About

As the public affairs and social action arm of our Jewish community, the Jewish Community Relations Council for Tucson & Southern Arizona is tasked with educating, advocating, and activating our constituents on a wide variety of social, political, and humanitarian issues. Grounded in the philosophy that Jews, along with other marginalized communities, can only flourish in a healthy democracy and a thriving civil society, the JCRC works in common cause with different faith, cultural, and ethnic groups to protect civil liberties, encourage honest and meaningful conversations, and confront and combat antisemitism and hate in all their forms. We serve as a convener, bringing together disparate organizations and amplifying diverse viewpoints around issues of concern.

 The JCRC has a long history of education and advocacy in Southern Arizona. In the 1950s, the Council worked to combat the exclusion of Jews from local country clubs and subdivisions. Under the decades-long leadership of Margie Fenton, z”l, the JCRC was instrumental in advancing initiatives such as securing recognition for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Arizona, developing Tucson’s Holocaust Commission and inaugurating our annual Yom HaShoah commemoration, creating the Project Isaiah food drive, spearheading interfaith missions to Israel, and several other community projects that still work to address inequities and build understanding.

JCRC work is firmly rooted in Jewish values, primarily among them: tikkun olam (repairing the world), tzedek (justice), and b’tzelem Elohim (the belief that all people are created in the image of the divine and imbued with inherent value, equality, and uniqueness). These values provide a meaningful lens through which to tackle some of our most challenging social issues, examine our responsibility as Jews to address their root causes, and participate in crafting solutions.

JCRC programming and social action initiatives create entry points for engagement in Jewish communal life.

Participants gain unique perspectives on topics of national and global concern and, at the same time, learn of organizations and programs

in their own community whose work they might support.

Public policy issues can be approached from the vantage point of Jewish values and traditions; social action and humanitarian relief projects will offer entry points to Jewish communal engagement, and the benefits of this civic participation ripple into the greater community and help build a healthier and more robust social fabric for all.