Jewish Federation of Cincinnati

Danielle V. Minson — Raising the Bar

This monthly report from CEO Shep Englander features topics of interest to the Cincinnati Jewish community and the work of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.

I am struck this month by the fruit borne from investing in the development of our professional and lay leaders, and in working together as a community across organizations. Investing in excellent professional and lay leaders has been one of Cincinnati’s unique recipes for a strong community going back over a century. We are fortunate to live in a community that has strong, visionary leaders—both in our Jewish organizations and in our city. And we are empowered by the work Jewish Cincinnati organizations are doing—together.

Success Story (Times Three)—Nowhere is the value of developing of our professional staff more evident at the Federation than in our promotion of Lindsey Wade to Chief of Staff. Lindsey’s career at the Federation is the model for our commitment to talent management, which is one of the Federation’s priority goals. Lindsey has always gone beyond her job description, focusing on the needs of the whole organization and on the community she loves. She has remarkable ability to integrate detailed systems with big goals in a collaborative, effective, and passionate way. 

Another shining example of talent management, this time across Cincinnati Jewish organizations, is the hiring of Liz Vogel as the CEO of Jewish Family Service. Liz comes to JFS from Cedar Village, where she was the Director of Sales and Marketing.

“She is planful, analytical, entrepreneurial, and exhibits important empathic qualities ensuring that Jewish Family Service will strengthen even more lives in times of need.” – JFS President Larry Juran.

I’m excited to hear Liz’s vision for JFS when she begins January 22 and to work (quite literally) alongside her.

Rockwern Academy has announced its hire of Rabbi Laura Baum as its new Head of School. I’d like to share more details about Laura, included in this official release. She is returning to Cincinnati (where she was a Rabbi at Beth Adam) from Boston, where she is the associate vice president of Learning and Engagement at Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP). She begins in July, with the enthusiastic support of the Rockwern administration and community.

All three are talented women whose careers have been advanced within our community. Mazel Tov to these bright, forward-thinking women who will certainly make an impact on our community in 2018!

A Seat (or Three) at the Table—Jewish Cincinnati’s leaders are making an impact in our larger Cincinnati community as well. For the first time in memory, three JCRC board members were elected to Cincinnati City Council:

• G. Sittenfeld
• Greg Landsman
• Jeff Pastor

Landsman and Pastor are new councilmembers, along with Tamaya Dennard, an African-American woman whose swearing in pictures went viral last week when she used a red folding chair, a nod to Shirley Chisolm, the first African-American woman elected to Congress, who famously said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” I’m encouraged to see fresh, dynamic, diverse faces on city council working alongside trusted veterans. And I’m thankful that with three JCRC board members on council, we truly have a seat at the table.

The power of collaboration—I’m excited to share with you details of a community-wide emergency mass notification system, being implemented by SAFE Cincinnati, in partnership with Cincinnati Jewish organizations, including the Mayerson JCC. The SAFE Cincinnati Committee, which is composed of security and emergency response experts and community leaders, vetted and approved the system, which provides a reliable, easy way to send important messages to many people at once on a wide variety of devices and receive immediate responses with critical details. Thanks to SAFE Cincinnati Director Ken Wall, whose senior and diverse FBI and intelligence experience, is helping guide the implementation.

Extraordinary Vision and Generosity—I had the opportunity to go on a hard hat tour of the new Holocaust & Humanity Center, under construction at Union Terminal. Their vision and execution are inspired, and I can’t wait to experience it with the rest of the community when it opens in 2019. The creation of the new museum is made possible, in large part, by the extraordinary $5 million gift by David and Nancy Wolf. Because of their generosity, the new HHC exhibit will bear their name.

I’d like to invite you to the Opening Night of the Jewish and Israeli Film Festival on February 1 at the 20^th Century Theater in Oakley. This year’s lineup is a celebration of Israel at 70, including an opening night curtain talk with Galit Roichman, Israeli film expert and screenwriter. Thanks to Fred and Kathy Kanter for chairing Israel at 70, and sponsors including Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Joffe, Fifth Third Bank, and The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati.

The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati: We look at the whole picture, taking into account the diverse needs of the entire community. Together we can do almost anything.