Report to the Community: April 2018

Hello & Happy Spring Eastside Jewish Community! We hope you had a joyous Passover celebrating freedom and family.

The Eastside Jewish Commons has a lot of progress to report!

Architect Selection    We are reviewing proposals from six architects who were referred to the EJC steering committee. The selected architect will help with space planning, conceptual renderings, and technical assistance with the property search.

Community Partnerships    We are holding a  series of conversations with Jewish community organizations that are the most likely users of the planned EJC. These meetings are helping to develop scenarios for EJC usage, size, and specific building needs. We are inviting Jewish community organizations to join an “EJC Community Partnership Panel” to oversee robust EJC programming.

Business Plan Development     The EJC Steering Committee has put together a Business Plan work group and is also engaging community advisors to evaluate work in progress.

Governance   The EJC has begun the process of transitioning to an official non-profit organization. We have selected Mia Birk to serve as our Chair. Mia brings to her role a strong background in business, government and non-profits, involvement in the Jewish community, and 25 years on the eastside.

We welcome three new steering committee members: Joshua (Shua) Bar-Lev, Lesley Sacks and Robyn Tenenbaum. Shua is a retired green energy executive and attorney; Lesley is a health care professional and Jewish community leader; Robyn is the co-founder and former Executive Producer of Live Wire. Steve Albert, in his capacity as Executive Director of the MJCC, is transitioning from the steering committee to the EJC Community Partnership Panel. The updated steering committee roster is provided on our website.

Coming soon: Info about EJC summer events.