Shooting Hoops for a Good Cause

(from left) Phil Ginsburg, SF Recreation and Parks General Manager; Jennifer Gorovitz, JCF CEO and SF Mayor Ed Lee

On Thursday, October 10^th at the Betty Ong Chinese Recreation Center, approximately 70 kids, 5 basketball players and a coach split up in groups to practice a different basketball techniques.  This was all part of Haifa Hoops for Kids, an event that raised money for a nonprofit in Northern Israel serving disadvantaged and special needs children.  The special basketball clinic was attended by local urban youth basketball enthusiasts and kids from the Jewish Community High School and Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

(from left) Consul General Dr. Andy David and son Ron, Maccabi Haifa assistant coach Rami Hadar, Maccabi players Anton Shoutvin (5), Bryan Cohen (8), SF Mayor Ed Lee, Lior Segev (10), JCF CEO Jennifer Gorovitz, Alex Chubrevitch (9), Maccabi Haifa owner Jeffrey Rosen, and team staff.

This was no ordinary gathering.  Jennifer Gorovitz, the Federation CEO, acted as the emcee with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Consul General of Israel, Dr. Andy David,  Chair of San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee, Arthur Wachtel and General Manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department , Phil Ginsburg.

Maccabi Haifa vs. The Golden State Warriors 

The following day, Thursday, October 11th, Maccabi Haifa played a preseason game with the Golden State Warriors at the Oakland Arena. Maccabi Haifa Basketball team, one of the oldest basketball teams in Israel, and a recent re-joiner of Israel’s top league ligat ha’al, made a rare visit to the Bay Area.

Over 8,000 came to enjoy the international scrimmage and after a solid game with the leading score bouncing back and forth between the Golden State and Haifa, the game ended 108 to 100 in favor of the warriors.

Watch our video featured on the jumbotron mid-game:

Thursday’s game shed light on the similarities between San Francisco and our Israeli Sister City. With a metropolitan population of over 600,000, Haifa is northern Israel’s premiere seaport. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, Haifa enjoys a similar Mediterranean climate as San Francisco. “San Francisco has a lot in common with Haifa, more than you would think,” said Federation CEO, Jennifer Gorovitz. “Exposing our kids to Maccabi Haifa is a great way to get their minds thinking about Israel.”

In the end, all agreed that when the Bay Area plays Haifa, either team’s win would be celebrated.

Maccabi Haifa’s visit is sponsored by the SF-Based Jewish Community Federation, the Israel Center, and is co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel, The Jewish Community Relations Council, the San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee, The Jewish Community federation of the East bay and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.

Ten questions that will get you thinking

Where have you been? Where are you going? What values do you want to take on the journey ahead?

With the value of reflection all too often lost in today’s fast-paced society, here’s an easy way for people of all backgrounds to slow down and examine their lives in a meaningful way.  Reboot and the SF Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund are partnering again this year on 10Q, a project that provides a cutting-edge way to commemorate the High Holidays, and provides an easy way to reflect, react, and renew by answering 10 of life’s biggest questions online. We are inviting the entire Bay Area community to share their views and visions for the upcoming year.

HOW IT WORKS
Register now on http://doyou10q.com and starting September 16, 2012, a question will land in your email inbox on each of the following ten days. Respond to each question securely online either immediately or after discussion with family and friends. Each answer gets sent to the secure online 10Q vault for safekeeping. One year later, the vault will open and your answers will land back in your email inbox for private reflection. Next year the whole process begins anew.

An Investment in Hope

Vera and Sophie Pesotchinsky

In 1976, at the height of the Cold War, Sophia Pesotchinsky and her family fled the Soviet Union. They arrived in the U.S. as refugees with a toddler, significant language barriers, no place to live, nor jobs awaiting them, and about $300 to start their lives over. And yet, with one obstacle larger than the next, they overcame them all. Sophia went on to co-create three life science companies and her husband Leon became a professor of mathematics at UCSB and San Jose State University.

Indeed, theirs is an inspiring American success story, but when you ask Sophia about life’s challenges she immediately shifts the conversation to the most courageous person she knows, her daughter, Vera.

Vera was diagnosed with Late Onset Tay-Sachs disease eleven years ago. Since that time, despite the unrelenting toll of her illness, she has received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Wellesley College and Santa Clara University, worked in marketing for her family business, and has embraced life with dignity, great humor, and not a trace of self-pity.

“She is an inspiration to everyone – and I mean everyone she meets,” said Sophia. But mercilessly, her condition rages on. So Sophia decided to do whatever she could to help in her daughter’s fight. Thus, she established a Donor Advised Fund, dedicated to the eradication of Tay-Sachs and other degenerative neurological diseases. “If there is one thing I want people to know about our DAF it is that I believe it is helping us get closer to combating this disease. I’m an engineer, I analyze things. I don’t work in dreams. And the scientific breakthroughs we’ve had in the last six years, particularly with gene therapy, have given us real hope – not just for a cure for my daughter, but for people who struggle with any genetic neurological diseases. The first clinical studies are scheduled for the beginning of 2013.”

Of course, running a business, being involved with the Tay Sachs Gene Therapy consortium, and tending to the needs of her family doesn’t give Sophia a lot of time to take on the responsibilities of operating her own philanthropic foundation. “I’m a very busy person,” said Sophia. “So that’s why I set up my DAF with JCF. It was incredibly easy and it has allowed me to focus on what I need to focus on to stop this disease.”

To learn more or contribute to Sophia’s Fund #797 call 650.248.9630 or email sophia@lsvpusa.com.

As Sophia has done, supporting causes that are personally meaningful through DAFs has become increasingly popular. Today more and more donors are using DAFs to honor loved ones and celebrate lifecycle events such as weddings, b’nai mitzvahs, memorials and graduations.

For information on DAFs contact Ruth Bender at 415.512.6205 or email RuthB@sfjcf.org.

How Do You Feel About Synagogues?

As the Synagogue-Federation Partnership moves into its second year, we would like to engage the community in an ongoing discussion about the future of the synagogues in our community. This next phase of our partnership will be a time to push the conventional boundaries of the synagogue and catalyze provocative thoughts from the community. This discussion will look at national trends in synagogue life as well as local innovative efforts.

We’d like to hear how you feel about your relationship – or lack of relationship – with a synagogue.

Will you help us by answering 6 short questions?

Starting the Conversation: Engaging More Families in Jewish Life in the South Peninsula

In late July, seventy people gathered at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto.  It was mid-day, mid-week, in mid-summer but the room was buzzing with energy.  The crowd was eager to commence a community conversation on how to engage more families in Jewish Life on the South Peninsula.

SEE ALL THE EVENT PHOTOS IN OUR FACEBOOK ALBUM

The event was part of the South Peninsula Regional Impact Committee’s grantmaking process.  The Committee is one of JCF’s new regional grantmaking bodies employing innovative, high-impact grantmaking methods, aiming to achieve measurable impact and positive change in the local Jewish community.

Committee members, a group of 16 people from a variety of ages, backgrounds and denominations, had come together over the prior months to narrow options for which community challenge to focus this year’s grant round.  This year’s issue for the South Peninsula — “engaging families”– reflects a growing concern.  Each generation of Jews (with the exception of the Orthodox) is less and less engaged in their Jewish heritage and culture, and therefore less connected to one other and our Jewish community.  At the same time, many in the South Peninsula are looking for connection and relationships with like-minded people who share an interest in participating in Jewish life.

Who better to ask than the residents themselves?

The Committee invited the community and potential grantees to share in dialogue. The goal: for community members, the committee and those working on grant proposals to be in same room, associating with one another and gaining a deeper understanding of some of our local community challenges.  What works?  What is broken? What are some compelling solutions?

Each of nine small table groups sat immersed in deep discussion.  People were chatting with strangers from various areas of the Jewish community, having conversations and finding common ground with people who don’t intersect in their daily lives.

“The event was conceived of to enrich the proposal development process.  What we didn’t anticipate was how the conversation itself would be a meaningful connection for so many of us who were there.” ~ Adina Danzig Epelman, Program Officer, Regional Grantmaking

At the close of the session, participants were asked to share one word that described what they were thinking or feeling.

Connection.  Hopeful.  Possibility.  Relationship.  Empowered. Collaboration. Pride and Joy.

These were just some of the responses.  These words, and the significant attendance confirms that we are headed in the right direction.  Local Jews are hungry to connect and eager to share ideas.

This first South Peninsula Impact Grant Initiative (IGI) round will grant $500,000 over the coming three years. And we hope the next grant round will motivate even more conversation and collaboration.  There is much to do.  And it’s reassuring to know that there are so many of us out there who are interested and willing to add their voice.

IGI applicants meet members of the granting committee to ask questions and learn about the grantmaking process.

The On-Going Success of the Synagogue-Federation Partnership

Local synagogues reported dramatic operational improvements at last week’s Synagogue Federation Partnership convening at Beth Israel Judea in San Francisco. Three “capacity-building” projects supported in large part by the JCF have led to substantial progress in fundraising, planned giving and membership. The August 26th convening was an opportunity to reflect on the remarkable results the Partnership has achieved so far and hear from community leaders and professionals how to further grow the impact of the Partnership.

Congregation B’nai Emunah

“We have never received support like this and are thrilled to have resources brought to our congregation,” says Bonnie Lindauer, whose synagogue, Congregation B’nai Emunah, is one of eight participating in the Membership Initiative, which connects local synagogues and nonprofits to experts in the field of fundraising and membership development. “It gives us renewed energy and a burst of ideas.”

The second capacity building project, the Fundraising Initiative, has helped seven participating synagogues to increase their annual campaigns by an average of over 57%.

The third effort, the Community Legacy Project, has seen 16 partner organizations raise more than $24 million in planned gifts. The leadership at these organizations held legacy conversations with 599 potential donors and received 324 commitments for future gifts.

The three projects have been so successful that JCF and community leaders have committed the resources to extend the initial two-year term of these vibrant and productive efforts.

Learn more about the Synagogue-Federation Partnership by contacting Rabbi Marvin Goodman, JCF Rabbi in Residence, at MarvinG@sfjcf.org.

Jewish Coalition for Literacy Enriches Lives and Builds Relationships

By Isabel Duarte-Gray, Program Assistant at the Jewish Community Relations Council

The night before Jerilyn Gelt learned about the Jewish Coalition for Literacy, she enjoyed an unexpected phone conversation with the 10-year-old daughter of a family friend. “I asked her why she was up so late, and she said ‘I’m reading a book,’” explained Jerilyn. “I asked ‘Isn’t it fun when you find an author you really like?’ And she said, ‘Yes, and sometimes I like to be in the book!’”

The next day, Jerilyn attended services for Rosh Hashanah, where her Rabbi addressed the role of Jews as the “People of the Book” and encouraged his congregation to consider volunteering at the Jewish Coalition for Literacy. Remembering the vitality and enthusiasm of the child she’d spoken to the night before, Jerilyn quickly signed up to volunteer with JCL as a tutor.

Jerilyn and her former JCL tutee, Jamila Grizzard, at Jamila’s high school graduation in May.

Jerilyn is one of hundreds of Jewish Coalition for Literacy volunteers who are trained and placed with K-3 students in underserved Bay Area public schools and after-school programs. The program offers an hour of individual literacy training per week to over 1,000 local public school students, distributes thousands of new and gently used children’s books to its partner schools and students, and hosts multilingual training workshops to help parents of JCL students bring the love of reading home. JCL is a wonderful opportunity for Jewish community members to practice Tikkun Olam and help support under-resourced California public school systems in their own neighborhoods.

When Jerilyn joined JCL twelve years ago, she was searching for something “more meaningful” from her community outreach work. These days, Jerilyn has her hands full, serving as President of the  Jewish Community Relations Council,  but she still makes time for tutoring through the Jewish Coalition for Literacy. “It’s invaluable,” she explained.

“I’d guess that most of the children tutored by JCL volunteers rarely if ever  get to spend an hour a day or even a half hour a day with an adult who focuses just on them.”

Jewish Coalition for Literacy tutors have produced remarkable results. Teachers report that JCL students increase an average of three reading levels per school year. Moreover, 95% of JCL pupils show improvement in reading comprehension, 97% become more motivated to read in class, and 95% demonstrate more confidence in their ability to read aloud. With more than half of California children in the 4^th grade reading below grade level, the Jewish Coalition for Literacy provides much-needed support to children during a crucial period in their development. Jerilyn can attest to the lasting impact of JCL’s program first-hand, as she recently attended the high school graduation of one of her former JCL students.

Jerilyn began tutoring Jamila Grizzard through JCL when Jamila had just begun the fourth grade at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, a public elementary school in San Francisco’s Castro district.  Although Jamila struggled with reading disabilities, she and Jerilyn persevered and she showed steady improvement. At the end of the school year, Jamila and her mother asked Jerilyn to continue tutoring her, which she did through Middle School and even occasionally in high school . For the next eight years, the two met in libraries, at the Boys and Girls club, and even on weekends to study and enjoy cultural events. One week they’d work on a presentation for social studies, the next they would explore the San Francisco Arboretum. This spring, Jerilyn looked on proudly as Jamila accepted her high school diploma and was accepted to San Francisco City College. She will be the first member of her family to attend college when she begins this fall.

The Jewish Coalition for Literacy provides more than reading resources and support to underserved communities—it enriches the lives of all its participants, tutors and students alike. “The [JCL] experience is really beyond giving money,” Jerilyn emphasized. “It’s giving of your time, and I think that the more time you give with these little kids, the more you see it matters.”

Become a JCL tutor
Register for one of the upcoming free tutor training workshops at www.jclread.org.

The Jewish Coalition for Literacy is funded in part by a $95,000 JCF annual grant and is a joint project of Jewish Community Relations Council and the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

JCF Increasing Capacity Through Pro-Bono Consultancy

One of JCF’s most effective capacity building strategies is our pro-bono services that leverage the expertise of professionals in the Jewish community on behalf of Jewish nonprofits. Recently, we chatted with Sarah Levin, Executive Director of Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) and Tracy Akresh, a professional coach, whom we connected with Sarah as a pro-bono executive coach. The below interview describes their experience, both receiving and giving pro-bono help.

What motivated you to seek pro-bono consulting help through the Federation?

Sarah Levin: As a small non-profit organization, with room to grow in nearly every direction, the pro-bono consulting service provided by the Federation was irresistible.  With room to define our needs and determine our own objectives with the consultant, we received impactful and incredibly effective support. What small, growing non-profit wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to receive professional, pro-bono consulting services?

With room to define our needs and determine our own objectives with the consultant, we received impactful and incredibly effective support. -Sarah Levin

Tracy Akresh: As an executive coach and owner of unpackingthebox professional coaching, I am always looking for new opportunities to expand my coaching offering and help new clients. When I met Bab Freiberg, the Director of Strategic Consulting at the Jewish Community Federation, I was impressed by the proposal to provide coaching and consulting services to executive directors at Jewish organizations. Executive Directors often do not have the time and resources to get the training and coaching that is so critical to the senior leadership of any organization. I felt I was in a unique position to really help make a difference. I have 15 years of hands-on leadership experience at large companies such as Ernst & Young, JPMorgan, Esurance, and Hewlett Packard. I like working with experienced, emerging, and transitioning leaders who are looking to be better at what they do while gaining more work/life balance and personal satisfaction. This opportunity allows me to help experts in their field become expert in business and team management. I focus on helping leaders re-think leadership behaviors, cultivate unique strengths, apply business best practices, take planful action, and focus on what they truly love. This program is a great opportunity to help build stronger organizations for the Jewish community.

Executive Directors often do not have the time and resources to get training and coaching — I felt I was in a unique position to really help make a difference. -Tracy Akresh

What results/impact did you get out of the experience?

SL: Tracy provided our office with new tools to utilize our individual strengths in the workplace. On an organization level, she provided us with useful templates and various resources to help our internal operations and general management.  Additionally, she helped facilitate our annual board retreat which was incredibly useful.

TA:  Jimena (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) is very special agency.  Because I am Sephardic I felt aligned with the mission of the organization. While the content of our engagement is confidential, the director set up her goals early in the coaching process. We focused on identifying and cultivating her unique strengths and leadership practices so that she could be an even more effective leader. From a technical perspective we reviewed goals and objective setting, staff and board development, motivation, accountability, and project prioritization. We also integrated strategic planning for the organization and performance management into our discussions. We were able to make a lot of progress in just a few short months.

Would you seek pro-bono consulting help again?

SL: Yes – receiving support and guidance from an objective outside consultant was a fantastic and useful experience.

TA: I would happily serve the community again as a pro-bono consultant. This program builds good will in the community and through executive coaching, we are building stronger organizations by developing talent at the director and executive levels. This type of coaching also allows agencies to reduce expenses and potentially increase business. Professional consultants typically charge $150-$300/hour for this type of work.  Elevating a director’s leadership skills can create more time to focus on programing and fundraising.

For further information about Federation’s pro-bono practice–visit www.jewishfed.org/probono or contact JCFProBono@sfjcf.org.

An Opportunity to Listen at the Community Roundtables

We ran an experiment at the recent Jewish Community Celebration – Israel in the Gardens. A section of Yerba Buena Gardens was set aside for roundtable discussions. Members of our community were welcome to sit and share their personal perspectives on our community, and most importantly, to listen to one another. The result was a deeply meaningful experience for each participant as they were able to express their views without being criticized or judged. “I know that for me personally the experience absolutely opened my eyes to views and voices I’ve never really listened to,” said Nathan Pam, Community Roundtable Coordinator.

Over and over again participants expressed a feeling of fracture in our community, and that fissures in the community needed to be fixed.  When a particular discussion veered toward Israeli politics, Danny Gal, the facilitator, gently brought the conversation back to how this related to the local community. Suddenly everyone, despite their political views, nodded in unison. They agreed. They were all voicing essentially the same concerns through uniquely colored lenses. We all want a strong, vibrant and flourishing community. We want to feel welcome and to welcome others. We want a connection to a strong, just, and safe Israel. And we want to heal.

“When I invited people to refer to their lives here in the Bay Area they could let go for a minute of their different political views and see what unites them as a community,” said Danny. “It felt like everyone wanted to find a way to keep us together as one community although there are so many differences among us.”

Danny has led similar events on a much larger scale all around the world, including in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. Anyone who attended a session at Israel in the Gardens could see how incredibly skilled he is at excavating people’s deepest concerns, airing them out, and somehow, against all odds, getting people to find common ground and understanding. He hosted three sessions throughout the day, each beginning with a series of three questions posed to participants:

1. Share a personal story in which you felt proud of being part of the Bay Area Jewish community.
2. What worries you or what is your concern regarding your being part of the community?
3. What are the practical ideas and actions that you are willing to take to address these challenges?

Each session concluded with a “check-out process,” in which participants were asked to say one word that represented how they felt after the conversation. People said: hope, open, wow, power of listening, together is better, taken, thank you, connected.

For Nathan, the roundtable coordinator, it was refreshing to hear people’s innermost concerns being expressed so openly. “I don’t think a single person left the tables feeling the same way about their community as they did when they first sat down,” he said.

Be a Part of The Power of Community

When you give, you are sending a message that the Jewish people both take care of each other, and strive to improve the world.

We are approaching the end our 2012 Campaign – the collective effort that allows us to make a greater impact and ensure a vibrant Jewish community locally, in Israel, and around the world.  With less than 1 week to go before the close of the 2012 Campaign on June 30, every act of support, every gift, makes a difference.

With your help, we make grants to solve challenges that effect our entire community, and offer donors a range of options to connect their giving with issues that align with their passions. Contributions of any amount provide support to those who need our help most, ranging from aid to Jews in need, connecting our people and resources on the ground in Israel, and ensuring that our diverse community and its children are able to build a welcoming and meaningful relationship with their heritage and values.

Please join me in giving as generously as you can. We can do good individually, but when we work together, we are an even greater force for change.

With warm regards,

Jennifer Gorovitz

CEO, Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund