Other federations praise studies by Yacoubian Research

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2009-01-01T00:00:00

Alan E. Klugman is the executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area in California.

Youcoubian Research completed a demographic study for that community in the spring of 2008.

“We felt their (Yacoubian’s) approach is more basic, more of a no-frills approach, so that the document we got at the end was something we could really work with,” said Klugman.

Palm Springs, which today is a community of about 18,000 Jews, commissioned a study 10 years ago that was done by another company.

Comparing the two study experiences Klugman said, “We are very satisfied with the product and the whole process of working with them (Yacoubian)….Our expectations were more realistic because of what they prepared us for.”

Steven J. Edelstein heads the Jewish federation in Nashville, Tenn., where this a Jewish population of about 8,000. Yacoubian did a study there in 2002.

Edelstein also was pleased by Yacoubian’s work; he made special note of their willingness to follow-up.

He said that about two months ago someone requested a category of information from the six-year-old study that had not previously been compiled.

“I called Berje (Yacoubian) and got it a few days later,” said Edelstein.

Edelstein said the Yacoubian study has had a long shelf life.

“We still use it as a reference,” he said.