More than 100 campaign donors, lay leaders, clergy, Jewish agency representatives, and members of the public joined Jewish Community Partners for its 4th Annual Meeting Sunday, June 10, in the Belz Social Hall of the Memphis Jewish Community Center.
Focusing on JCP’s role in nourishing innovation in our community, the program was centered around the Powering Innovation Panel Discussion, which put a spotlight on strategic programs funded through Memphis Jewish Federation’s Annual Community Campaign that meet key needs identified by JCP’s Needs Assessment study, which was careful conducted in JCP’s first year, 2014.
“JCP launched with this study, which identified gaps in services across the community,” said JCP Chair Michael Greenberg. “The programs we chose for the panel discussion illustrate the kind of innovative programming that we can build together, as a community, when we’re able to leverage JCP’s position as an all-community entity to see the big picture of Jewish Memphis and to channel the generosity of community members to meet the needs we discover in that big picture view.”
The Powering Innovation Panel Discussion featured Jessica Baum Sukhodolsky representing 100 Jewish Families, whose efforts have resulted in the recruitment of new families to Memphis; Jewish Family Service of the MJCC’s Bill Monroe discussing his Equine Therapy program, which serves special needs young adults; cantorial soloist Abbie Strauss describing Temple Israel’s Institute of Jewish Rock, which is successfully engaging Jewish youth from across the community; and JCP’s Jewish Activities Coordinator for Seniors (JACS) Hilly Safier explaining her work with seniors across the community. This portion of the program was facilitated by JCP’s Vice Chair for Financial Resource Development Cindy Finestone.
“It was important for us to show off these specific programs, which can be easy to overlook if you or your family isn’t directly touched by the work,” said Finestone. “Everyone who donated to our collective pot should have the opportunity to directly see how their money is being used to impact Jewish lives.”
In addition to this special presentation, key highlights were showcased via an interactive conversation with the audience. Audience members learned that managed assets exceed $102 million, and grants made to local, national, and global charities during the fiscal year were approximately $11 million.
A report of programmatic highlights included the growth in Federation’s PJ Library – with 90 new members added, and a successful year-long celebration of Israel’s 70th birthday which culminated with the inaugural gala A Taste of Israel event which was attended by more than 500 community members.
“The broad communal engagement in our programs was a highlight of our year,” reported Laura Linder, President/CEO of Jewish Community Partners. “We touched so many people in so many ways. It was great to see the involvement.”
In his report about the priorities of the coming year, JCP Chair Michael Greenberg highlighted three major areas of focus. Each of these focus areas address a broad communal issue, which JCP is uniquely positioned to manage. The first is a study of the sustainability of our Jewish Education institutions conducted by outside consultants from Prizmah; the second is the hiring of a Security Director in partnership with SCN – the national Homeland Security arm of Jewish Federations of North America; and the third is the pending launch of an endowment effort to secure the services provided by Jewish Family Service of the MJCC for Memphis’ most vulnerable Jewish families.
The following officers were nominated and presented for election for a two year term as an officer of JCP: Jimmy Ringel, Vice Chair Community Impact; Scott Notowich, Re-elected Vice Chair Israel and overseas; Michael Kaplan, Re-elected Counsel; Scott Vogel, Vice Chair Financial Resource Development and Steve Libby Vice Chair Community Impact. Cindy Finestone, Chair-elect Memphis Jewish Federation and Anthony Morrison, Chair-elect Jewish Foundation of Memphis. Jason Salomon was named Chair Appointee of JCP’s Executive Committee.
Board Members elected to the JCP Board for a 3-year term were:
David Cooper, Cindy Finestone, Mark Fogelman, Mimi Grossman, Charles Jalenak, Michael Kaplan, Scott Notowich, Ken Steinberg, Steve Libby, and Bob Eiseman.