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THREAD: Community 2.0 #JewishFuture
IF you're committed to optimizing the structure and priorities of the American Jewish community, then I encourage you to read my two recent essays @eJPhil focused on taking actionable steps. Here’s the first piece: https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/beyond-coronavirus-connecting-our-communal-conversations/ 1/52
IF you're committed to optimizing the structure and priorities of the American Jewish community, then I encourage you to read my two recent essays @eJPhil focused on taking actionable steps. Here’s the first piece: https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/beyond-coronavirus-connecting-our-communal-conversations/ 1/52
Whether or not it “changes everything forever,” Covid19 does reveal & aggravate deep, longstanding challenges & contradictions facing US Jewish community. I’ve tried to detail some of them, laying out a mechanism to address them & launching an online convo to get us started. 2/52
The wider and more intentional this conversation reaches now, the wider and more relevant our community will be for years to come. No virtual community can fully replace physical settings to worship, study, exercise, socialize, and mobilize. 3/52
But those institutions and social entrepreneurs that thrive by harnessing this online-only season and reimagining Jewish engagement will occupy a larger slice of the communal footprint going forward, even as that footprint may shrink in total size. 4/52
Unless we try to accommodate and connect the countless online communities, this new digital culture will end up fragmenting and dividing us even more than before. 5/52
As in our Millennial-driven digital society, the convos we facilitate will lead nowhere if legacy institutions and major funders try to pre-cook or otherwise control them. At the same time, these conversations won’t be impactful if everyone isn’t equally engaged in them. 6/52
We need to reach out w/i the community and to those who are outside or even unaware of “the community,” to best frame, inform and spin off these conversations. My first piece includes only a partial list of the myriad constituencies and identities comprising U.S. Jewry. 7/52
We need an expansive convo that articulates a conscious social compact: what is “community”; the range of IDs, motivations, expectations; the many roles Israel plays; viability & goals of existing institutions and balance of authority, accountability, access, empowerment. 8/52
We need to ask & listen to what Jews feel and want, and we need to empower them to stay involved. Can we offer young Jews something more than “be Jewish so there will be more Jews,” are we too dependent on extrinsic stimuli like fighting anti-Semitism and supporting Israel? 9/52
Post-Coronavirus: How do we better accommodate the family unit, office-less constituencies, and online participation? Can we integrate “blended” learning, distance learning and home-schooling into a more affordable and sustainable Jewish education? 10/52
In our current political environment, can we find a way to accommodate liberals, conservatives, progressives and Trump supporters all under one community or even within a single synagogue? 11/52
To remain one community, we need to meet people where they are–across lines of religious & political outlook, heritage, race, gender, age, socio-economic situation. Can we break through the silos of disciplines & localities to maximize collaboration & replicate success? 12/52
Would foundations and philanthropists be willing to fund, scale-up and replicate programs that are already successful, instead of challenging hard-strapped organizations to keep inventing new initiatives to fit into exclusive grant requirements? 13/52
When most Jewish philanthropic $$ is landing outside the community, can we find out where it’s being spent? Do we even have a comprehensive list of all our local and national organizations, institutions and startups, along with their programs and participation numbers? 14/52
These questions cannot be answered through opinion polls or focus groups alone; the discussion process must itself be inclusive, transformative, empowering. We need to weave together online platforms, crowdsourcing & local clusters, with facilitators & scholars & funders. 15/52
A secure, accessible, open-source platform could become the online convention hall for the Jewish people. Not every Jew or every entity will show up, but we can do our best for those who do and for those who will follow. 16/52
If Federations convene a diverse array of startups, upstarts and innovators alongside more established institutions and experts, then they will reaffirm their role as the big tent for the Jewish future. But can they? Would they? 17/52
Enter my action plan: https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/just-do-it-a-mechanism-to-get-us-started/
I realize I'm not the first, or even the best, to posit what needs to be discussed & done. But so far, nobody seems to be DOING it. We need a Jewish Moonshot, and–unlike NASA – this probably won’t be originating from the top. 18/52
I realize I'm not the first, or even the best, to posit what needs to be discussed & done. But so far, nobody seems to be DOING it. We need a Jewish Moonshot, and–unlike NASA – this probably won’t be originating from the top. 18/52
Had someone already launched the incubator for an organic, transcendent & comprehensive community strategy, I wouldn’t have bothered with my own push for systemic transformation. No, I’d be clicking “like” and volunteering to help. So let’s do this–together. 19/52
The challenge is in transitioning this conversation from isolated articles & webinars to a larger incubator that moves from talk to grassroots projects and to newer, smarter structures with a sense of greater coordination & shared destiny. 20/52
We don’t need every participant in Jewish life to become a leader or even a “young leader,” but we do need them to be active participants. They must be able to shape and interact in a candid, meaningful way, virtually as well as offline. 21/52
As practitioners & change agents, we also need to interact candidly with each other. Some thematic & practical recommendations for jumpstarting the initial planning & prototypes, and an invitation to join a new online conversation with tangible goals. 22/52
For now, I’ve created a space on my personal website, with relevant resources & a single unified space for comment, discussion, and cross-fertilization – it’s live now, and I encourage people to use it and contribute your ideas and initiative.
https://www.shaifranklin.com/jewish-future-together
23/52
https://www.shaifranklin.com/jewish-future-together
23/52
I offer my own vision & action steps as a way of starting Phase Two. And I offer a modest online starter home for this meta-conversation – the conversation about the convos, and how to turn them into results. 24/52
As Coronavirus restrictions have painfully underscored, Judaism and Jewishness are inherently communal rather than solitary affairs. Forging an expansive and unifying online Jewish presence will be arduous but feasible, and ultimately indispensable. 25/52
Those we call “emerging leaders” need not be young. As much as we teach & train leaders, we also need to be *tapping* leaders. This means identifying people with demonstrable leadership attributes as well as track records. We need to think and become bigger than our whole. 26/52
Our crisis of representativeness and responsiveness limits the quality and volume of Jewish life in America, with the main question being by how much. The second question is whether and how to address it. 27/52
The first stage is getting enough thinkers, stakeholders and doers into the same space, with parallel conversations and working groups that also interconnect. We can begin sharing ideas and identifying priorities & potential mechanisms using my modest prototype. 28/52
The 2nd step will be developing a series of working papers & actionable proposals. We need to create an overall, integrated plan that maximizes reach while economizing the costs–esp. important in the post-pandemic financial landscape. 29/52
In the 3rd step, we need to find and harness sufficient resources–financial and organizational–to build an online platform that integrates existing sites and connects to programs on the ground, nationally as well as locally. 30/52
Let’s be realistic: Establishment organizations vie for mostly the same small pool of young Jewish activists, and many unaffiliated/disaffected Jews are already skeptical they can have any impact or that they should even care about a Jewish future. 31/52
Offering to fund initiatives that get the most online support is one incentive. Maybe a nominal membership fee, matched by sponsors. Contests for public roles could include a weekly turn at curating a crowd-sourced Twitter feed, along the lines of the old @Sweden account. 32/52
Participants would have opportunity to organize affinity groups, exchange views, mobilize for their preferred initiatives. Sponsors can provide the platform and manage the online community, in addition to funding and facilitating grassroots initiatives as warranted. 33/52
The online interface should enable leaders & influencers to assert themselves & develop followings–for themselves & their opinions–and accommodate micro-communities. It should facilitate organic discussion about issues as well as modes of representation. 34/52
We’ll need digital innovators & organizers, along with stakeholders–incl. those who don’t yet see themselves as stakeholders. If the ideal system architecture isn’t available and adaptable off the shelf, then we need to build it from scratch and customize it. 35/52
It will be important, possibly difficult, to consider eligibility criteria for membership, and a mechanism for applying standards (possibly a crowd-selected committee in consultation w/sponsoring groups). But avoiding such issues will only undermine the chance for success. 36/52
Possibly in cooperation with @70FacesMedia, the site could feature guest blogs, weekly surveys, live chats with community leaders & thought-leaders, peer-led initiatives, and funding and crowd-funding mechanisms. 37/52
IMPORTANT: Rather than replace any existing websites or channels of affiliation, this will augment, complement, springboard, and connect among 100s of local & national efforts. Again, we’ll have to offer good reasons for them to tap into this new platform with no walls. 38/52
We can offer potential for increased, visibility, recruitment, funding, partnerships, and vibrancy. It should include portals to other sites with Jewish content and impact, making this the new virtual community homepage for Jews within and outside “the community”. 39/52
This cannot and should not substitute for in-person programs and interactions, for synagogue and JCC attendance. Ideally, it will empower and drive more Jews to our institutions and activities on the ground, and foster greater sustainability over the long run. 40/52
In this 2nd piece, I pose some questions to consider, including: Who & where are all these Jews we’re trying to reach? *How* do we reach them? What value added can we offer to those who are already plugged in? What should we expect from *them*? … 41/52
…What is still missing from American Jewish life, that such an initiative could provide? What’s already successful that we can adopt/incorporate? What wisdom do we need to acquire? 42/52
American Jews are blessed with numerous leadership and governance bodies. The last thing we need is another Jewish or Zionist organization, or one more ultimate leadership training program. 43/52
What we do need is a Jewish public square, with 100 speakers’ corners and 1,000 program booths, and–now, especially–we need it online. 44/52
Again, to be realistic: No existing organization dependent on status, ROI, audience share and funds can easily invest in a campaign that enfranchises and empowers others **who will likely not join or support their organization**. 45/52
This requires a sense of collective & a leap of faith. Is there any entity, even a viral startup, willing to fund or fundraise, staff & sustain a campaign to engage & onboard a million new participants into programs and deliberations that the sponsors will never truly own? 46/52
If organizations & funders have not stepped up before, then we should not expect them to engage in this visioning during a global crisis–at least, not w/o a well-developed blueprint & proposed action plan for them to consider, and buy-in from validators. 47/52
When the legacy institutions and the innovators are ready to either join or coopt the venture, then it will have reached the next phase. And our unique role in this will have succeeded. 48/52
Are we all willing to do what we’ve demanded of our established institutions? Are we any more prepared to let go of our own formulas, exclusive solutions, and personalized visions? 49/52
Can we empower and appreciate, inform & support each other’s insights & dreams, for a common purpose as yet undetermined, which if successful will have all our fingerprints and none of our signatures? 50/52
Can we model for “big box” organizations the same collective, collaborative, expansive, “can do” ethos we demand from *them*? I propose to find out, starting TODAY. 51/52
Our goal at this stage should be to identify constituencies & frameworks to tap into, and synthesize a working paper for consideration by formal & activist groups. If you’re still interested after this thread and reading both essays, then join me: https://www.shaifranklin.com/jewish-future-together /END
