Who's Who in Outreach :
Natalie Merkur Rose and Amy Wasser-Simpson
Thanks for caring enough to ask...² We heard variations
on this sentiment during the past twelve months, while
working on the Community Outreach Task Force, a joint
effort between the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
(JFGS) and Jewish Family Service (JFS). Our mission: to
investigate the high rate of unaffiliation and lack of
participation and to recommend ways that the organized
Jewish community can become more attractive, welcoming,
and inclusive of all.
A new model was created by jointly staffing the Task
Force with JFS and JFSG staff. We believed that only
by joining our respective experiences and expertise
would we achieve success. While Natalie brought the
perspective she has gained serving diverse populations
in the community, Amy was able to provide a connection
between the efforts of the Task Force and the broader
context of community planning. Our partnership, coupled
with a diverse committee, enabled our work to be seen
as a community-wide effort, rather than that of one
particular agency.
We conducted interviews with lay and professional
leaders (from local organizations), rabbis, major donors,
program directors and marketing professionals and held
two community-wide forums. Focus groups, inclusive of
affiliated and unaffiliated populations were also held.
In addition, we interviewed a number of communities
around the country with successful outreach programs
and reviewed demographic information from local and
national population surveys. We are indebted to Egon
Mayer for his inspiration and guidance throughout this
entire research process.
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