The Orthodox Union announced today its appointment of Arielle Frankston-Morris and Eric Kaplan to newly created positions, joining the rapidly expanding staff of the OU’s New Jersey Political Affairs Office, which focuses on finding political and governmental solutions for the Jewish Education Affordability challenge.
Ms. Frankston-Morris will assume the newly created position of Marketing Specialist-Community Outreach. Her responsibilities will focus on developing educational and marketing strategies to coordinate the OU’s lay-led Community Advocacy Network (OU CAN), which directly involves community members in political engagement.
In August, Mr. Kaplan will become the Coordinator of Voter Outreach. In that role, he will be organizing the OU’s“Get Out The Vote” campaign in communities throughout the state. The goal of this campaign will be to significantly increase voter turnout in Jewish communities for all elections taking place in New Jersey.
Orthodox Union President Dr. Simcha Katz explained, “Political advocacy is the primary method of ensuring that our community’s voice is heard in government. Therefore, it is essential that we strategize and coordinate our leadership network to be used in the most efficient manner.”
Rabbi Steven Burg, Managing Director of the Orthodox Union, stated, “We are pleased to have Ms. Frankston-Morris and Mr. Kaplan join our team. The priorities with which they are tasked will add to the robust activities of our New Jersey office, strengthening our overall activities, outcomes, and expanding our reach.”
Josh Pruzansky, OU New Jersey State Director of Political Affairs and Public Policy, declared, “Both Arielle and Eric’s expertise in these areas, and passion for contributing to the solution of this vital issue affecting our community, will add a new dimension to our activities in advocacy and communal mobilization. We are confident they will be an excellent addition to the New Jersey team.”
The addition of these two new staff members wouldn’t be possible without the partnership of the Community Federation of New Jersey under the leadership of Sammy Saka and Morris Mizrahi. They and their team have enthusiastically supported this new project and have tasked CFNJ Board Member Michael Arking as their liaison with the OU in this initiative.
Mr. Arking stated, “It’s been extremely exciting to be working so closely with the professionals at the OU on this most important project. The addition of these two new staff members will allow us to continue to build the momentum of our “Get Out the Vote” campaign in New Jersey.” TLS.