Interages, in Wheaton, Md., will merge with the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington, in Rockville, Md., writes the Gazette, a Maryland newspaper. Both groups serve the elderly.

LifeCare Alliance, a Columbus, Ohio, Meals-on-Wheels provider, is merging with Impact Safety, a Columbus violence prevention and safety skills charity, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Officials said the merger is necessary because senior citizens’ needs are growing and neighborhood safety issues are increasing while state budgets are shrinking.

YorkCounts, a York, Pa., nonprofit that works to improve the quality of life in the city, has merged with the York County Community Foundation, says the York Daily Record. The two groups’ efforts had overlapped, said officials. Under the merger agreement, York Counts will become a special program operated by the community foundation.

West County Community Services, in Guerneville, Calif., and Family Service Agency in Santa Rosa, Calif., are merging, reports the North Bay Business Journal. Officials at both groups said the merger will enable the  organizations to expand services and operate more efficiently.

Aware Inc., an Anaconda, Mont., mental-health organization, has slashed 80 positions, largely because of regulatory changes within the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and increasingly restrictive state budgeting, writes the Montana Standard. The cuts represent 7 percent of the charity’s 1,200 employees.

Officials at two Michigan United Ways, the Greater Kalamazoo United Way, and the United Way of Greater Battle Creek, have begun discussing a possible merger, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette. The two nonprofits’ work often overlaps. They  provide support to the same charities and are both faced with the same challenges as needs increase.

The board of the 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra has voted to file for Chapter 11 as a way to reorganize the well-regarded orchestra, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. The organization also approved bankruptcy for its Academy of Music, to protect the academy’s endowment and other assets, and it’s Encore Series, which operates the Philly Pops. Despite the bankruptcy proceedings, the orchestra’s concerts and business operations will continue, and the organization is embarking on a $160-million fund raising campaign.

Citing financial reasons, the board of the Intiman Theatre, a Seattle theater group, has announced it is canceling the rest of its season and laying off all of its employees, reports The Seattle Times. Board members say they hope to reopen the theater in 2012.

Two family services groups, ChristieCare, in Marylhurst, Ore., and Youth Villages, in Memphis, have agreed to a merge, according to Native American Times. The merger will enable the groups to expand programs and establish an in-home services program to help children and families.

The 940 Dance Company, a contemporary-dance troupe in Lawrence, Kans., has announced it will disband, writes The Topeka Capital-Journal. Company officials say the group does not have the money to continue.