Michael Fromm Remarks at JCPA Board Meeting, November 3, 2019 As we begin the substantive part of our meeting, I want to share with you what I hope we can accomplish over the next few years. We are at a transformative moment for both American Jewry and for the JCPA. Together we can – and must – ensure that JCPA thrives as an effective and robust organization playing an indispensable role in preserving the well-being of our community. We live in very complicated times for American Jews. We are seeing an increase in Antisemitism on both sides of the political aisle. We are living in a hyper-polarized political environment that can, over time, undermine our nation’s democratic norms and fan the flames of hate and bigotry. We are witnessing an erosion of support for Israel in segments of American society and among segments of American Jews. We are experiencing major attacks on our values on issues such as immigration, reproductive choice, and gun policy. While no one wishes for such challenges, JCPA, the network hub of a community relations network with 75 years under its belt, was made for times like these. Our core strengths – building bridges with other ethnic and religious communities, promoting civil discourse, leveraging the resources of a local network, advocating for ourselves and others – are exactly what will be required to navigate the current political reality. JCPA is unique in several ways: • First, we are an effective central hub. We provide critical training and onboarding, packaging of best practices, and strategic planning support for an affiliate network of 125 local JCRCs. We were an early adopter of webcast technology, allowing us to educate our field and provide extensive, cost-effective training.
• Second, we are a convener. We bring together national organizations and local affiliates to find common ground and to take joint action. When the New York Times published an overtly Antisemitic cartoon last spring, we authored a letter co-signed by scores of Jewish groups, and organized a meeting of national organizations with the Time’s publisher. Being the convener makes us a powerful voice on Jewish interests, and serves as an antidote to polarization. • Third, we are an effective influencer in non-Jewish circles. Some groups focus on very specific Jewish concerns. In addressing both Jewish interests and issues that affect our allies, we leverage our impact across the political, ethnic and religious spectrum. When we are not at the table, we create a vacuum that allows for Antisemitism and anti-Israelism. So what must we do to meet these challenges? • We need to be strategically focused. That means being clear on not only what we do, but what we don’t do. It means making hard choices and focusing on our core value proposition. • We need to strengthen our role as the national network hub for the community relations field, providing greater value to the field. • We need to raise the profile of the organization so that we are more widely known in the Jewish world. We need to become clearer in our brand proposition. As a board, we need to devote ourselves to being more effective brand ambassadors for JCPA. • We need to expand our capacity and diversify our revenue base. JCPA can no longer rely on the largess of the Federation system alone. We must expand our fundraising and identify new sources of income. Today, we do not have sufficient funds to expand our efforts. We must and will change that. We will be engaging with you on this subject during the board meeting. We will share some of our ideas and look forward to hearing yours. Suffice it to say that we can only grow if you, our Board members, give generously and leverage your networks. All of us, myself included, must make JCPA a philanthropic priority.
• Recent leadership changes at the Jewish Federations of North America will require us to redefine our strategic partnership with JFNA in the coming months and years. We look forward to meeting with JFNA’s new CEO Eric Fingerhut later today. • We must continue to refine our governance and ensure that every stakeholder and every Board member is contributing their intellectual, creative, social and financial capital toward the organization's success. We will be spending some time at this Board meeting and in the coming months discussing our path forward. My vision is for JCPA to be at the forefront of insuring the Jewish community’s well-being in America and ensuring that America lives up to its own high ideals. We will do that by being strategically focused and animated by our primary value propositions, by expanding our financial base, by strengthening ties to other key institutions, and by utilizing best practices in governance. I want to take a moment to thank the very hard-working staff and lay leaders that are firing on all cylinders. JCPA has only six staff people. Over the past few months alone they organized a civil rights mission and a border fact finding trip, a mission to Israel with 32 participants, a 4-part education course on Israel to help our advocates across the country, a professional development summer series for JCRCs, and dozens of other webcasts and webinars for the field. I want to thank Randy Whitlach and Magda Schaler Haynes for their leadership in working with Melanie on the Israel Mission. We also have a new cohort of Frank Fellow emerging leaders in place, thanks to Lois and Larry Frank. We are looking to expand our funding for our emerging leaders program and have a few hopeful prospects. We hope to give you good news on that soon. We have a successful criminal justice program, which resulted in the JCRC of New York receiving a $150,000 grant to lead a coalition in New York. And of course, we are in the thick of planning for our annual conference.
We punch way above our weight. And with your help, we will only get stronger.
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