Task force identifies local education priorities

By DEBORAH MOON

article created on: 2010-02-25T00:00:00

After more than a year of intense work, the Jewish Education Task Force has developed four proposals that it hopes will excite the community and motivate it to develop an ever-improving system of Jewish education.
    
“Portland really is positioned to have an outstanding system of Jewish education,” said Hank Kaplan, who co-chaired the task force with Marcia Weiss. “It just needs some additional planning and financial commitment to get there.”
    
In July 2008, the Leadership Council convened by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland with representation from all segments of the community, launched a series of meetings to collaborate on plans for Portland’s Jewish future in four areas: Jewish education, outreach and engagement, health and human services, and Israel and overseas. After each meeting, a task force was created to look at the respective area in depth.
    
The first task force to begin meeting, the Jewish Education Task Force, was also the first to complete its work. An executive summary of their conclusions and recommendations appears on page 10. A full copy of the report is available online at www.jewishportland.org.
    
The four proposals, which the task force did not prioritize, are: Create an educational ombudsperson to provide community-wide educational support; develop community-wide educational teen programming; develop and market a community-wide integrated Web site; and develop a community educational scholarship fund.
    
“Nothing in here is revolutionary or new to Jewish education in this country,” said Kaplan of the report. “But these are solid plans that have worked elsewhere and that the task force feels would work well here.”
    
“Education has always been an entry point for community involvement,” said Kaplan. “It strengthens us like nothing else. It has sustained us for 3,000 years.”
    
“I am hoping a donor or group of donors will get excited about enabling the community to do something special for its educational system,” he said.
    
Weiss agreed wholeheartedly with her co-chair: “Our goal is to inspire funders to positively impact the Jewish community of Portland. We’ve done the research so you (donors) can use your money wisely far into the future.”
    
That research was done by the task force’s 19 members, including representatives from all the denominations and both Jewish day schools.
    
“We did a tremendous amount of work phoning cities around the country that were known for their educational programs,” said Weiss, adding, “I admire the people who were at the table. They were an impressive group of community members and educators who care deeply about Jewish education.”
    
Weiss said members studied what already exists in Portland and researched what could be done to fill the holes.
    
While some pieces of the four proposals already exist—for instance a JFGP Innovation Grant funded a Portland Jewish Leadership Initiative that is planning some community-wide teen programs this year—the consensus of the task force was that these four areas need to become parts of the community’s collective vision for the future.
    
“It seems clear that education funding is most effective when there is a plan and a shared vision,” said Kaplan. “So we tried to come up with a consensus of what that shared vision should be for at least the next three to five years.”
    
Weiss emphasized a shared vision and shared resources do not mean all programs will teach the same material.
    
“The Orthodox will still be Orthodox and the Reform will still be Reform, but we can help them share resources,” said Weiss.
     
“We want to link the silos of Jewish education and help them share resources and be effective with the resources we have.”
    
“We would like to excite a funder or multiple funders to realize they can do something fundamental to help the community,” she concluded.
    
For more information on any of the proposals, contact Kaplan or Weiss through the JFGP at 503-245-6219. Donors interested in helping fund any of the proposals should contact JFGP Campaign Director Jen Feldman at 503-245-6449 or jen@jewishportland.org.