26 | MAY 25 • 2023
require learning to find solutions — are
relatively new but have seen success
in Cincinnati and even nearby in
Pontiac. “Working together not only has
practical benefits but it also promotes
collegiality and a sense of being part of
something larger,” Siegel says.
THE STAFFING WORKGROUP
Gesher’s Charnas jumped at the chance
to be a part of The Collective’s staffing
work group, which set out to tackle
the community’s post-COVID vacancy
issues. Along the way, he connected and
brainstormed with people he knows,
as well as area professionals he’d only
exchanged emails with or previously just
recognized by name.
As part of the staffing work group, he
helped organize a job fair in September
2022 and one in May 2023, which had
an added professional development
component.
“The idea came, let’s try to put this
career expo together, let’s try to bring all
of our agencies and put our resources
and efforts toward an event where we
can try to find job seekers that can help
fill these vacancies,” he says.
The staffing work group also helped
build a job board, hosted on Federation’s
digital platform Jlive, that aggregates all
the jobs in Detroit’s Jewish community.
“If we can keep bringing people together
in one place that’s a success,” he says.
Charnas adds that he hopes the
staffing work group will be able to help
out as long as it’s needed. “The greatest
part would be in the future, if we’ve
eliminated the need for the staffing
work group,” he says. “But this is a
challenge we’ll be working through and
trying to figure out creative solutions to
for a long time, that’s just part of where
we are.”
Robin Pappas, director of Early
Education at Hillel Day School, was
part of the initial cohort that attended
The Collective’s launch retreat in June
2022. She says she felt a sense of pride
to be part of the purposeful leadership
initiative.
“I think The Collective is a great way
to keep the Jewish entities within our
community on the same page, working
together, helping each other and
supporting one another,” she says. “It
helps us all look out for each other.”
Being a cohesive group means
everyone can make better hiring
decisions, says Pappas, adding that she
hopes more people get involved and
it can be a starting point for Jewish
entities.
“If we are all competing, then
nobody’s going to get the top people
they need to be working,” she says.
“This way, I can say, ‘Look, this person
would be great there.’ Or if someone
wants to be part of Hillel Day School
but also part of a synagogue, I can say,
‘Those synagogues are also fabulous.’”
Pappas says she’s been involved in
cohorts before, but not within the
Detroit Jewish community. Though the
meetings haven’t yet matched up with
her schedule, she says she has stayed in
touch and eagerly follows along.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
The Collective is currently in
conversation with Rosov Consulting
about commissioning a focused study to
address key questions in its work, and
plans to continue to expand its reach,
Katie Vieder says. Planned for spring
launch, the study will assess what the
community has to offer as well as where
there are gaps and inefficiencies, and
more opportunities to collaborate.
The joint endeavor between the
JCC and the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit is aimed at helping
support “more Jews doing more Jewish”
in the community, says Allyn. “What
we’re hoping to achieve is collaboration
that allows us to maximize funding,
maximize quality and maximize Jewish
engagement,” she explains. “I think we
will get a better quality of programs
and continue to strengthen our Jewish
community in this evolving and
changing world.”
This extensive collaboration through
The Collective is also about firming up
an investment in relationships within
Jewish education and engagement in an
ecosystem that already exists, Witkin
says. They’re trying to build on best
practices they see in other communities
that promote shared ownership over an
ecosystem, he explains.
“The goal is to elevate the output
and the experience that members of
our community are having,” he says.
“Part of that is seeing the opportunities
that are currently being unmet, part
of it means identifying where there
are redundancies, part of it means just
sharing resources with one another with
an eye toward collective growth and
improvement.”
Partnering with the JCC to bring
different players to the table and
leverage resources means the ability
to have a bigger impact across the
board, Witkin explains. “We want
to help connect organizations with
the resources they need, to help
the organizations do it to make the
connection with individuals as powerful
as possible.”
Playwright Aaron Henne led a retreat last year for education and engagement professionals.
OUR COMMUNITY
continued from page 24