Publisher's Notebook

Help Wanted:
A Jewish Community Job Czar

obs, jobs, jobs, jobs in new industries, jobs with
new opportunities."
That's how the Detroit Regional Chamber head-
lined one of its keynote sessions at last week's Mackinac
Policy Conference. And it was a theme that permeated
every cocktail conversation, every forum, every keynote
address and every debate.
Clearly, jobs are Michigan's top priority.
Jobs must be our Jewish commu-
nity's top priority, too. And not just
for our 20-somethings and 30-some-
things who moved away because
of a perceived or real absence of
work opportunities. Jobs are needed
across the age spectrum so our
friends and neighbors will not need
to seek assistance from the commu-
nity to keep a roof over their heads,
food on their tables and a proper
dose of medication in their blood-
streams.
Our Detroit Jewish community
is fortunate to have professionals
and volunteers who are singularly focused and passionate
— who "own" their areas of responsibility.
Every day, a group of Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit professionals and
volunteers "own" the Annual Campaign.
They live it, sleep it and dream about ways
to grow the amount of dollars contributed
and the quantity of donors.
Every day, a group of Federation profes-
sionals and volunteers "own" Israel. They
develop and implement programs, initia-
tives, missions, student exchanges and
partnerships that build friendships and
strengthen ties to our spiritual homeland.
Every day, a group of Federation professionals and vol-
unteers "own" endowment and planned giving. They gather
data and insights to steward existing relationships and
build new ones with potential donors, hoping to secure
bequests, permanent annual campaign endowments, char-
itable remainder trusts and other gifts that help sustain
our community.
Every day, a group of Federation and beneficiary agency
professionals and volunteers "own" the safety net for those
in the community suffering economic hardship. They find
ways to re-negotiate bank loans to keep people in their
homes, to secure free medical care and medications and to
provide interest-free loans.

is a hodge-podge of agencies, ad hoc organizations, syna-
gogue networking groups and individuals who "own" jobs
for a few hours here or there and barely interact with each
other. JVS, a beneficiary agency of Federation, is the most
significant and established provider of job-related servic-
es. However, it is pulled in many directions by Jewish and
other constituencies and contractors and cannot singularly
"own" jobs just for the Jewish community.
As a result, we've missed opportunities, large and
small. Here are just a couple of examples. Right in our
geographic backyard, Henry Ford Health System and St.
John Providence Health System recently constructed major
new facilities in West Bloomfield and Novi. These created
approximately 2,500 new jobs, from nurses and physicians
to executive assistants, accountants and food service work-
ers. Because no one "owns" jobs for the Jewish community,
a huge opportunity was squandered.
The chief operating officer of Henry Ford West
Bloomfield Hospital in particular wanted a workforce that
reflected the surrounding community and was eager to
proactively work with the Jewish community to find and
place people. The most consistent support she received in
her recruitment effort was from the Jewish News, which
quietly provided her with free ad space to place several
months of recruitment ads targeted toward our readers.
Another small example ... I received
an e-mail message from a Federation
head alerting me, and others on his list
serve, to an administrative job opening
at the Frankel Jewish Academy in West
Bloomfield. He thanked the person who
bird-dogged the job lead and encouraged
recipients to share this with others in
need of work. By the way, the e-mail mes-
sage was from the head of the Chaldean
Federation of America, not the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
The Detroit Jewish community's signature initiative for
helping people find jobs is a New York-based web entity
called ParnossahWorksDetroit. Please raise your hand if
you:
• have ever heard of it;
• can spell it on your own;
• have ever seen it marketed or promoted;
• know what it does.

So, if our Jewish
community's top
priority is jobs,
who "owns" it?

At The Heim?
So, if our Jewish community's top priority is jobs, who
"owns" it? Who at the highest levels of professional and
lay leadership wakes up every morning and is singularly
focused on it? Obsesses over it? Is accountable for it? Is
rewarded for succeeding at it?
Sadly, the answer is no one.
What we have today in our Detroit Jewish community

Owning Jobs
It's time for our community to create a new position: job
czar.
This position would report directly to Federation CEO
Scott Kaufman and would "own" jobs for the Jewish corn-
munity every single day. What are some of the things this
person could do? Here are some suggestions:

• Be proactive. Our region's job growth will be driven by
"eds and meds," universities and hospital systems. Develop
relationships with the area's educational and health infra-
structure to identify jobs coming into the pipeline (Henry
Ford West Bloomfield Hospital will be expanding shortly,

Help Wanted on page 6

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June 10 • 2010

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