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Helping Hand
Los Angeles tests concierge
approach to Jewish education.
Jacob Berkman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
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1367290
A26
March 20 • 2008
S baron Goldstein felt a little lost
when she started to look for an
early childhood education pro-
gram for her soon-to-be year-old twins,
Benjamin and Jaden.
Though Goldstein had lived in Los
Angeles for about 20 years, she moved
to Tarzana, on the west side of the met-
ropolitan area, when she was pregnant.
She had heard of a few schools through
friends but wasn't sure how to evaluate
the programs.
All Goldstein knew was that she
wanted a Jewish school, preferably affili-
ated with the Conservative movement.
Goldstein turned to a pilot program
of the Bureau of Jewish Education
of Greater Los Angeles that provides
"concierges" to help match parents with
appropriate formal and informal Jewish
educational outlets.
The program, which is being called
the first of its kind in the country, is one
that Jewish education professionals are
hoping will be replicated soon in more
communities.
The L.A. education bureau has hired
two Jewish part-time staffers to help
parents choose from a range of pro-
grams, including full-time day schools,
after-school congregational programs,
nursery schools and summer camps.
"The idea is that people have dif-
ferent interests in a variety of Jewish
educational experiences',' said Gil Graff,
the executive director of the education
bureau. "Some are interested in infor-
mal activities. Some are interested in
day schools and some are interested in
early childhood education. The object
is to encourage people to attach to
the Jewish community, whatever their
Jewish needs"
The concierges are compiling a
database of all the programs in the Los
Angeles area, and when they sit down
with parents, they ask what the parents
want and need.
Goldstein, for instance, met with con-
cierge Stefanie Somers for an hour over
coffee, and together the two compared
several early education programs. They
considered their length of day, staffing,
food offerings and the congregations
with which they are affiliated.
"Friends are far more subjective.
They say,'We love the teachers; we
love this; we love that:" Goldstein said.
"Stefanie gave me the facts"
Essentially the program is a market-
ing tool aiming to reach Jews who are
interested in joining the Jewish com-
munity but aren't already connected to a
synagogue or school, Graff said.
The concierges try to guide parents
through Los Angeles' 36 day schools and
53 congregational schools, as well as the
plethora of early childhood classes that
have some 7,000 children enrolled in
them, according to Graff.
Since the program started in July, the
two concierges have helped approxi-
mately 140 clients, according to Miriam
Prum Hess, the Bureau of Jewish
Education's director of day school
operational services.
About a quarter of the clients are like
Goldstein — those who have relocated
to the Los Angeles area. Most of the rest
are first-time mothers.
"Sixty-five to 70 percent of my clients
come to me saying, `I have no idea what
nursery school I should go to. There are
so many choices. Can you please tell
me?" Somers said.
As the mother of young twins,
Somers acquired knowledge about the
local Jewish landscape through her own
search and affiliations. But she and her
fellow concierge, Stacey Kent, have spent
much of their time becoming intimately
familiar with the schools, camps and
congregational schools of Los Angeles.
The key to the concierge program is
advertising not at synagogues but in
non-traditional places such as doctors'
offices and breast-pumping seminars.
Hess says another avenue is the
Internet, including non-Jewish Web
sites such as Peachhead.com and
mamasource.com .
A two-year, $130,000 grant from the
Jewish Community Foundation of Los
Angeles is funding the program.
Though the idea had been touted by
groups such as the Jewish Educational
Services of North America, no one had
implemented the program until now
Detroit, Cleveland and Miami are
among the Jewish communities looking
into developing similar programs.
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