Community Engagement:  Why does it matter?

Federation regularly reviews who makes up our community and what their needs and interests are so it can:

• Maximize community resources
• Increase Jewish community involvement
• Sustain Jewish identity for today and for the future

In 2003, Federation commissioned a study on Jewish engagement that showed:

• 49% of the Jews in the Washington area (nearly half) do not feel connected to the local Jewish community.

That means only half of the Jewish community participates in services we support, including:

• Synagogues
• Jewish preschools and day schools
• Jewish summer camps
• Jewish Community Centers
• Jewish Federation initiatives

What is our response?
To stem the tide of disengagement, we have set the following goals:

• Increase the number of Jews who feel connected from 51% to 65% by the year 2016
• Implement effective measures to find, reach, engage, and welcome into the fold at least 40,000 more Jewish individuals

To meet these goals, we are:

• Holding community-wide meetings
• Launching a fundraising campaign targeting engagement, which has raised $850,000 in each of its 2 pilot years
• Created a Strategic Plan for Engagement to provide overall direction and strategy for our efforts
• Created an Implementation Plan to highlight issue, target key populations and explore innovative approaches