How local JCCs are reinventing themselves for changing times
Originally published in The Jewish News of Northern California
The Contra Costa Jewish Community Center finds itself, in the words of board president Larry Jacobs, “in startup mode.” More than a dozen years after money problems forced the East Bay nonprofit to abruptly close its doors — it now operates as a largely volunteer-driven “JCC without walls” — the board welcomed a new executive director in March to steer the center forward and hopefully position it as a model of agility and innovation. “Our future is only limited by our imagination at this point,” Jacobs said. “We can be whoever we want to be, and it’s a very exciting moment.”
The Contra Costa JCC is not alone in its optimism. As Bay Area JCCs continue to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, they are now in a position to reimagine themselves. They’re opening satellite campuses to widen their geographic reach, forging multiple partnerships to attract new people and expanding virtual programming that became a hit during the pandemic.
A 2019 study from Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Jewish Modern Studies, called “Innovating JCCs,” stated that the leaders of the most successful JCCs “use data, they listen to people and they ask questions. They give their staff permission to try new things. They understand that innovation is not a once-and-done activity. They follow a path of incremental innovation, building from one step to the next as it becomes apparent. They are continuously on the lookout for competitive advantage and future trends.”
New Contra Costa JCC director Yana Berger, who started in March, said it’s too early to forecast what the organization will look like in the years to come. The JCC could once again find itself inhabiting a dedicated physical space, Berger said. Or it could continue to function, as it does now, wherever programming takes it — to local living rooms, to partner synagogues and beyond. No matter what, Contra Costa County residents will have a major hand in shaping the region’s JCC of tomorrow, according to Berger and board president Jacobs.
