This message has 511 words and will take about 3 minutes to read.

Over the past several weeks I’ve had the pleasure of attending many of our day school graduation ceremonies, and I was struck by the stories that our graduates told about their experiences. Although the graduations were about the students, most of the speeches focused on the incredible work of our teachers. These teachers play a crucial role in the future of our community and we at Federation deeply value their ability to perform their jobs at the highest level. It is these educators who ultimately ensure our Jewish future, which is why we are working alongside our education partners to put in place the right solutions for our community’s future.

In 2013, our Board of Directors established the Jewish Education Task Force to examine the current formal and informal Jewish educational opportunities in our area and to create a framework to guide how we support Jewish education over the next decade. The 10 member task force, chaired by Rob Greenwald and Risa Levine, completed their work this spring and presented our Board with their recommendations to foster innovation, address the educational challenges of our regional communities, and respond to issues of affordability and access faced by our day schools. The report will be shared with the schools over the next few weeks and then released to the community. It contains not just a snapshot of where we are, but recommendations for where we need to go over the next decade.

Here are the broad strokes of those recommendations:

• Sustain and support our community’s existing Jewish educational institutions;
  
• Facilitate innovative development and delivery of Jewish educational opportunities;
  
• Create opportunities for less formal and grassroots organizations to respond to emerging needs;
  
• Support the continuum of Jewish educational choices people have, while at the same time valuing all of the Jewish education options; and
  
• Facilitate opportunities for natural collaborations and partnerships in a way that benefits all of the stakeholders involved.

The task force has asked us to develop the necessary tools and resources to implement their recommendations, and over the next few months we’ll build the plan that will enable us to move forward. Beyond these recommendations, we’ve talked a lot lately at our AGM and in this message about how our Federation has been listening and where we are headed in the future. Have a look at how we’re setting strategic priorities for 2020 and beyond here.

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the task force co-chairs, Rob Greenwald and Risa Levine. Rob and Risa have both played leadership roles in Federation over the years and made significant contributions to the direction and effectiveness of our local allocations process. They brought their strategic thinking, knowledge of the Jewish community, and superb facilitation skills to the work of the task force. The final product is a testament to their hard work and dedication, the benefits of which will be felt throughout our community for years to come.

Mazel tov to all our recent grads. Next stop: camp!

Shabbat Shalom,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver