Julie Lewin
For many years, Julie E. Lewin was Connecticut coordinator and lobbyist for The Fund for Animals, a national charitable organization. In 2001, with The Fund's blessing, she left to form Animal Advocacy Connecticut (AACT), a tax-exempt nonprofit political lobbying organization. "I'd learned that to achieve for animals what could be within reach, it was foolish not to organize politically, which charities cannot do legally," she says.
For years, her daily routine involved changing her clothes after a day of lobbying in the state capitol, then driving a few blocks to rescue animals in Hartford, among the poorest cities in the U.S. She trapped feral cats behind abandoned buildings populated by drug addicts, and relocated TNR colonies. In 2002, she formed NIFAA to fill a critical void among animal rescue and rights organizations. She says, "The movement is at a critical juncture, and rescue advocates are questioning how their time is budgeted. NIFAA opens the door."
Prior to her involvement in animal causes, Julie was a nationally published freelance writer and a newspaper reporter, and worked in several state governments doing legislative research and other work.
