It has been just over one year since the Milwaukee Jewish Federation began to publicize the results of the “Jewish Community Study of Greater Milwaukee 2011.”
The research was conducted during 2011, released in 2012, and in 2013 we continue to utilize this rich repository of data.
When I was working on my dissertation many years ago, one committee member said that the first question she always asked while reading a student’s effort was, “So what?”
In other words, why does this matter? What can we do with this information? How does this change anything?
Taking the “So what?” meme in a slightly different way, I would like to ask three similar questions. First, what steps did we take to publicize our study?
Second, what did we learn from the initial findings about our community and how we compare to other American Jewish communities?
Finally, and critically, what are we doing now with this information?
The broad study findings were publicized locally through the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicleand other local media. The full, final report can be accessed on the MJF website by following this link: http://www.milwaukeejewish.org/page.aspx?id=236563.
Significant findings, such as the population number and its geographical distribution, were written about in separate, follow-up articles in the Chronicle.
The agencies affected by the study requested meetings about the findings, or were contacted to see if they had questions.Committees of the MJF were also advised concerning pertinent information about the study.
We announced our findings and provided links to the study to nearly 300 Jewish federations and Jewish and secular research institutions throughout the country. Several communities contemplating their own community studies have subsequently called with questions about our methodology.
We also posted the report on the website www.jewishdatabank.org where you can read not only our study, but nationwide studies and fascinating articles about Jewish demography.
The Milwaukee metropolitan area Jewish population of 30,000 ranks around 39th in population in the U.S. It’s somewhat smaller than Hartford, Conn., and Orange County, N.Y., and a bit larger than San Gabriel County, Calif., and Cincinnati, Ohio.
We are comparable to many Jewish communities in some ways, particularly in the Midwest. We tend to be married or partnered; we are college educated; and within a few percentages, our affiliation to the different movements (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist, “Just Jewish”) are similar.
In other ways, we are more traditional. We have high affiliation rates, with accompanying ritual practices, we have a low rate of intermarriage, we are proud to be Jewish, and we care about Israel. The numbers who have actually travelled to Israel are extremely high.
Also, our population is older, and the percentage of children (those under the age of 18) is low relative to both the general population in Milwaukee and to comparable Jewish communities. Our population of childbearing adults is also on the low side.
The study has been enthusiastically embraced by the three newest members of the MJF leadership team: President and Chief Executive Officer Hannah Rosenthal, Outreach Director Rabbi Hannah Greenstein, and Marketing Director Stephanie Wagner.
From each of these professionals, I have received numerous questions for which they need answers as they fulfill their missions to our community. My work now consists of “digging deeper.”
In addition, Chief Operations Officer Sheryl Primakow and the Planning Department of the MJF will embark on at least two new projects utilizing the data:
First, knowing that our community’s average age is 52, how will we optimally serve the seniors in our community?
Second, how can we address the small numbers young adults? Can we induce these young professionals to either return, if their roots are here, or to settle here, if they are from other communities?
To help the MJF professionals, we are looking not only at the numbers in the final report, but also at the unpublished answers to the open-ended questions such as: Why don’t you feel connected? Why aren’t you a member of a synagogue? Why do you (or don’t you) send your child to a Jewish school?
We will run more cross tabulations based on geographical location, gender, and age to generate new data.
In sum, who are we as a community? The community study provides answers, but also continues to elicit questions.
If you or your organization would like more information about the Jewish Community Study of Metropolitan Milwaukee 2011, contact Jane A. Avner at 414-390-5709 or JaneA@milwaukeejewish.org
Jane A. Avner, Ph.D., is the community study consultant for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
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