NewsBits: Friday Lite
A few odds and ends appearing in this week’s Jewish media:
from an editorial in The New Jersey Jewish News:
Last month the president of the American Jewish World Service, the Jewish “Peace Corps” that does humanitarian work throughout the Third World, threw a log onto a burning debate about Jewish priorities. Lumped under the general category of “peoplehood,” the stakes are these: Should Jewish philanthropy and service focus narrowly on the needs of the Jewish people, or be devoted to tikun olam – the pursuit of universal social justice?
from The Baltimore Jewish Times:
Agencies Scramble To Confront Economic Crisis
Local agency leaders are teaming up to confront embarrassment as they try to coax more people to use their services.
from The Washington Jewish Week:
Tweets – with substance Young Jews look to Twitter Web site to rediscover Jewish identity
“There’s never going to be a one-size-fits-all Jewish community,” Ford said. “To pretend that we can cater to all young adults from one menu is reductive and insulting. … Part of the reason why WDCJCC is on Twitter is because we want to be part of that conversation; we know we don’t reach everybody.”
and this, from The Chronicle of Philanthropy:
Ford Foundation Offers Buyouts to One-Third of Employees
The Ford Foundation is offering buyouts to one-third of its 550 employees to reduce expenses and avoid cutting its grant making.
The move is the latest in a series of efforts by the foundation, the second largest in America, to trim its costs following an almost 30-percent drop in assets last year. The percentage decline in its endowment, which currently is about $9.1-billion, is similar to the decline many other foundations have experienced.
“We did substantial savings and belt-tightening, but unfortunately the economic environment remains really volatile,” said Marta L. Tellado, the organization’s vice president of communications.