Two Men And A Center
The JCC brought in two old pros to delve into the
hearts and minds of the locals.
JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER
A
nostalgia overcomes both
men. They've heard the
story countless times, but
it always gets to them.
They are Mitchell Jaffe and
Dr. Marvin Ciporen of the Jew-
ish Community Centers Associ-
ation on the day of their
departure from Detroit. They
are going back to New York
filled with the rich, sometimes
touching anecdotes and the myr-
iad opinions of some 500 metro
Detroiters who took part in a
survey about the past, present
and future of the Jewish Com-
munity Center.
The two men, typically direct
New Yorkers dressed down in
the egalitarian mode of old-time
Jewish communal leaders, have
been in and out of town since De-
cember conducting focus groups
and talking to community lead-
ers about the Jewish Commu-
nity Center. Their conclusions
and recommendations will form
the Bloom Report, which will be
issued in June. The report is be-
ing funded by Douglas and Bar-
bara Bloom.
The JCC, like its counterparts
across the country, is experienc-
ing a kind of adolescent limbo —
it must change to keep up with the
times, but it must harken back to
earlier days for inspiration.
Mr. Jaffe and Dr. Ciporen, who
played an integral role in the up-
grade of the Jimmy Prentis Mor-
ris branch of the JCC in Oak Park
several yearS back, are handling
one component of a wide-ranging
strategic planning study that is
part of the second phase of the
Center's renovation plan.
A capital fund-raising cam-
paign and management and
building renovation studies are
the other pieces of the puzzle the
Center is working to ensure its fu-
ture vitality. Over the next four to
six months, an additional 250-300
community members will con-
tribute to the dialogue that will
form the conclusions of the entire
strategic planning study.
Uniting the past and present
was a theme that wound through
their interviews, Mr. Jaffe and Dr.
Ciporen said. Many folks yearn
for the old days, when the Mey-
ers-Curtis JCC was the Jewish
hangout, but they recognize the
new challenges facing Jewish
community centers.
The feeling behind the com-
ments and suggestions was a bit-
tersweet mix of sadness, anger
and optimism.
The sadness came from the
recognition that Jews are dis-
persed and no longer rely on a cen-
tral meeting place for their social
and cultural life.
"People want the JCC to be a
social hub," Dr. Ciporen said.
"There's a higher comfort level
[at a JCC]," Mr. Jaffe said. "It's
like being in Israel: you can be a
public Jew."
The anger the men heard here
came from a sense that the Cen-
ter is not friendly enough, that
staff turnover is too high, that it's
not as clean as it could be, and
that membership dues are too
high.
The issue of dues is "schizoid,"
Dr. Ciporen said, explaining that
people want the old-time feeling
of Meyers-Curtis at old-time
prices.
"People want the best at the
least cost," Mr. Jaffe said.
Roughly half of the participants
in 30 focus groups — which com-
PHOTO BY J OHN M. DISCHE R
<
Mitchell Jaffe: Strategizing for the JCC's future.
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