JCRC Executive Director
Robert Cohen speaks at
the JCRC-organized 14th
Congressional District
candidates' forum at
Adat Shalom Synagogue

last month, co-sponsored
with other Jewish

community agencies.

The result of those focus groups and the
months of strategic planning that followed
are a reworked mission and vision tied to
Jewish values, a refocusing on what the
agency does and plans to transform the
community perception of its work, Lipton
said.
The committee's final analysis outlines
the four strategic focus areas it defined
as the components of JCRC's roadmap to
the future: the programmatic work of the
agency, its marketing and branding, its
financial sustainability and its organiza-
tional capacity.

JCRC reveals strategic plan nine months in the making.

Jackie Headapohl I Managing Editor

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

past president Jeannie Weiner.
"I did a masterful job of choosing
the chairs:' Lipton said. The committee
included individuals from different parts
of the community.
"Many of us had different opinions on a
number of topics, but all of us were treated
with the utmost respect:' said committee
member Michael Eizelman. "It was truly an
enjoyable and meaningful experience
Howard Wallach, past president and
another committee member, said, "It was
a very comprehensive and thoughtful pro-
cess, which I believe resulted in an excep-
tional outcome
The committee's work began last fall
when it set out to answer some major
questions: What should be its mission and
vision? Its goals and strategies for achiev-
ing them? Its strengths and weaknesses?
The areas and issues it focuses on?
"Before the committee began its work,
we met with Scott Kaufman of Federation:'
Krugel said. "We had heard the rumors
that JCRC was on its way out. We needed
to know before we invested in the work if
the JCRC would remain an independent
agency"
According to JCRC Executive Director
Robert Cohen, several Federation leaders
felt very strongly that JCRC should remain
an independent agency for several rea-
sons, including the protection it provides
Federation when the community needs
to be involved with other groups, such
as interfaith coalitions, that could anger
Federation donors. "The Federation can
rightly tell those donors they have nothing
to do with it," he said.
Federation CEO Scott Kaufman said,
"Though much has changed in terms of
today's media and technology, the essential
need for a dynamic community and media-
relations entity is clearly as important now
as ever:'

Jeannie
Weiner

Sharon Lipton

Richard
Krugel

Robert Cohen

Committee members came to a consen-
sus that becoming a Federation department
would not lead to cost savings and would
deprive JCRC of its credibility as the public
affairs voice of the Jewish community as a
whole.
"Detroit has always been independent;
it's part of our history and tradition:'
Weiner said. "We need to be an indepen-
dent agency to represent all of the commu-
nity, not just Federation members"
Once that decision was made, the work
moved forward. The committee presented
its conclusions from the nine-month pro-
cess to the JCRC and Federation boards in
late August.

Getting Started
The committee chose to hire a consultant,
NEW/Nonprofit Enterprise at Work, a non-
profit consulting firm based in Ann Arbor.
NEW undertook surveys and focus groups
on the community's perception of the
JCRC. Its fee was paid from agency assets
not the JCRC operating budget, Cohen said.
"We felt it was a necessary investment in

Michael
Eizelman

Scott
Kaufman

Howard

Wallach

Hy Safran

the future
A survey was sent out to 1,500 people;
about 300 responded. There were also
two focus groups conducted: one with
members of the Jewish community, the
other with non-Jewish members, includ-
ing ministers, leaders from the African
American community and members from
the Catholic Archdiocese as well as the
Michigan Roundtable. About 12-15 people
participated in each group. No one from
the JCRC attended, so there was no influ-
ence on the discussion.
According to the consultant, most focus
group members considered the JCRC to
primarily be an Israel advocacy group.
"We learned a lot:' Krugel said. "A lot of
people didn't know what JCRC was. Even
members of the Jewish focus group didn't
know the kinds of things we were doing"
Cohen added, "Both groups knew of
something we did — but not all we did.
We were given high marks on the things
we did that were important to them, low
to middling grades on things that weren't
important to them"

Programming/Engagement

What exactly does the JCRC do? Its pro-
grams focus on community engagement,
media relations, government relations and
Israel advocacy.
Some of its activities overlap with the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and
the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
According to Cohen, each has its own
niche with the ADL focused on security
and anti-Semitism and the AJC focused on
international issues.
According to its plan, the JCRC will
use intergroup (interfaith/interethnic)
relations to provide a Jewish voice and
perspective within the general community
as well as intragroup relations within the
Jewish community to resolve conflicts and
strengthen communal ties.
"I believe in the biggest tent possible
Cohen said. "Every voice is important. We
plan to hold open forums a couple of times
a year on specific topics. People can share
their concerns and have a say in affecting
our agenda"
According to the plan, the JCRC will
maintain its position as the "go-to" orga-
nization for news and critical information
regarding the Jewish community and
Israel, its role to advocate for Jewish com-
munity issues and concerns at all levels of
government, and its position as a leading
local agency on Israel.
Over the past several years, limited
resources have affected the JCRC's ability to
lobby at the local level.
"We are hoping to return to Lansing to
do more locally focused work" Cohen said.
In the past, the JCRC has been able to
make a difference for local Jewish agen-
cies. Once it got a seat at a national Senate
forum and was able to lobby for a needed
change in HUD regulations that would
allow JSL to change its efficiencies into
one-bedroom apartments.
"It was nice to be able to deliver that
message to 25 senate leaders" Cohen said.
"We want to do more of that:'
The JCRC also will continue its role
of Israel advocate. Its goal is to establish
an "Israel 211" hotline next year if funds

Road Forward on page 10

8

September 11 • 2014

