The Cleveland Jewish Publication Company, publisher of the Cleveland Jewish News, announced Dec. 21 that it has reached an agreement with the Jewish Community Board of Akron to publish a new Akron Jewish News, a monthly newspaper to serve the Akron Jewish community. The new Akron Jewish News will publish during the first week of February 2022, replacing the existing Akron Jewish News published by the JCBA.
This marks the second significant expansion in the CJPC’s 57-year history and brings a tradition of independent community journalism to a vibrant Jewish community in Northeast Ohio. The Akron Jewish News, and its predecessor newspaper, the Akron Jewish Observer, have been published by the JCC of Akron and JCBA for 93 years. JCBA will cease its publication of Akron Jewish News with its December-January combined issue. Financial and other terms were not disclosed, but the publication will remain free and delivered to Akron-area and surrounding households.
The CJPC will publish the Akron Jewish News each month, with daily news, information, advertising special sections, features and commentary provided to the new website, akronjewishnews.com, which will launch in early 2022.
Thom Mandel, chair of the Jewish Community Board of Akron board of trustees, said he is looking forward to the partnership.
“I think it will make the service in Akron better,” Mandel said. “Our paper as we had it had little resources to do anything more than a little bit of community news and lifestyle announcements, things like that. And coming together with the CJN gives us an opportunity to provide a better service to the Jewish community of Akron.”
Akron readers may already be familiar with some stories that appeared in the Cleveland Jewish News and were republished in the Akron Jewish News.
“Recently, there have been some Akron stories the CJN did that we didn’t have resources down here to cover them,” Mandel said. “And the CJN gave us permission to reprint them. So, there was already some Cleveland Jewish News content in our paper.”
Paul Singerman, chairman of the CJPC board, praised the vision to create a news organization linking two prominent Jewish communities.
“The CJPC is very excited to expand its reach into the Akron area and partner with the Jewish Community Board of Akron to bring the Jewish community of Akron local, state, national and international news and commentary of relevance to the Jewish community,” he said.
“While other news organizations have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CJPC, with the support of its community partners, has thrived and grown. This partnership with the JCBA is just the latest example of the vision of the leadership and staff of the CJPC.”
Kevin S. Adelstein, publisher and CEO of the Cleveland Jewish News and Columbus Jewish News and president of the CJPC, will be publisher of the Akron Jewish News. Adam Mandell, vice president of sales for CJPC, will oversee all revenue initiatives for the Akron Jewish News.
“First with the Akron Jewish Observer in 1928, published by the JCC, and continuing with the Akron Jewish News since 1946, the Jewish Community Board of Akron has been steadfast in their loyalty and commitment to serving the Akron Jewish community with an informative and relevant newspaper that tie the binds of that same community together,” Adelstein said.
“The CJPC is honored to have this unique opportunity to connect with the Akron Jewish community and we truly appreciate the faith and confidence Thom Mandel, David Koch and the rest of the JCBA leadership team has entrusted in the CJPC. We are proud of the role we play as an independent, community-owned media corporation serving myriad Jewish communities across the state of Ohio.”
Koch, the retired JCBA CEO and current part-time independent consultant to the JCBA, also lauded the partnership.
“It’s certainly long overdue,” Koch said. “I’m happy that it adds sort of a regional, national and international perspective to the paper with those kinds of articles of interest.
“I’m proud to have helped facilitate this agreement and it gives the Akron Jewish community the sense of being part of a much larger community, instead of just the Akron community, or in addition to the Akron community, it gives them a perspective of a Northeast Ohio Jewish community of over 80,000 people, and I think that should be just a wider perspective.”
For Editorial inquiries, email editorial@akronjn.org.
For Advertising inquiries, email ads@akronjn.org.
In August 2018, the CJPC launched the Columbus Jewish News and columbusjewishnews.com website, replacing the Ohio Jewish Chronicle (OJC) after an agreement was reached for that publication to cease. The OJC had been published for 96 years. The Columbus Jewish News is distributed free to Central Ohio Jewish households and free circulation has been supported by the CJPC, JewishColumbus and Schottenstein Stores Corp. since inception.
About the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company:
The Cleveland Jewish Publication Co. is the only independent source of Jewish news and commentary serving Northeast Ohio. It was formed in 1964.
The CJPC is organized for the purpose of performing a public service to the Jewish communities of Northeast Ohio and Central Ohio through the following platforms:
The CJPC also publishes numerous Jewish and secular magazines including Jstyle, Jstyle Weddings, Bar•Bat Mitzvah Magazine, SOURCE, Canvas, Celebrations and others.
The CJPC also publishes and collaborates on community magazines for the cities of Beachwood, Cleveland Heights, Lyndhurst, Stow-Munroe Falls, South Euclid and University Heights. The CJPC has an events division, which produces community and signature events such as CJN 18 Difference Makers in Cleveland and Columbus and CJN 12 Under 36 in Cleveland to highlight noteworthy individuals in the community. It also operates CJPC Custom Publications, which produces community and tribute books in the communities it serves and throughout the United States.
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