by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

July 9, 2009

Like three characters in search of new identities, the community relations arms of three New Jersey Jewish federations are coping with growing pains and tight budgets as they merge into one organization.

The merger of the three entities — the Community Relations Committee of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey — was announced in May.

But the details of the merger were not in place, and stakeholders in all three federation communities are still weighing the implications of a combined approach to Jewish advocacy in a state famous, even notorious, for localized governance.

Will local voices still be heard? Will longtime programs be continued? Will interfaith efforts still be a priority?

Planners hope to work out many of these details and issues at a three-community retreat scheduled for Aug. 18.

“I expect we will emerge with a working plan, a blueprint for how we establish priorities,” said David Lentz, the newly installed chair of the MetroWest CRC, who is helping plan the retreat.

Seated in his West Orange law office, where mergers and acquisitions are among his specialties, Lentz says he sees a challenge in bringing together three organizations “which have invested in different projects and different areas that make them quite distinct.”

“I would want the next meeting to be with representatives from the three communities to establish a process for the issues we are going to focus on and those we winnow out and how we allocate the staff,” he added.

Many agree, in theory, that consolidation is good idea.

“Bringing the three together will be very beneficial in the long run,” said Joy Kurland, who has been the director of the Northern NJ federation’s JCRC, serving Bergen County, for the past 19 years. She expects to be named regional director of the merged organization, although her new official title is a tentative one.

“It lends itself to a wealth of sharing knowledge and best practices and the ability to engage a larger group of people in advocacy work for the Jewish community,” she said.

But she knows there are those in the advocacy field who need convincing.

“We have a lot to learn from each other and it will take time to learn each other’s cultures,” she told NJ Jewish News in a telephone interview from her office in Paramus.

Both the MetroWest and Central federations, like many nonprofits facing shortfalls in a bad economy, eliminated their community relations director positions in recent months.

Stanley Stone, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, has been handling his federation’s community relations efforts since its department was eliminated in a budget cut in February.

“From a philosophical and ideological standpoint this makes sense,” Stone said of the merger. “The three communities all mirror each other with respect to priorities, specifically as they relate to major areas,” which he defined as Israel, Iran, and domestic issues.

“We understand the importance of intergroup relations and lobbying for domestic needs,” Stone said in a telephone interview from his Scotch Plains office. “Since many of us have overlapping congressional districts, there is a certain synergy that can be productive here.”

Community strengths

Lentz described the communities’ distinct efforts.

“The Bergen community has been much more focused on mass turnout activities, where tens and hundreds of people get involved in things like mitzva projects,” he said. “In MetroWest we have spent enormous amounts of time and resources to get out in front of the threat that Iran poses, which the other communities have not taken a lead role in.

“Central has had a smaller but just as energetic a focus on community relations, but mostly on the traditional things such as dealing with state and local officials on issues of concern,” he added. “It will be much easier to fold what they are doing into what we are doing, because there is so much overlap with what we are doing.”

“We all want to retain our identities but still have the advantage of speaking with one voice,” said Stone.

Among them is an interfaith coalition in Bergen County. The Northern NJ CRC also runs programs not directly related to advocacy. The JCRC’s Tikkun Olam Committee sponsors Mitzva Day, when 1,500 volunteers lend their efforts each November to social welfare agencies in and outside the Jewish community, and a literacy initiative in which more than 100 people serve as “reading buddies” for 225 elementary school students in Bergen County.

Lentz said some projects may have to be cut or remain locally run.

“We are going to have to be honest with our constituents and our donor base, to put all our efforts on the table and see what we have time and energy and resources for,” he said. “Those not part of our core mission may have to be triaged or diminished.”

Max Kleinman, executive vice president of UJC MetroWest NJ, was frank about budget priorities.

“We may have to set priorities on what we are not going to be doing,” he said. “There are things we probably can’t do because we are not going to have the resources. The details have not been ironed out yet.”

While eliminating the CRC director’s position in MetroWest, most recently held by Lori Price Abrams, the federation has retained CRC associate Melanie Roth Gorelick, who is working on the transition.

Roger Jacobs, a West Orange attorney who chaired the MetroWest CRC from 2000 to 2003, told NJJN he “has concerns about the new model. I think we have to be vigilant to protect the historic role of the CRC MetroWest. We are staffing and funding it at a lower level and the needs continue to be great in terms of community involvement. We need to continue to attract people of conscience who see the CRC as their entry point into communal life.”

Still active in the federation, Jacobs knows the federation has aimed since Jan. 1 to reduce its operating budget over a period of 18 months by more than $1.15 million.

“We should take a broader look at the federation budget, which is still robust even though it is diminished,” he said. “My suspicion is this is a question of priorities, not of dollars.”

Questions of focus

Some Jewish activists who have worked closely with CRCs are concerned that, with an emphasis on serving specific Jewish needs first, interfaith outreach programs may be on the chopping block.

“If Jewish organizations feel they have to retrench and take care of their own first, as it were, I can understand that,” said Allyson Gall, a MetroWest CRC member and executive director of the American Jewish Committee’s Metro New Jersey Area. “But boy, oh boy. As soon as they realize they have a little bit of money they should continue to reach out to the outside community, because when times are tough we all need to stick together in the same boat.”

“You do intergroup activities because they are the right issues to be on the side of,” said Elihu Davison, a Morristown resident and member of the MetroWest CRC board from 1992 to 2006.

“You are building relationships with other community groups. So when we have issues of importance to us, we have other groups we can call — whether it’s anti-Semitism or something related to Israel or school busing or church-state separation. You can’t have friends unless you want to be a friend,” he argued.

Lentz is quick to note that any long-range plans that emerge from the first meeting in August may be eclipsed by world events.

“Things seem to be spiraling quickly in Iran, and how we respond as a Jewish community is going to be very important. It may turn out that all we can focus on starting in September is Iran,” he said.

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