I've
received enthusiastic, positive feedback to my Shabbat-O-Gram from yesterday stating
that the time has come to explore consolidation among the five Fairfield
County federations - and, most significantly, I've heard it from all around
the county, not just Stamford. Ironically, my sentiments were echoed almost
verbatim in an editorial in this week's Connecticut Jewish Ledger entitled,
"Nine is too many." I hadn't seen that editorial until it was pointed out to me
by Ledger's editor, for which I'm grateful. While this topic has been
discussed for years, the timing seems perfect now for something to happen.
I'm delighted to report that
something is. At her request, I am including below an email sent to me by
Nancy Mimoun, Stamford UJF's president. Nancy has been working so hard
to move our community forward during what has been a challenging year, and
I appreciate her efforts and quick response. We are in conversation
about having a public forum at some point soon involving some or all of the
Fairfield Five's professional and lay leaders. As Nancy's email details,
some exciting partnering is already going on behind the scenes.
And as always, the local federation has my - and should have all of our
- complete support.
Shabbat Shalom - and join us for
services this evening (celebrating our graduates) and tomorrow morning, when
we'll be discussing some of the ramifications of the landmark Jewish Community Study of Greater New
York.
From: Nancy Mimoun [mailto:nancy.mimoun@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:30 PM To: Rabbi Joshua Hammerman; Rabbi Joshua Hammerman Cc: Pam Ehrenkranz; Rob Zwang; Steve Friedlander; Steve Wendell; Norman Greenstein; Shellly Katz Subject: 5 Federations of Fairfield County +1
Dear
Josh:
It was ironic that your Shabbat-o-Gram arrived as I was driving back to town
with Steve Friedlander, the executive director of UJA Federation of Westport,
Weston, Wilton and Norwalk (WWWN). He read your email out loud to me while I
was at the wheel. We were heading home from a steering committee meeting of
our Partnership 2Gether. As you may know, the Southern New England Consortium
(SNEC) is comprised of 12 Federations - the 9 in Connecticut and 3 in
Massachusetts. Together with the municipality of Afula and the region of
Gilboa we comprise our Partnership. Not only do we work well together, but
we also pool our funds to create a cooperative region-wide Jewish Federation
presence, maximizing the impact of our charitable support that serves the
people of our adopted region in Israel.
Each of the Federations of Fairfield County do much good for their local
community as well as for the global Jewish community. Needs are accessed,
funds are raised and allocated. The Federations do community building,
programming and educating. In some Federations there are no agencies, in
others, many. Some communities are considered "rich", others not so
much. Lives are changed for the better because of the work each Federation
does. It has been noted however, that 2 or more Federations might be able to
do "it" better together. With that in mind, Jewish Federations of
North America (JFNA) began working with us several months ago to help us
determine exactly how we can cooperate/collaborate/merge.
Just last week, on June 5, the first meeting was held in Westport with
professional and lay representatives from the 5 Fairfield County Federations*
as well as the Jewish
Federation of Western
Connecticut. It was facilitated by two consultants from JFNA. We met for over
4 hours to discuss ways of working together. Prior to the meeting, JFNA
researched our individual Federations and conducted interviews with lay
members of our communities in order to create an audit so we could see just
how similar and/or different we really are.
By the end of the meeting, we came up with several different programs that 2
or more Federations will work on together and open up to the rest of the
Federations. It was also agreed that we need to look deeper, beyond just
collaborating on programming. To do this there will be more meetings
facilitated by JFNA. The possibilities and will are there as well as the
energy behind it. Keeping the status quo is not an option, how to change is
the issue.
UJF of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien is working with the other
Federations and JFNA. Together we will change. Into what? That remains to be
seen. But know that the goal is to become stronger, to be able to do more
good for more Jews locally and globally. While we are working towards this
goal, we still need to meet the needs that are here, in Israel and of our
brethren around the world. To do this, UJF needs your support Josh, and that
of your congregation.
Our local UJF has had a challenging year and we are meeting the challenge
head first.
Thank
you,
Nancy
Mimoun, President
United
Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien
The
5 Federations of Fairfield County are:
UJA
Federation Greenwich
United
Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien
UJA/Federation
Westport, Weston, Wilton, Norwalk
UJA/Federation
of Eastern Fairfield County
The
Jewish Federation of Greater Danbury, CT & Putnam County, NY
|
Author of "Embracing Auschwitz" and "Mensch•Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi - Wisdom for Untethered Times." Winner of the Rockower Award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism and 2019 Religion News Association Award for Excellence in Commentary. Musings of a rabbi, journalist, father, husband, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and self-proclaimed mensch, taken from essays, columns, sermons and thin air. Writes regularly in the New York Jewish Week and Times of Israel.
Friday, June 15, 2012
More on Fairfield County Federations
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