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March 21, 2003/Adar2 17 5763, Vol. 55, No. 30
Leaders meet to discuss future of community
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
On March 5, the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix brought together representatives from local Jewish congregations, agencies and organizations to discuss the future of the Valley's Jewish community.
The purpose of the meeting "was to bring community leaders together to talk about how we begin to address the needs that were identified in the demographic study," said Fred Zeidman, assistant executive director of federation, referring to the 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study.
The study, comprised of 793 telephone interviews with Jewish households between Jan. 23 and May 15 of last year, was commissioned by federation. Results were released in December.
Approximately 30 community leaders attended the meeting, where they were asked to share one word that describes the local Jewish community now, and one to describe it in the future.
"That exercise provided an opening point for a vigorous dialogue about becoming more cohesive, unified, cooperate and collaborative," said Vicki Cabot, federation president. "Of major concern were communication issues, both within the community and reaching out to the unaffiliated. There was a genuine sense of wanting to work together and empower each other by our individual endeavors."
David Brook, executive director of Beth El Congregation, attended the meeting and was impressed with both the turnout and the discussion that followed the questions about how the attendees view the local community.
"Overwhelmingly people thought that now (the community is) fragmented and 10 years from now we want it to be united. I think that's important for being the sixth largest city in the United States," explained Brook. "We're all willing to work with each other."
Zeidman said there are no concrete plans yet for the next step in the community meeting process, but he was pleased with the discussion about common goals.
"The consensus of the group is that we are all - the agencies, the congregations, the organizations and federation - involved in the preservation and enhancement of the Jewish people," said Zeidman. "Now we're going to see what we can do in the next few years as a community, and not just as federation, to address those needs."
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