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OVERSEAS JITTERS

from page 26

to submit a resolution to ONAD urg-
ing it to provide the same base alloca-
tion for the next two years — $58.6
million plus $4.7 million of hunger
relief funding — as it received in 1999.
JDC board members drafted the
resolution after learning that "federa-
tion members on the committee are
considering a freeze" at the 1998 level
of basic funding of $57.3 million for
JDC and "discontinuing the hunger
relief allocation:" which that year
totaled $7.2 million, according to a
JDC board report obtained by JTA.
The hunger relief allocation was
created a few years ago to feed elderly
Jews in the former Soviet Union. But
many in the federation system have
been pressing for the agency to inte-
grate the hunger relief into its regular
budget, possibly cutting other pro-
grams to free up the money.

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JDC's executive vice president, Michael
Schneider, was hesitant about dis-
cussing his concerns with JTA, saying
the matter was "still in committee" and
"we're not mounting the ramparts yet."
Alan Jaffe of New York, the chairman.
of the ONAD committee, described
the JDC's concerns as "premature."
"There have been a lot of things
discussed," he said. "We're trying to
deal with federations' desire for change
while at the same time trying not to
destabilize major service providers."
One of the key architects of the
ONAD process, committee member
Robert Aronson of Detroit, compared
the JDC's anxiety to that of local
agencies who "if they think their bud-
get's being cut, they'll fight to retain
it." However Aronson, chief executive
officer of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit, said that instead
of leading to budget cuts for the JDC,
ONAD — by giving communities
more say over and thus a greater feel-
ing of connection to international pro-
jects — is "an opportunity to stop the
bleeding in the allocations."
The Jewish Agency, at least pub-
lidy, is expressing confidence that the
support it's "received in the past from
the Jews of the world will continue,"
said Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman
for the agency.
But the agency has been engaged in
a direct public relations effort to indi-
vidual federations to publicize its
activities. It has launched a weekly e-
mail report to promote the agency's
work and is going on the road from
federation to federation to boost sup-
port for its role. 111