co-founded the Pennsylvania Labor History Society and has served as its Secretary and President as well as being as an advisor to the Philadelphia Unemployment Project and the Education Committee of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO.  She has received numerous distinguished awards including: Humanist Scholar of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council; Award from the United States Department of Labor for service to the people of Poland; from Pennsylvania AFL-CIO for significant contributions to the labor movement; Philadelphia AFL-CIO Women's Committee Woman of the Year Award; Forest Pogue Award for Excellence in Oral History, and the Pennsylvania Labor History Society Mother Jones Award.

Ms. Hoffman began her career in 1966 as an educator in the field of worker education in the Department of Labor Studies at Penn State University. She was a pioneer in the development of the techniques and methodologies of oral history, which is now one of the foremost tools in the recovery of the development of social movements.  She has served as Secretary, Vice President, and President of the national Oral History Association. Upon her retirement in 1993, she was appointed a research affiliate at Bryn Mawr College. 

The Sholom Aleichem Club, a local Secular Jewish organization in its sixth decade, meets the second weekend of the month. The Club offers dynamic, stimulating and entertaining meetings dealing with Jewish culture, Secular observance of Jewish holidays, and a wide variety of current, social, cultural and international issues. Member participation is also encouraged in such groups as Peace and Social Action, Yiddish reading, and publications. Members come from throughout the Delaware Valley. The Club is affiliated with the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations of North America, the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews and the Kehilla for Secular Jews of Greater Philadelphia, which includes seven Secular Jewish groups that plan joint activities such as the High Holidays observances. For more information on this meeting or the Club, please call 215-233-2668, or visit the web site: http://www.sholomaleichemclub.org.