National Conference for Community and Justice
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The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, is a national non-profit organization in the United States. Its objectives include promoting harmony between different groups, especially those separated by cultural features such as race and religion.
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[edit] Membership
NCCJ's nature as an interfaith organization seems to make it appealing to members of the Bahá'í Faith, who are heavily represented in its membership, compared to their relatively low numbers in the general population.[citation needed]
[edit] Corporate partners
NCCJ has effective networking skills which enable it to secure some partnerships with large corporations to help further its initiatives. Currently, those partners include Aetna, ING, the MetLife Foundation, Federal Express, and Darden Restaurants.
[edit] Events
Walk as One, a community walk-a-thon held in the fall, is currently NCCJ's biggest public event. Each walk-a-thon is held in a major urban area, and serves to advertise NCCJ's efforts to the community. Following the walk-a-thon itself is a one to two hour open air gathering which involves area vendors and non-profits.
NCCJ once sponsored a week-long National Brotherhood Week, held generally during the third week of February from the 1940s through the 1980s. The assassination of Malcolm X on the first day of National Brotherhood Week in 1965 inspired the Tom Lehrer song "National Brotherhood Week," satirizing race relations in the United States.
NCCJ is also responsible for the program called Anytown put on by their local branches around the nation. Anytown is a camp where teenagers learn about racism, sexism, bias, violence, bullying, discrimination, etc. Arizona has the largest branch, putting on 5 camps during the summer of 2005. Comedian Woody Allen said in one of his early stand-up acts that as a youngster he had attended an Inter-Faith Camp, in which he was "savagely beaten by children of all races and creeds."
[edit] Presidents
- Lewis Webster Jones from 1958 to 1965
[edit] References
- New York Times; December 11, 1927; Aims to harmonize national groups.
- Washington Post; July 19, 1964; Lewis Webster Jones, president of the National Conference of Christians and Jews since 1958, will retire from the post next June. He will be succeeded by a six-man committee.
