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September 5, 2003/Elul 8 5763, Vol. 55, No. 54
Reaching out in print
Grant places newspaper ads designed to attract unaffiliated
LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor
Three Southeast Valley Jewish organizations are preparing to implement a grant to reach unaffiliated Jews through an advertising campaign in area newspapers.
The ads, scheduled to begin running next week, will list the phone number of the East Valley Jewish Resource Hotline - actually the phone number of the Tri-City Jewish Community Center - and a Web site address, www.tricityjcc.org/getconnected.
The ads don't promote any specific denomination or program but are designed to raise awareness of ways to become involved in the Jewish community, said Nanci Wilharber, administrator at Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation in Tempe.
Emanuel, along with the Tri-City JCC and Temple Beth Sholom, a Conservative synagogue in Chandler, applied for the grant from the Jewish Community Foundation in May with a mission of reaching out to non-affiliated Jews and inviting them to participate in Jewish-related activities.
The $10,000 grant was approved, based on a slight revision that will better identify measurable goals, said Sheryl Quen, director of grants and programs at the Jewish Community Foundation.
The funds will help pay for advertising, mailings, printing costs and secretarial services to field the calls, said Kay Lapid, Beth Sholom administrator.
Ads will run throughout the year, emphasizing holi-days or events, Wilharber said. For instance, the first ad will read: "Here's to a Sweet New Year and a taste of community. Get Connected."
The three organizations will share the costs of the initial ads, Wilharber added.
Tri-City JCC Office Manager Meg Gabay will handle calls to the hotline, said Ilene Blau, JCC executive director. Callers will be asked a series of questions, such as where they saw the ad, how long they've lived in the area, general family information and what type of services they're seeking.
The information will then be shared with the syna-gogues and with appropriate organizations. For instance, callers seeking services for a college student will be referred to the Hillel Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University, Wilharber said.
Other Southeast Valley Jewish resources include Chabad of the East Valley and the Mesa branch of Jewish Family and Children's Service.
Although the grant funding will pay for ads to make initial contact with non-affiliated Jews in the Southeast Valley, just as important is the follow-up, said Fred Zeidman, director of planning at the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, who served as a resource to the grantees.
"The goal is really to get somebody uninvolved (in the Jewish community) and get them to be a participant," he said, mentioning the possible long-term impact of the grant: that initial contact and participation can lead to membership and leadership.
Ads will be placed in the Ahwatukee Foothills News, The Arizona Republic, Chandler Connection, The East Valley Tribune and the Wrangler News, Wilharber said.
This outreach idea evolved during meetings between leaders of Beth Sholom, Emanuel and the Tri-City JCC, said Rabbi Bonnie Koppell of Temple Beth Sholom.
The three meet regularly to coordinate programs; they have collaborated on educational, social and holiday programming for several years.
They decided to apply for a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation after discussing how best to react to the results of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix's 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study, Koppell said.
According to the study, 13,900 Jewish people in 7,200 Jewish households live in the "Tri-Cities" area, which consists of Ahwatukee, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe. This represents 16 percent of all Jewish households in the Greater Phoenix area.
The study found that although being Jewish is somewhat or very important to 63 percent of all the Jewish respondents, 62 percent are not affiliated with the organized Jewish community.
The study revealed that Jewish respondents in the "Tri-Cities" are the least likely to feel that being Jewish is "very important" - only 49 percent reported that it's "very important," compared to 72 percent in Phoenix, 69 percent in the Northwest Valley and 60 percent in the Northeast Valley.
Other specific attributes of that area, according to the study, are: People living in "Tri-Cities" Jewish households are young compared to other areas - 31 percent are age 18 or younger - and nearly half of the respondents moved to the area within the past 10 years.
These newcomers are an example of who the congregations hope to reach, Lapid said.
Contact the writer at leisah_namm@jewishaz.com.
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