Re-Branding
National JCC group
tries to make centers
more relevant.
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
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HALSTEA
hey are the sleeping giant
of American Jewish life.
Jewish community centers
reach 800,000 homes with
1.7 million Jews — one-third of the
entire U.S. Jewish community —
surpassing even the burgeoning
Reform movement's membership
rolls, according to a new report for
the JCC Association of North
America. Yet few Jews realize it.
"JCCs need to be seen as serious
players impacting people's Jewish
experiences," said Allan Finkelstein,
the JCCA's president. "We know
that, but I'm not sure everyone else
knows."
The JCCA, which represents 350
JCCs, YMHAs and Jewish camps
across the continent, is trying to
change that perception. At its 150th
biennial in Montreal in May, the
group unveiled a new strategic plan
dubbed "Hagshama: Inspiring Jewish
Journeys" that calls for repositioning
JCCs within the Jewish world.
Hagshama, Hebrew for "fulfill-
ment," urges JCCs to see themselves
as one institutional stop on the road
many American Jews follow to map
out a complex identity. Other meas-
ures may include joining synagogues,
attending camps or day schools and
participating in cultural activities.
"Our community had a great
opportunity to showcase Shalom
Street," said Hannan Lis, president
of the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, of the new
interactive children's museum at the
West Bloomfield JCC. "We have an
extensive network of Jewish cultural
and educational programming in
conjunction with the Board of
Rabbis, area synagogues, and with
the [Jewish] Federation [of
Metropolitan Detroit].
"Our programs, from the SAJE
educational series to Melton, which
is the higher educational series, to
our film festival and our Book Fair,
these are all programs that are done
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