JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Merger of advocacy groups in New Jersey gets a third partner

By Jacob Berkman · May 13, 2009

A merger of all of the community relations councils in New Jersey seems to be gaining momentum, as a third council has joined a week-old organization that had combined two of the state’s largest advocacy councils, according to the New Jersey Jewish News.

The Community Relations Council of Central New Jersey announced that it would join with the already merged councils of Metrowest New Jersey and Northern New Jersey this week in an effort to eradicate overlap and cut costs among the organizations that advocate for Israel, Jewish issues and interfaith affairs among lawmakers, civic leaders and faith-based groups.

There had been approximately a dozen federation-financed CRCs in New Jersey before last week, when the Metrowest and Northern New Jersey advocacy groups joined forces and announced that they would reach out to the 10 other federations in the state to see if they would join the new entity.