Last week I attended a public hearing to speak out against the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts’ most recent attempt to infiltrate our public schools with their depraved sex ed curriculum, “Get Real.” The MA Department of Education is already working with Planned Parenthood to promote their agenda, and now they’re trying to mandate what our children will learn through their approved frameworks. This morning, I was able to explain some of this Sex Ed Mandate on WRKO’s The Kuhner Report, so you can hear more details about the bill and Planned Parenthood’s curriculum from this morning’s discussion here. There was a lot of support at the hearing last week in favor of the bill, but thanks to your continual emails through our Action Center over the last few days, we are working together to raise our voices against this “sexual misconduct masquerading as sex education,” as Jeff Kuhner put it on his show today. If you still have yet to contact your legislator about this outrageous bill, you can do so right now at our Action Center.
With a new team of talented and dedicated professionals, MFI is well poised to address this and other challenges to our culture, our faith and our families.
Jonathan Alexandre – Legislative and Legal Counsel
As we have seen very clearly this past year with the attacks on Gordon College and the Justina Pelletier case, the fight for family values is increasingly being waged in the areas of religious liberty and parental rights. With a demonstrated commitment to our shared values, a juris doctorate from Liberty University School of Law, and experience lobbying in Washington DC, athaathan dramatically expands MFI’s capability to execute our mission from the courtroom to Beacon Hill. He was raised in Brockton, MA and graduated with a degree in political science from Anna Maria College in Paxton, Massachusetts. Prior to joining MFI this spring, Jonathan also worked for the Mayor of Worcester and interned at the Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Lena Wakim – Director of Communications
A core aspect of our mission at MFI is communicating our shared values in a way that encourages supporters and effectively engages the culture here in the Commonwealth. Lena has been expanding our social media and web presence and reaching new audiences. With a background in broadcast journalism, she is particularly skilled at sound and video editing, which is allowing us to harness popular and effective mediums in our culture today with storytelling in short bursts of video. Of course, at MFI, we still put a priority on communicating important ideas through the written word, and Lena was instrumental in the design and layout of our recent report on the costs of fatherlessness in Massachusetts. A native of Salem, New Hampshire, she is a recent graduate of Liberty University and interned for New Hampshire Public Radio prior to joining MFI.
As a small nonprofit, MFI needs expert management of day to day operations in order to be excellent stewards of your generous donations. With over 15 years of experience in administrative and personnel management in the medical device industry, Luz brings a wealth of best practices and professionalism from her background in the for-profit world. Along with her husband, she also leads the family ministry of her church in Dorchester, where she is the organizer for women and family events, retreats and marriage conferences. We look forward to her leadership in running MFI’s signature annual fundraising banquet each October, as well as other events across the Commonwealth. Bilingual, Luz will also help us reach Spanish speaking audiences seeking our help in defending our shared family values.
Elissa Knizewski – Community Relations Coordinator
Mobilizing family values supporters is a critical part of our mission. It takes time and intentionality to develop the relationships with churches and organizations that enable us to work together effectively as parts of the broader pro-family movement. Elissa has a history of working with various stakeholders to pursue a common goal. She is a former leader for TeenPact in Massachusetts, a government and leadership school for Christian students, and worked with MFI as a youth lobbyist and phone banking coordinator during the marriage amendment fight. After college, she served as a membership coordinator for the Home School Legal Defense Association headquarters in Virginia prior to returning to Amesbury, Massachusetts. A homeschool mother of three, Elissa works part time for MFI, using her talents for connecting people to resources they need and her passion for liberty and the Biblical truths on which our Commonwealth was founded.
At Massachusetts Family Institute, we are as dedicated as ever to the long-term vision of strengthening families in our Commonwealth through promoting and defending our shared family values. Whether it’s stopping the Sex Ed Mandate or any of the other myriad of assaults on our families, please know that YOU are a vital part of our team as well. Pray for our Commonwealth, educate your friends, family and neighbors, contact your legislators through our user-friendly e-alerts, and consider supporting the critical work of MFI financially.
Will you send a tax-deductible gift TODAY to strengthen us in our work of promoting the sanctity of life, the dignity of true marriage and defending our religious liberty and parental rights in Massachusetts? We will ‘find ways to win’ as a team, no matter the odds stacked against us, but we need your help to keep our team on the field and in the fight for you.