The City of Atlanta announced that Mayor Kasim Reed was a featured speaker in a plenary session of the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in Washington, D.C. this morning. The three-day program includes addresses by U.S. and world leaders and a mixture of large plenary sessions featuring headline speakers and smaller breakout sessions. During his plenary remarks, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the program, Mayor Reed thanked Paul Berger and his late wife Debra Berger, founder of Project Interchange, on behalf of more than six thousand alumni.

Project Interchange is an educational institute of AJC and brings opinion leaders and policy makers to Israel for a week of intensive travel and learning. Participants experience Israeli society, connect with their Israeli counterparts and learn about Israel’s extensive contributions in their fields. Mayor Reed is an alumnus of the program.

“I am honored to have been invited to participate in the 2017 AJC Global Forum,” said Mayor Reed. “As a result of Project Interchange’s educational focus and strategic approach, Israel is stronger, and our communities are better off, thanks to this great partnership and the power to share information through direct exchanges.”

Mayor Reed also participated in a panel discussion with Rabbi Shai Held, Lonnie Bunch II and Abigail Pogrebin at the discussion, Black-Jewish Relations: Selma to Ferguson and Beyond, explored the rich history of Black-Jewish coalition building and cooperation in the U.S. through the Civil Rights movement to today.

“The Jewish experience has many parallels with the African-American community in America, and an indelible connection resulting from our collaborative work during the Civil Rights movement. In Atlanta, our communities are connected by history. Through the efforts of remarkable leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Rothschild, we set a new example, and established a legacy of cooperation, which became known as the Atlanta Way,” Mayor Reed added.

This year’s conference speakers included U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Ambassador of Israel to the United States H.E. Ron Dermer.