Most people think of Detroit as the first failed major American city, but if anywhere has a chance of totally reinventing what an urban community looks like, it is this very same place.
This past Sunday and Monday, the Jewish Federations of North America convened a conference entitled "Rebuilding Jewish Communities by Attracting and Retaining Young adults.
St. Louis was an obvious candidate to participate in this conversation. The population of the city itself had been in decline for a long time, with businesses packing up shop, airlines dropping routes, and natives young adults often not returning after college.
The conference sought to present case studies of the efforts being made in several cities across North America including Montreal, Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh and STL. In addition to leaders in the young adult movements of these cities were representatives from the Schusterman Family mega-Foundation, PresenTense, Moishe House, and Jewish Federations of North America (with yours truly representing Moishe House, Next Dor STL, and JFED STL's Concierge model).
Every city is a bit different, but what united those in attendance is that they are, by and large, losing young adults to more major markets. Overwhelmingly, this population flight has been from smaller communities to larger ones, from the Midwest outward to the coasts. Richard Florida even wrote a book or two about this.
The conference showed that people are indeed troubled by this trend, and that these boom towns of the 18-1900's want to have ensure they have futures well into the 2000's.
While the conference started out with some excellent information about young adults as a demographic and the overall urban renewal strategies needed to revitalize neighborhoods and cities, the majority of the conversations focused on Jewish young adult engagement.
Some of the recurring themes included creating social venture capital, investing in Jewish young adult ideas and supporting the resulting ventures, shifting the culture from focusing on young adult philanthropic giving immediate towards building identity and community first, and then letting the value of both naturally lead into support. Many of the presenters spoke about helping connect people to the city, beyond merely the Jewish community, so that people feel a part of the city life and can see the location as a long term destination.
Speakers pointed to the fact that we live in an era of 'Jewish by choice' as well as increasingly fragmented identity, which is more fluid than previous generations. This led to the point that Judaism and Jewish community is no longer motivated by paranoia and fear, but must rather be championed by values, joy, and service.
One of the interesting points that came up in the course of the discussion is that young adults, Jewish or otherwise want to be where there is a perception of opportunity; opportunity for creating a social life, a professional life, and a romantic life. If young adults abandon smaller cities and don't return, the cities will fail under the weight of a decreased tax base and lowered density. If the cities fail, the Jewish communities will fail. It is therefore essential that any community development/engagement strategy understand that it fits into the broader goal of urban revitalization.
If you are from St. Louis and find yourself elsewhere, why did you leave? What would bring you back? And if are already here, what do you need to keep you here and excited to be here?
Read More......
Showing posts with label Jewish Federation St. Louis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewish Federation St. Louis. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Visionaries, Opulence, and Cold Hard Cash
One of the classic tactics in fundraising (and many other types of businesses) is to throw a big event. You make it the place to be, create an experience, and then watch the money flow in.
The ritzy event took place at.. well the Ritz, and was quite a production. In addition to the open bars, and who's who (including the Mayor of St. Louis, the County Executive, the Senator, and the Governor), the $250 per seat dinner included entertainment from Michael Feinstein, famous singer, pianist, and music revivalist. Feinstein, at 54, was ever the entertainer, laying on the Jewish pretty thick for the audience. His smile, sealed against his teeth by what appeared to be a fresh session of Botox, was both endearing and frightening.
As one of the 30 under 30 there (not as in the award, but as in there probably were seriously only 30 people there under the age of 30), I have to say it was a totally different world.
But behind the glitz and glamor, the opulence and spectacle was a clear purpose. The Federation was looking to do what it does best: raise money. The event hoped to bring in $300,000, as well as to encourage people to set up gifts to Federation as part of their estate, as something they are calling 'Legacy' gifts.
In the current economy, not only has Federation's fundraising take been down, the needs have skyrocketed.
And so, the Visionaries event was put together and, as productions go, it was nearly flawless. Sure, the community wanted to honor some of the largest philanthropists, but in doing so, the Federation is sending some clear messages that it expects other well resourced-families to step up and pull their weight. As a former student of psychology, I can appreciate the modeling effect. Not only do you encourage a behavior by rewarding it, you can also use this reward to socialize others as to what is expected behavior.
In the current economy, not only has Federation's fundraising take been down, the needs have skyrocketed.
And so, the Visionaries event was put together and, as productions go, it was nearly flawless. Sure, the community wanted to honor some of the largest philanthropists, but in doing so, the Federation is sending some clear messages that it expects other well resourced-families to step up and pull their weight. As a former student of psychology, I can appreciate the modeling effect. Not only do you encourage a behavior by rewarding it, you can also use this reward to socialize others as to what is expected behavior.
Whether or not the Federation pulls in quite as much as they initially planned for, the event will likely be seen as a huge success in the community and put the Federation back at top of mind for many of those present.
Read More......
Friday, September 25, 2009
Barry Rosenberg Gets It
Barry Rosenberg, the Executive Vice President of Jewish Federation of St. Louis, has a lot on his plate. As the United Way of the Jewish community (which actually predates the UW), Federation has an immense number of organizations to which it allocates funds. particularly now, in a time of economic hardship, Rosenberg's job is not an easy one. That's why it was particularly refreshing to see his his piece in the Toward Thriving blog.
In the piece, published Tuesday, Rosenberg asks the following questions:
The questions themselves aren't new, but in his answers, we find evidence of a frame of thought that we find ourselves nodding along to.
Take for example, the following:
We need to walk the fine line between a focus on the needs of our community and full participation in community and civic life outside of the Jewish community. If St. Louis, as a city, is not a place where people want to be, then god luck attracting and retaining future generations of Jewish community. As Rosenberg notes, "Our region, experiencing sluggish growth and economic vitality, offers limited attraction to young, single Jews – native or those who arrive for University."
Rosenberg goes even further this with point saying we need:
As much as I support the vision of regionalism, I still believe that there is a need to see a certain population density to start to see things like walkable/bikeable corridors, viable entertainment and cultural areas, and innovative programs.
In the example of Next Dor, while the location in the Central West End is a pretty great one, will people from Chesterfield make the drive? Will there be a time in which the Jewish community is not based around deep suburbs and instead puts its collective resources toward a more efficient and dense city neighborhood?
Thus, as one of the four areas that require priority attention, Rosenberg names, "Creating a vibrant local Jewish community that will retain and attract young Jewish population to St. Louis."
To address this, Rosenberg suggests:
It is interesting to note that Next Dor has already started moving forward (as have groups like YPD and JGrads) on many of these ideas.
In all, Barry Rosenberg's remarks indicate a cognizance of many of our gripes, and some strong statements in support of the type of cultural shift necessary to ensure a thriving Jewish community.
See the full piece here.
Read More......
In the piece, published Tuesday, Rosenberg asks the following questions:
What is our destination? What is our vision for the future of St. Louis and American Jewish life? What type of Jewish community will our children and grandchildren inherit?
The questions themselves aren't new, but in his answers, we find evidence of a frame of thought that we find ourselves nodding along to.
Take for example, the following:
A St. Louis region that offers high quality education, economic and recreational opportunities, and poses no barriers to our full participation in society. We cannot thrive unless St. Louis thrives. (emphasis mine)
We need to walk the fine line between a focus on the needs of our community and full participation in community and civic life outside of the Jewish community. If St. Louis, as a city, is not a place where people want to be, then god luck attracting and retaining future generations of Jewish community. As Rosenberg notes, "Our region, experiencing sluggish growth and economic vitality, offers limited attraction to young, single Jews – native or those who arrive for University."
Rosenberg goes even further this with point saying we need:
A critical population mass, sufficient to support a broad array of core institutions and services that meet Jewish needs, enrich Jewish life and offer extensive social opportunities.
As much as I support the vision of regionalism, I still believe that there is a need to see a certain population density to start to see things like walkable/bikeable corridors, viable entertainment and cultural areas, and innovative programs.
In the example of Next Dor, while the location in the Central West End is a pretty great one, will people from Chesterfield make the drive? Will there be a time in which the Jewish community is not based around deep suburbs and instead puts its collective resources toward a more efficient and dense city neighborhood?
Thus, as one of the four areas that require priority attention, Rosenberg names, "Creating a vibrant local Jewish community that will retain and attract young Jewish population to St. Louis."
To address this, Rosenberg suggests:
New strategies, institutions and programs are required to develop a more vibrant and inviting community for young people. Professional internships and mentorships, early career support and professional networking, enhanced social and recreational opportunities, reduced membership fees, expanded social action and cultural programs, increased opportunities to take leadership roles and specialized concierge services should be employed to make St. Louis a preferred community for young Jews. The community must support new styles of informal, grass-roots engagement that many young people prefer.
It is interesting to note that Next Dor has already started moving forward (as have groups like YPD and JGrads) on many of these ideas.
In all, Barry Rosenberg's remarks indicate a cognizance of many of our gripes, and some strong statements in support of the type of cultural shift necessary to ensure a thriving Jewish community.
See the full piece here.
Read More......
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Community Overlap
In times of economic hardship, the evolutionary cycle is sped up. Those with the necessary adaptions survive, others don't.
The Jewish Community, and particularly the funders and donors of the Jewish Community are likely facing harder decisions than they've had to in years.
What do we save? What do we shed?
In business mergers, cost savings are often the result of 'synergies'. These synergies are redundencies, duplications, areas in which two people's roles (and paychecks) can be reduced to one.
These synergies are what might buffer this community against losing some of the services to which we have become accustomed.
Looking for overlap is a dangerous game, but let's quickly play it, for demonstration purposes.
In the young Jewish community, defined as 18-35, there are specific programs for College students, through Hillel, Chabad, Jewish Student Union, Jewish Fraternities and Sororites, etc. For post-undergrads there is JGrads, Gesher City, Moishe House, for the newer post-grads and YPD, SLIC, MOT for those further out of school, as well as all of the young adult divisions of the many synagogues around town.
Each of these organizations have a niche in which they operate but many of these organizations overlap. Because most target the same general demographic, some with more success than others, there is a sort of competition, even if its not explicit.
Just like it seems strange to an outsider to see so many reform synagogues so close to each other, all of which are struggling to gain market share with the young adult community, so too, at some level, does it appear that these young adult oriented organizations have the potential to scrap over the same talent pool.
For this community to move forward, we need to think of ourselves as one community.
As a young adult, I would like to see more of the organizations collaborate. Use the different social circles and emails lists to improve marketing reach. Use all of the different sources of funding to make sure that anyone who wants to have Shabbat dinner can do so, be it at Chabad with Jgrads, around town with YPD and Gesher City, or at the Moishe House.
This is not to say that these groups are terribly territorial and don't collaborate, but there is a sense of scarcity leading to occasional competition, which I, as a young adult simply looking to connect with people, find to be a turn off.
By pooling resources and ideas, the young Yids of St. Louis will survive this economic climate and may even make some gains.
Overlap. Read More......
The Jewish Community, and particularly the funders and donors of the Jewish Community are likely facing harder decisions than they've had to in years.
What do we save? What do we shed?
In business mergers, cost savings are often the result of 'synergies'. These synergies are redundencies, duplications, areas in which two people's roles (and paychecks) can be reduced to one.
These synergies are what might buffer this community against losing some of the services to which we have become accustomed.
Looking for overlap is a dangerous game, but let's quickly play it, for demonstration purposes.
In the young Jewish community, defined as 18-35, there are specific programs for College students, through Hillel, Chabad, Jewish Student Union, Jewish Fraternities and Sororites, etc. For post-undergrads there is JGrads, Gesher City, Moishe House, for the newer post-grads and YPD, SLIC, MOT for those further out of school, as well as all of the young adult divisions of the many synagogues around town.
Each of these organizations have a niche in which they operate but many of these organizations overlap. Because most target the same general demographic, some with more success than others, there is a sort of competition, even if its not explicit.
Just like it seems strange to an outsider to see so many reform synagogues so close to each other, all of which are struggling to gain market share with the young adult community, so too, at some level, does it appear that these young adult oriented organizations have the potential to scrap over the same talent pool.
For this community to move forward, we need to think of ourselves as one community.
As a young adult, I would like to see more of the organizations collaborate. Use the different social circles and emails lists to improve marketing reach. Use all of the different sources of funding to make sure that anyone who wants to have Shabbat dinner can do so, be it at Chabad with Jgrads, around town with YPD and Gesher City, or at the Moishe House.
This is not to say that these groups are terribly territorial and don't collaborate, but there is a sense of scarcity leading to occasional competition, which I, as a young adult simply looking to connect with people, find to be a turn off.
By pooling resources and ideas, the young Yids of St. Louis will survive this economic climate and may even make some gains.
Overlap. Read More......
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Living Jews: Margo Schwartz, Leader of the Next Gen
Despite what you may think of Malcolm Gladwell's ideas in The Tipping Point, we all probably have met a Connector. Connectors "link us up with the world ... people with a special gift for bringing the world together."
Margo Schwartz has this gift.
As former head of the Young Professionals Division of the STL Jewish Federation, Margo is no stranger to the needs and strengths of the St. Louis Jewish community.
She is in many ways responsible for the connections that led to the creation of the Moishe House in St. Louis, as well as the much of YPD's recent successes.
So how did this young Yid get to where she is today?
"Jewish Community work sounded like a dirty work to me," explained Margo of her early twenties. "But I moved to St. Louis, not knowing anyone, without any connections, and I turned to the Federation to help me network."
It just so happened that JFed offered her a job which, despite a lack of interest, she took. Six months in, she was bored out of her mind and, never lacking in assertiveness, she made her feelings known. As luck would have it, the then-YPD staff person was leaving, and JFed saw in Margo the energy that has made her so successful.
Margo believes that her success was based on the partnership she was able to form the the then-president of YPD. In fact, she believes that a lay leader in close coordination with a staff-person provides the ideal model for collaboration. "Lay leaders can burn out, move, or simply move on to other things, but when you have staff people who are paid to work on these programs, it is more likely to survive."
Also, as a transplant, Margo wanted to make sure that events were things in which she, herself, would want to participate.
It was in this position that Margo's natural abilities were able to thrive as she began meeting people in the community and cultivating them into leaders.
A staunch defender of the Federation, Margo makes it clear that despite what some do or don't like about the way that things are run, JFed is a crucial part of the Jewish community.
So what does she actually do? "My job is to go to young leaders with the 'it' factor and ask 'what do you want to make happen, and how can we get it there'."
Now that you understand a bit about Margo, you can probably appreciate why we felt it was so important to sit down with her and ask a few questions about the current state of the Jewish community in St. Louis and future directions.
Margo was clear in stating, "I want leaders to be thinking about a succession plan. . . how to transfer knowledge and experience. I want them to think about who they are investing in."
"The question is," explains Margo, "what is your living legacy?"
"A lot of people who give so generously to the Federation do it because they want to be able to leave a fingerprint, a positive impact on the community, which is a wonderful thing."
A big issue according to Margo, is having faith in the next generation of Jewish leadership and building partnerships.
Where does Margo see all of this taking her, as the next generation of Jewish leadership?
"Do I want to be Barry [Rosenberg, VP of JFed STL] someday? I think so, but he makes some hard decisions I wouldn't want to make."
Some of those hard decisions come from the fact that the community is changing. A fact which Margo understands.
"Any Jewish professional who is reading the research knows that we need to take events out of the institutions, and if they haven't read it, they shouldn't come back to work until they have."
Luckily, for all of you Jewish professionals out there, you can read up on it, here.
Read More......
Margo Schwartz has this gift.
As former head of the Young Professionals Division of the STL Jewish Federation, Margo is no stranger to the needs and strengths of the St. Louis Jewish community.
She is in many ways responsible for the connections that led to the creation of the Moishe House in St. Louis, as well as the much of YPD's recent successes.
So how did this young Yid get to where she is today?
"Jewish Community work sounded like a dirty work to me," explained Margo of her early twenties. "But I moved to St. Louis, not knowing anyone, without any connections, and I turned to the Federation to help me network."
It just so happened that JFed offered her a job which, despite a lack of interest, she took. Six months in, she was bored out of her mind and, never lacking in assertiveness, she made her feelings known. As luck would have it, the then-YPD staff person was leaving, and JFed saw in Margo the energy that has made her so successful.
Margo believes that her success was based on the partnership she was able to form the the then-president of YPD. In fact, she believes that a lay leader in close coordination with a staff-person provides the ideal model for collaboration. "Lay leaders can burn out, move, or simply move on to other things, but when you have staff people who are paid to work on these programs, it is more likely to survive."
Also, as a transplant, Margo wanted to make sure that events were things in which she, herself, would want to participate.
It was in this position that Margo's natural abilities were able to thrive as she began meeting people in the community and cultivating them into leaders.
A staunch defender of the Federation, Margo makes it clear that despite what some do or don't like about the way that things are run, JFed is a crucial part of the Jewish community.
So what does she actually do? "My job is to go to young leaders with the 'it' factor and ask 'what do you want to make happen, and how can we get it there'."
Now that you understand a bit about Margo, you can probably appreciate why we felt it was so important to sit down with her and ask a few questions about the current state of the Jewish community in St. Louis and future directions.
Margo was clear in stating, "I want leaders to be thinking about a succession plan. . . how to transfer knowledge and experience. I want them to think about who they are investing in."
"The question is," explains Margo, "what is your living legacy?"
"A lot of people who give so generously to the Federation do it because they want to be able to leave a fingerprint, a positive impact on the community, which is a wonderful thing."
A big issue according to Margo, is having faith in the next generation of Jewish leadership and building partnerships.
Where does Margo see all of this taking her, as the next generation of Jewish leadership?
"Do I want to be Barry [Rosenberg, VP of JFed STL] someday? I think so, but he makes some hard decisions I wouldn't want to make."
Some of those hard decisions come from the fact that the community is changing. A fact which Margo understands.
"Any Jewish professional who is reading the research knows that we need to take events out of the institutions, and if they haven't read it, they shouldn't come back to work until they have."
Luckily, for all of you Jewish professionals out there, you can read up on it, here.
Read More......
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