Tomorrow's leaders

A look at the state of Valley young Jewish pacesetters

LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor

Although this year's community-wide Tu B'Shevat festival will have the requisite tree planting and Israeli entertainment, missing this year will be the Walk for Israel. This is the fourth year the Jewish National Fund has sponsored the festival, but this year's Walk for Israel won't be a part of it due to the demise of the group that organized the yearly event since 1998.

The local chapter of Future Leadership of JNF, aimed at ages 21-40, has dissolved since last year's festival, which drew about 3,500 people, with about 270 participating in the fund-raising walk. Tu B'Shevat, which celebrates the New Year for trees, falls on Saturday, Jan. 18, and the festival is on Jan. 19.

This was not the only recent change in young adult leadership groups in the Valley.

In 2002, New Leadership Division of Israel Bonds, geared toward ages 24-45, disbanded with the closing of the Valley's Israel Bonds office. In 2000, Leadership 2000, a group for young professionals ages 22-40, merged with its parent group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Marty Kudler, chairman of Future Leadership of Jewish National Fund during its last five years, said a combination of reasons led to the demise of the local group. He said that JNF, on a national level, significantly cut the Future Leadership program for financial reasons. But Kudler lists busy schedules as the main reason for the local group's collapse. "It's more difficult than in our parents' or grandparents' generation to get people involved in these kind of interests," Kudler said.

Even if they believe in the cause, many young adults find it hard to give the time, he added. Although many are willing to help out with planning or working at an event, it's tough to get people to commit to serving on a board or holding an office. The local JNF Future Leadership had been active since 1993 with 10-15 people involved on a regular basis, Kudler said. The group became inactive shortly after the Walk for Israel last January.

The group's main goal was to inform young people about Israel through educational and social programs and to get people to start thinking about ways to help Israel, said Nancy Brim, a founding member. Brim attributes its demise to logical progression: When young adults involved in such groups start families, they tend to shift gears and get involved in a preschool or synagogue. "It's a shame, but hopefully some of the people will (go) on to be involved on a different level, (such as) the regular board," Brim said. "However, people may not be enough in a (strong) economic position for boards that require a minimum donation, but I think it's important to have the young people's input."

One challenge Future Leadership faced was competition from other groups, Kudler said. Scheduling conflicts with other organizations vying for the same target audience often occurred, providing a challenge to attracting already small numbers. "If only 10 percent of the people are going to be willing to participate, and there are more groups wanting that 10 percent, it's harder to get them," he said. One of the strongest young adult groups currently in the Valley is the Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. YLD, founded in 1997, targets singles and couples ages 22-40 and has a mailing list of 1,800 households.

YLD's primary goals are education and outreach, leadership development and raising money for the federation campaign, said John Magoulas, federation senior campaign associate. The group offers a six-part Leadership Development Series, with guests speaking on topics such as fund-raising, networking and negotiating, Magoulas said. Twenty-five young adults are participating this year. "Our hopes are that we're going to get each (participant) onto an agency board or a board within federation," he said. "We're going to help them be able to do that."

The leadership series was developed to "bring along the next generation of leaders (to) fill the gaps...across the community," said Shirley Norris, federation marketing director. Norris said she has noticed a core group "prepared to step up to the plate" to become the next generation of leaders. "In many cases, these are couples with young families and they recognize they need to provide the leadership for their young children," she said.

Upcoming YLD programs include an educational series, beginning in March; newcomer wine and cheese events; a campaign event; and a happy hour. "Our goals are to build leadership, to educate individuals and raise money," Magoulas said. "The happy hours do a little bit of outreach for us."

The main challenge for YLD is finding a balance between social and community-oriented work, said Steven Schwarz, a YLD founder and current president. "We want to do whatever we can to bring people out of the woodwork and make them realize what's going on in the community locally, nationally (and) internationally," he said. The challenge lies in doing that while also providing a social component and trying to spread a more substantive message of what the community needs.

Schwarz said the social events fall under "outreach" and tend to draw the largest crowds - such as Mazelpalooza, held on Christmas Eve, which this year drew 550 people to the Scottsdale nightclub Opium. "Most of the people involved are probably doing it primarily for social reasons," Schwarz said. "However, we still get 150 to 200-plus people coming to more of the education and leadership programming. ... They have a desire to start getting involved in the community and find YLD a very social way to do that."

Last year, Schwarz said, YLD tried to return to its roots and "steer away from being a pure social organization to being a leadership-oriented, education-oriented, campaign-oriented organization that still stresses having a lot of fun."

Leadership development is a major focus of what federation does, said Vicki Cabot, federation president. "We are only as good as the people we can inspire to lead."

Commitment is the key component AIPAC seeks from its young leaders. One reason AIPAC brought Leadership 2000 into its primary organization is that AIPAC is really a lobbying group, said Ken Schnitzer, a member of the executive board. "Everyone's focused on the same goal." Schnitzer has been involved with AIPAC for nine years and served as Leadership 2000 chairman at the time of the merger.

AIPAC expects to hold two or three events a year geared specifically at younger people, said Schnitzer, who serves as the liaison between the general board and the young leadership community. "When people are lobbying, it's good to have a mix of everybody there," he explained. "We do have a strong focus on getting young people involved, but we just don't think young people should be separate from older people."

An event geared toward younger leadership is currently being planned, he said.

At press time, no call was returned from the Israel Bonds western regional office on whether any further young leadership work would continue in the Valley through the organization. Ted Kort, JNF regional director, said Future Leadership of Jewish National Fund may be reactivated in the future. Cabot said she has "noticed a heartening level of commitment and seriousness of purpose" in today's young adults and stresses the importance of providing opportunities for them. "We need to look at the issue as a broad community imperative, engaging our congregations and other Jewish communal organizations in an effort to attract new leadership," she said.

"We need to listen to the young people as to what they want, what their needs are (and) what would inspire them to become involved. "Otherwise, we will lose them to other civic or communal organizations, denying them the opportunity for strengthening their Jewish identity and denying the community the opportunity for harnessing their time and talents."

Contact the writer at leisah_namm@jewishaz.com.

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