 AUGUST 6 • 2020 | 19

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ashtenaw County now has its 
own full-fledged local Jewish 
Community Relations Council, 
courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater 
Ann Arbor.
When the Federation welcomed their 
new executive director Eileen Freed in 2017, 
they began to explore a JCRC to facilitate 
relations internally and externally with the 
community. The beginning phases start-
ed by convening a small working group 
of around 10 people to lay out a mission 
and a vision. The group also took notes 
from other JCRCs around the country that 
resembled the Washtenaw/Ann Arbor com-
munity. 
Now, what used to be a “work group” has 
developed into a full-fledged local JCRC, 
with guiding principles and a biweekly 
newsletter.
After studying other JCRCs, Federation 
realized that they needed to be engaging 
with members of their community on what 
they believe their JCRC should look like. So 
this past year, they began the “Conversations 
with Seven” series: community-building 
events with individuals in Washtenaw 
County. Some participants were affiliated 
with Federation, and some were not.
“We had conversations with seven people 
who may not know each other and asked 
them questions on what it means to be a 
Jew today in Washtenaw County,
” Jessica 
“Decky” Alexander, chair of the JCRC, told 
the JN. “We also asked them a lot of ques-

tions on identity, culture and belonging. 
As a result of that, we were able to lay out 
guiding principles and a framework that 
has allowed the JCRC to realize our poten-
tial.
”
The JCRC’
s main focus is on “fostering 
and building relations both within the 
Jewish community and beyond with other 
cultural, civic and ethnic groups and orga-
nizations, such as the NAACP
, United Way, 
other religious organizations and more.
”
Recently, the council held a virtual 
candidate forum for Washtenaw County 
Prosecutor with Temple Beth Emeth’
s Social 
Action Committee and Bend the Arc-Ann 
Arbor. Over 190 community members 
joined the Zoom conversation with the can-
didates. The JCRC is also working with Rep. 
Debbie Dingell’
s office on convening a series 
of roundtables for local faith leaders.
“Our JCRC is focused on issues affecting 
the local community, such as educational 
funding, race relations, policing and bias 
and racial/ethnic profiling,
” Alexander said. 
“We aim to remain flexible though, so we 
can respond to pressing or relevant topics as 
they may arise. Currently, we are focused on 
the upcoming election and are working with 
other organizations around voter registra-
tion and engagement.
”
Alexander was brought in by Federation 
to serve as the JCRC’
s chair. Previously, 
she worked in partnership with Federation 
on local and social issues in Washtenaw 
County, involving educational equity and 
conversations around policing and bias. In 
addition to now leading the JCRC, she is 
also a tenured professor at Eastern Michigan 
University and sits on the faculty advisory 

board in the school’
s Center for Jewish 
Studies.
“For someone who lived in this area for a 
long time but wasn’
t necessarily part of any 
kind of more formal or intentional Jewish 
entity, I recognized that there was a space 
and a need to do more broad internal rela-
tions among our Jewish community, as well 
as external relations,
” Alexander said.
Washtenaw’
s JCRC is not formally affili-
ated with the Metro Detroit JCRC/AJC, but 
the two organizations have a working rela-
tionship. Most recently, they participated on 
a call together with the NAACP to discuss a 
voter initiative.
“Our community is much smaller than 
Oakland County. Many Jewish individuals 
who arrive and root (even temporarily) in 
Washtenaw County are from other places 
and bring their own understanding, experi-
ences and backgrounds of what it means to 
be Jewish,
” Alexander said. “
As a result, we 
are exposed to a diversity of ideas and expe-
riences, which we hope to harness and vali-
date in and through JCRC programming.
”
Moving forward, Alexander said the 
JCRC hopes to be a “collaborator, a conve-
ner and a connector” for the Washtenaw 
community, as well as “be more intentional 
about making our Jewish voices heard on 
local issues.
” She wants to ensure that the 
Jewish voices in the community are heard, 
so she began the biweekly newsletter to 
ignite the JCRC’
s guiding principles and 
bridge the community to both local and 
national issues. 

For information, visit jewishannarbor.org/engage-
ment/jewish-community-relations-committee.

Jews in the D

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

Group will look to amplify 
Jewish voices throughout 
the county.

Washtenaw 
County 
Launches 
JCRC

CONVERSATIONS WITH 7 GRAPHIC RECORDING BY YEN AZZARO

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Graphic recordings from the JCRC's event, Conversations with 7.

