Community Relations Council
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) seeks to promote mutual understanding among all groups in the greater community and to advance democratic pluralism, harmonious relationships, and respect for human dignity and individual rights across religious, racial, and ethnic lines.
Jewish Holiday Calendar and 4-J Schools
The JCRC has worked with local school districts to discuss the challenge of scheduling school events during Jewish holidays. The JCRC developed and shared the calendar with 4-J.
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The Jewish religion celebrates a number of special days of observance. Because these dates occur according to the Jewish calendar, we provide our local school districts with this calendar to help limit scheduling of important school activities on days when many Jewish kids will be absent. Use it as a reference or send it to your school!
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2025 Legislative Agenda
The JCRC focuses on government relations, Israel advocacy, inter-group relations, and social justice. In 2025, we advocated for the following priorities for legislation in the Oregon legislature.
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Jewish Community Relations Council
of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland
and the Jewish Federation of Lane County
2025 Legislative Agenda
Security Funding for Nonprofit Jewish Organizations
The JCRC is a member of the Oregon Coalition for Nonprofit Safety (OCNS), dedicated to establishing a state-funded nonprofit security grant program. A June 2024 report by the Oregon Attorney General’s Civil Rights Office revealed that calls to the Oregon DOJ Hotline regarding bias incidents against faith communities saw the largest increase (up 128% from 2022 to 2023), the majority of which targeted the Jewish community. Extreme political discourse and hate speech are increasingly prevalent on social media.
OCNS is supporting Senate Bill 939, which would allocate $5 million to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management to fund the program and begin providing security grants to Oregon nonprofits in 2025, with a maximum grant award of $100,000.
Protection of Social Safety Net Programs
The JCRC supports the safeguarding of funds for Oregon’s most vulnerable populations. This includes advocating for the protection of Medicaid, programs for people with disabilities, and resources for behavioral and substance abuse services. Approximately one in three Oregonians and one in two children rely on Medicaid.
The JCRC submitted testimony in support of House Bill 2010. This bill would continue the core funding mechanism for the state’s share of this state/federal partnership. Leveraging these programs brings significant investment to communities and providers across the state and provides access to health care coverage for vulnerable Oregonians.
Housing
On January 10th, 2023, Governor Kotek issued Executive Order 23-02, which declared a state of emergency due to homelessness. This was extended with Executive Order 24-01 on January 9th, 2024, which cited continued increases in homelessness (over 11,000 in Multnomah County alone) and laid out a timeline of funding and actions taken. The JCRC supports continued efforts to reduce homelessness and improve housing affordability and will work towards those goals in 2025.
Climate Change Action
The JCRC continues to believe that climate change is an urgent global security threat and one of the greatest moral issues of our time. We are, therefore, supporting a transportation package that prioritizes climate, equity, and wildlife. This package would build on the historic gains of past legislation (investments in public transit and vehicle electrification), shifting the focus to multimodal, safety, and climate-forward investments. This will create a system that saves money over time and builds a more resilient, equitable, and healthy future for all Oregonians.
Additionally, the JCRC supports legislation on energy affordability and utility accountability. The JCRC plans to submit testimony on two important pieces of legislation: House Bill 2081 would create an active navigator to help Oregonians access energy efficiency incentives all in one place while Senate Bill 88 would limit the ability of utility companies from charging ratepayers for lobbying, litigation costs, marketing, or industry fees.
Wage theft legislation
The JCRC believes that every worker has the right to live and work with dignity, safety and hope. Recent reports state that over 20% of construction workers experience labor trafficking—a figure likely underreported due to the industry’s reliance on immigrant workers, who are often reluctant to report illegal practices out of fear of deportation.
Senate Bill 426 would strengthen protections for construction workers in Oregon by making an owner and a direct contractor jointly and severally liable in a civil action for any unpaid wages owed to the unrepresented employees of the direct contractor and subcontractors at any tier.
Other Areas of Interest
Preventing gun violence – The JCRC advocates for common sense gun violence prevention legislation, including but not limited to universal background checks and red flag laws.
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If you like assessing current issues and developing strategies to further the interest of your community, JCRC invites you to get involved.
If you are interested in learning more about JCRC, contact the Jewish Federation​