jews d

on the cover

in
the

Let It

Reimagined JCC is on the road with
programming, collaborations outside its walls.

KERI GUTEN COHEN STORY DEVELOPMENT EDITOR

TOP: JCC executive
team members CFO
Larry Poupard, Assistant
Directors Judy Loebl and
Heidi Budaj, COO Jeff
Lasday and CEO Brian
Siegel with JCC senior
directors in the windows.

12

April 26 • 2018

M

ajor changes have been afoot
for nearly a year at the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit, but most Jewish Detroiters are
unaware of them. And that’s partly by design.
“The revisioning, rebranding and reposition-
ing of the JCC is a process most consumers
are blind to,” said JCC CEO Brian Siegel, who
has been shepherding this reimagining of the
organization according to a comprehensive
plan that ranges from right-sizing the D. Dan
and Betty Kahn Building to fixing the JCC’s
balance sheet.
Siegel cites these accomplishments and
goals:
• Federation’s 15-person Education
Department moved to the JCC last June, along
with all its programs for adults, teens, families
and children with special needs.
• In December 2017, the JCC signed an

jn

!

LIZZ CARDWELL/JCC

agreement with Tamarack Camps to man-
age its day camps starting this summer, and
discussions have begun with donors about
developing a “world-class” day camp on the
northwest portion of the JCC campus. While
the JCC will not confirm this amount, the JN
has been told the camp project is estimated to
be around $5-$6 million.
Also, new partnerships this summer with
Hillel Day School and Repair the World
Detroit will expand options for day campers
enrolled in specialty camps.
• JCC Without Walls has been offering class-
es and programs throughout the community.
• Plans call for transforming Shalom Street
into a family and parenting center that will
include the PJ Library, a popular program for
families with young children that will be con-
nected to the JCC’s relocated children’s library.
• A new team of professionals is sitting in

the “right seats on the bus,” Siegel said.
• The JCC has been showing operational
profit for two years and its longstanding defi-
cit of $6.5 million on its balance sheet is down
to $2.5 million and expected to be under $2
million by the end of next month. (See accom-
panying story.)
• The JCC has gained its first Federation
Centennial Campaign donor, hoping to spur
others to invest in the JCC’s future. (See
accompanying story.)
• And a plan is being studied to right-size
and renovate the 340,000-square-foot JCC.
At the heart of the overall plan is for the
JCC to depart from its traditional model and
focus on reaching out to Jewish Detroiters —
members or not — with programs they want
at locations convenient to them in all parts of
the community.
Siegel sees this as a paradigm shift from the