During last summer’s Jewish Community Summit, participants were invited to give voice to new initiatives they would like to see come to life.
Ideas presented ranged from business development to strengthening education and philanthropy to increasing promotion of Jewish arts and culture.
The process of sharing ideas generated enthusiasm and hope, as those in attendance experienced the passion and commitment of the people who shared.
Participants were divided into table groups according to their interest in each of the ideas. Groups brainstormed around goals, resources, and next steps that would need to be in place for the initiatives to come to life.
After the summit, just as the self-selected volunteer leaders of the initiatives began the work of moving them forward, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation found itself facing significant internal transitions.
The new J-Help campaign was launched, with a goal of raising funds for individuals and families in need of short-term assistance, and this placed new demands on staff to support it. The MJF’s executive vice president stepped down, and an interim executive director took the reins.
Other staffing changes included the hiring of Transition Coordinator Jen Vettrus, who has a background in mediation and organizational collaborative practices, to help support Reimagining efforts. Vettrus is currently connecting with and listening to the leaders of the initiatives.
In this process of information gathering, it has become clear that changes at the Federation and in the lives of the initiative leaders have combined to slow the momentum and development of these efforts.
“But regardless of the progress of individual efforts, it has emerged that the initiatives provide a valuable framework through which we can distill and discern the greatest values of the community, and this is a crucial first stage step in the re-imagining process,” said Transition Chair Marlene Lauwasser.
“The values that underlie these initiatives speak of what is most important now and in the future, making it essential that we continue to explore what they are telling us and keep them in the forefront of discussions and planning throughout the re-imagining process,” Lauwasser said.
Four clear themes link the Community Initiatives:
• Financial and other resource development. There is strong momentum toward enhancing the robustness, in particular, of endowment program development. The need to develop mechanisms for identifying resources (people, gifts, talents, others) and leveraging them for greater usage within the community was also a common theme. Developing additional resources is also seen as essential for supporting the remaining initiatives.
• Jewish continuity. The community places a high value on ensuring that Jewish identity, values, traditions, and culture are preserved, promoted, and passed to future generations. Jewish education is seen as a key component, along with other types of program development and resource gathering.
• Community building. Desire has been expressed to bring about an increase in gatherings of community members around common concerns and areas of interest and to mobilize these groups for action. Ways must be sought to improve cross-community interaction, communication, and networking.
• Business development. Several initiatives include elements such as business mentoring, incubation, networking and job recruitment and placement.
“Where are the initiatives headed in the future? Program development, while essential to building consensus across a wide breadth of diverse and committed stakeholders to support and insure sustainability, takes time and patience,” said Lauwasser.
“Some of the initiatives may be destined to carry out their vision and goals in the way they were originally planned at the Summit, while others will move ahead by partnering with already existing programs or agencies. And some may need to wait for a more ideal time to come to life in the future, when missing pieces of the puzzle can be put in place.
“Each of the initiatives is worthy of serious contemplation by our community leaders and members in the meantime, not just for their tangible ideas, but also for the compelling values they are based on,” she said.
In other Reimagining Project news, progress continues by the work groups launched at the October Transition Team meeting, and reports are expected in January.
Work groups include: MJF organizational structure, vision statement for transition, communications, and resource development.
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