Stosh Cotler

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Stosh Cotler is an American activist known for leading Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish organization that combines advocacy, community organizing, and leadership training. Born in 1968 in Olympia, Washington, she began advocacy work in Portland, Oregon, where she started a program offering self-defense and empowerment training for girls and women, and she spoke out for Palestinian rights during the Second Intifada. In 2005 she joined Jewish Funds for Justice in New York, which later merged with the Progressive Jewish Alliance in 2011. Cotler became Bend the Arc’s executive vice president in 2011 and its CEO in 2014, becoming one of the few women leading a national Jewish group of that size. She was named a Jewish woman to watch by The Forward in 2014 and listed as a progressive faith leader to watch by the Center for American Progress in 2015. In 2017 she became a Senior Fellow at Auburn Seminary, and in 2022 she transitioned to a Senior Advisor role at Bend the Arc. Cotler is openly queer and has a black belt in kung fu. She is frequently quoted on immigration and racial justice, and Geoffrey Claussen has noted her contributions to musar literature, especially writings on courage.