Making an Impact in FY2025, Here’s What’s To Come
July 12, 2024 | Events
By Jewish Connection Network
From relationship-building to programming, strategy to professional development, we have so much to look forward to in Fiscal Year 2025. Take a peek at our top 5 plans for the coming year.
1. A New Way to Program
What if we stopped assuming what people want out of Jewish community and instead started bringing their ideas to life in partnership with them? This year, we are diving into co-creation: planning experiences with and for the community based on their input.
2. Measuring Engagement
Like many Jewish communal organizations, our mandate is to engage people in Jewish life—but how do we know if we’re successful? We’re piloting new tools to measure engagement so we know if community members are more connected with each other, with Judaism and with Jewish community as a result of being involved with our organization.
3. More Connectors!
Our Community Connector program is our core strategy to reach the under-engaged and under-represented members of our Jewish community. Out on the front lines, our Connectors are paid volunteers who are trained in building relationships with people in similar life stages, geographic regions, and/or shared identities. This year, we will increase our number of Connectors from 30 to 40, including an increase in our Partner Connectors, who strengthen community within—and introduce new people to—local Jewish organizations.
4. Focus on the Next Chapter
National research from Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) shows that people over age 55 often feel disconnected from Jewish life. While this age bracket is wide and includes many life stages and interests, we aim to navigate it, listening and learning so we can provide meaningful opportunities for these folks to connect or re-connect to Jewish life and community.
5. Increasing our Expertise
This year, five members of our team will earn certificates in Relationship-Based Engagement from NYU through a pilot program from Assembly and Na’aleh. Putting our agency value of “Innovate and Grow” into action are excited to continue learning together.
Our hard work has already begun to make these plans a reality. We can’t wait to bring all this and more to the Baltimore Jewish community in the next year.