Sunday, September 15
1:30pm-2:30pm
A panel of elected officials at the federal, state and local level will discuss the impact of Christian nationalism on public policy, how they’re fighting back, and how AHA members can get involved and support public officials like them in their work.
This session is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Freethought Community.
Congressman Jared Huffman represents California’s 2nd Congressional District which spans the North Coast of the state, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, and includes Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, and Del Norte counties. He was first elected to Congress in November 2012 and currently serves on the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In the 118th Congress, he serves as the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries with jurisdiction over federal water projects, fisheries management, coastal zone and oceans policy, and wildlife and endangered species. Jared also founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus, which he co-chairs, to promote sound public policy based on reason, science and moral values, while protecting the secular character of government and championing the value of freedom of thought worldwide.
During his time in Congress, Jared has built a reputation as a progressive leader and an environmental expert who focuses on making a difference. Jared is also committed to ensuring our communities are resilient to the effects of climate change, including wildfires and droughts. He has been instrumental in defending America’s coastlines from offshore oil and gas drilling, introducing legislation to protect the Pacific and Arctic Oceans as part of a coordinated, nationwide effort to protect oceanic ecosystems and coastal economies, while reducing our unhealthy dependency on fossil fuels.
Jared graduated magna cum laude from U.C. Santa Barbara, where he was a three-time NCAA All-American volleyball player. He went on to play for the USA Volleyball Team in 1987 when the team was ranked #1 in the world, before attending and graduating cum laude from Boston College Law School. Jared lives in San Rafael with his wife Susan, a teacher. They have two children, Abby and Nathan. In his free time, Jared enjoys fishing, hiking, and playing tennis.
Sarah Levin worked for the Secular Coalition for America from 2013–2019 in various roles, including Director of Grassroots and Community Programs and Director of Governmental Affairs.
In 2016, she facilitated the establishment of the first ever Secular Caucus in the Texas Democratic Party and worked with secular Democrats to successfully incorporate three secular policy resolutions into the party’s platform.
In her personal capacity, Sarah proudly represents the secular community as a Co-Chair on the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Interfaith Council. She helped to pass a resolution at the DNC in 2019 that expressly welcomes religiously-unaffiliated voters into the party, recognizing their values and historic marginalization.
Throughout her career Sarah has specialized in government relations and lobbying at the federal, state, and local levels. Sarah has navigated both grassroots and grasstops advocacy and has a knack for seeing the big picture. She prides herself on providing a high standard of professionalism and pragmatic, strategic advice to her clients. She brings a track record of successful coalition building, strategic communication, and issue campaigns. Her background also includes volunteer and program management, public speaking, and fundraising—from the one dollar donation at a conference booth to soliciting six-figure gifts from high-dollar donors.
Prior to joining the Secular Coalition, Sarah completed a year of AmeriCorps service and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from American University, where she served on the leadership board of the university’s Secular Student Alliance affiliate. After spending a decade in Washington, DC, she now lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband.
Representative Chris Rabb is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 200th District since 2017.
While a visiting researcher at Princeton University, Rep. Rabb wrote the ground-breaking book, “Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity” (2010).
Shortly after an appearance on WHYY’s Radio Times in 2011, he was recruited to teach at Temple University’s Richard J. Fox School of Business and Management where he was the Social Impact Fellow at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute and taught social entrepreneurship and organizational innovation. In his fourth year of teaching at Temple, Rep. Rabb helped to successfully unionize 1,500 fellow adjunct professors in a landslide victory for worker rights.
He is currently a board member of Friends of the Wissahickon and Race Forward and has been on the faculty of the Institute for Strategic Leadership at Drexel University’s Bennett S. LeBow College of Business. He has been a fellow at Demos, the Poynter Institute and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Rep. Rabb previously served on the boards of the Bread and Roses Community Fund, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, and The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, which was founded by his great-great grandfather in 1892.
A former U.S. Senate legislative aide and writer, researcher and trainer at the White House Conference on Small Business in the Clinton administration, Rep. Rabb is a thought leader at the intersection of politics, media entrepreneurship and social identity. He has appeared as a guest on several local and national media outlets, including: The New York Times, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, NPR, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer and the Associated Press.
A graduate of Yale College and the University of Pennsylvania, Rep. Rabb is an avid family historian and genealogist. He lives in East Mt. Airy with his two sons.
Violeta Ramos is an at-large member of the Osborn Elementary School District in Arizona. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Violeta Ramos was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a proud product of public education and is the reason she is so passionate about advocating for the community she lives, works and leads in. She is a first-generation graduate in her family to receive a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Arizona and has recently acquired a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Violeta has 11 years of previous work experience in the nonprofit sector supporting various marginalized and underserved communities where her heart and passion lies most. She strives to empower these communities to not view themselves as barriers but as valuable assets that bring power, culture and positive change to the table!
