Over the past months I have watched my town (yes, it really is a town, with sidewalks, pedestrians and outdoor cafes) and by extension, the community it serves, lose more than a few independent and valued local merchants. Gone are a family run luggage shop and a sporting goods merchant, a boutique shoe store, a children’s clothing shop and a gift shop that closed up by posting a sign on their window for their new online business web address. The double punch of a difficult economy and the fast growth of online commerce did them in.
They say the economy is starting to revive but for many businesses that failed, the way back to the consumer may be one that does not include a storefront. Barnes and Noble recently announced it may close many of its 700 outlets, a move Borders Books has already taken.
In my town, what remains are banks, real estate offices, restaurants, a couple of supermarkets, a news stand, several coffee shops, a barber shop, hair and nail salons, and one brave surviving independent book store.
I am no futurist but the changes I see (which are probably representative of towns all over the country) make me wonder if the town as we have all lived it is over. The local stores served us not only with all the basics of everyday life, they also gave us a place to bump into friends and neighbors, catch up on family and community life, find out who had moved in and who was leaving, hear about the new fifth grade teacher, the great yoga class, the wonderful junior rabbi who just arrived. … If these access points are gone what will hold our communities together? Facebook and Twitter cannot be the only answer.
The question for those of us interested in sustaining our communities should be: “What and who will make the most compelling argument to motivate people to leave their efficient, insular digital homes and offices and venture out into the community? Who will be ready to be the Jewish Starbucks meeting place?”
Leave out the necessities – hospitals, schools, grocery stores (oh, scratch that – you can get food delivered), synagogues (oh, for those who seek it, you can find services streamed to you online), the post office (oh, that one is just about finished anyway) the health club (oops, there is WiiFit for that) – and you are left with the barber, the beauty salon, and lots of restaurants to feed our inert bodies.
So, where does that leave our Jewish community? We have the infrastructure in our community centers, synagogues and federations but are they too at risk of disappearing? If the town square moves online to serve the global village, who is stepping in and up to fill an increasingly vacant urban landscape? Will there be reason for a town? For bricks and mortar buildings? What will our towns look like in 10-15 years?
Every synagogue, community center, school, senior center leader has to ask “What are we doing that is so interesting, so compelling that people will make the effort to come out and participate?” The challenge is to figure out how to be an essential part of the life of the community and then leverage the technology to engage, inform and ultimately entice people to step into it.
While we still have the last days of summer to ruminate about life in general, take a look at how you communicate with your community. Is your web site really engaging and interactive? Have you worked hard to get your stories in front of your audience? Have you creatively designed programs and experiences that are accessible, welcoming, inclusive, meaningful and that are planned to bring together lots of different people? Is the cost of entry reasonable? Will people find their investment in you worthwhile? Have you thought about setting up shop for a few weeks in one of those vacant storefronts and create a pop-up experience to engage more people? Have you used social media to alert people to your programs and invite them in? Have you tried something out of the ordinary that just might work?
The town square is undergoing major redefinition and relocation. The community that still relies on it is also undergoing change. People are adapting, experimenting, figuring it all out. Are you figuring out how to keep the town square alive and vibrant for them?
Gail Hyman is a marketing and communications professional who currently focuses her practice, Gail Hyman Consulting, on assisting Jewish nonprofit organizations increase their ranks of supporters and better leverage their communications in the Web 2.0 environment. Gail is a regular contributor to eJewish Philanthropy.
Great piece! But you still go to the barber? Haven’t you heard of the Flobee?!
The “Town” may have a hard time surviving, but the “City” is only getting bigger. Just recently we reached 50% of all humans now living in cities for the first time, and that is expected to rise to 70% over the next 20-30 years. A small luggage store has a better chance of surviving when 1,000 people a day walk by it than when 10 do (on the other hand, the overpriced luggage store on 8th Street off Broadway in Manhattan finally went out of business and, oh by the way, I bought my last garment bag on Amazon.com, so yes, some businesses will simply have to go all-virtual).
I agree with all your big relevant questions for the Jewish community, but at JOI we would challenge you on one point: why do you need a Jewish Starbucks, when there is already a Starbucks that Jews go to? The Jewish community has not yet sufficiently turned its thinking inside out, to go where the Jews are rather than trying, failing, to attract them enough to get them to walk through our doors.
Paul, You are right about the Jewish community needing to put itself where our people already are present. As to the Jewish Starbucks….well consider it a metaphor for doing what needs to happen out there. Our institutions might do better if they were seen as their local Starbucks, albeit with a bit of Jewish culture thrown in….I was at the Palo Alto JCC not too long ago and it seemed to function like a Jewish Starbucks with people coming and going for a variety of things, bumping into friends, chatting, reading, working out, etc. In other words getting on with their daily lives all infused by the community. I loved it.
Gail, we’re on the same page. And these are certainly interesting times, because then the question about the way you describe the Palo Alto JCC — and other JCCs are struggling with this too — is what’s actually JEWISH about that?
The geo-social phenomenon that you write about will impact the Jewish community is many ways. Distinguishing and differentiating between the notion of a town square and the concept of community is important. While it is tempting to suggest that technology will offer some sort of replacement for the core elements of community, it is a naïve concept, and in fact the opposite is occurring. Technology has created a new, more curious generation who have seen the world through 2-inch smartphone screens and are now ready to touch and experience it. Why do you think the teen travel industry has grown so significantly in the last few years? Young people want to explore – the technology is the bus to get them through the town-square, not the town-square or community itself.
The impact of the changing town square on the Jewish community is significant. It relates to the age-old issue of the disintegration of the Jewish neighborhood. Simply put, there is no longer enough Jewish population density in most Jewish communities to support and justify the physical infrastructure that the Jewish community has created over the last century.
One manifestation of this can be found in the fact that so many JCCs are struggling. A Jewish campus or center was a great concept when it could be placed at the doorstep of the Jewish neighborhood. Yes, some of these centers made successful transitions from “downtown” to the “burbs” in the last century (and some have now made it back downtown), but simply put, this iteration of the Jewish community can’t afford to shift its institutions again – nor should it. We don’t have the money and the population, especially our young people, are moving too quickly to make this a viable strategy.
So how will this play out? Unfortunately we have a communal governance structure that is rooted in consensus and struggles to make tough decisions quickly. In many communities Federations will be put in the position of bailing out their JCCs with a diminishing pool of communal dollars. This will occur as young entrepreneurs with new ideas are overlooked, the Jewish Agency/JDC fight for money that doesn’t exits, new professional leadership is sought but not found and a transfer of wealth continues from a generations of Jewish philanthropic leaders to their children and grandchildren who have different interests. And at the point when real leadership is needed most, the conversation will no doubt dissolve into a debate as to whether or not we put another $250,000 to save the local JCC from going out of business.
The Jewish community must create approach to allocating its dollars and engaging its people. A Jewish community based on large physical plants like JCCs is not financially viable and will not survive for long. The question is, over how many years will our leadership allow it to drain our precious time and dollars?
Hi Gail, Long time since we’ve spoken…I am out in the Valley of the Sun in Scottsdale, AZ; working as the Exec of the JCC.
I disagree with Julian the shortage of donor dollars has more to do with Federations and others not approaching current or future donors with a meaningful and sufficient case…in addition to future donors not being turned on to Jewish causes (though very aware of the concept of tzedukah)…
The JCC in campus or standing alone is still the most viable Jewish institution – and in my opinion outlast even the synagogue in the next 50-75 years…finding the niche in the marketplace and being willing to undertake the risks and the slings and arrows accompanying them will be the direction that JCCs need to take to ensure their survival.
Good to hear from you, Steve. And to hear your perspective from the JCC side of the aisle. I guess part of the challenge for everyone is about the “case” or at least what any organization can offer that will be presented in a manner that will matter to generations to come. Not easy to create–but it can be done.
G
We live in a society drunk with math, science and technology. We have booted God Almighty out of our synagogues. Faith is a word laughed at. We have chosen knowledge over wisdom. We deny the Soul. We mock the Spirit. We have removed all that is sacred from sex. We deny The Divine Presence. We mock all the beautiful mysteries of life and The Majesty of Existence. We worship the intellect. We chase money. We yearn for long life often without meaning. We smirk at the idea of The Holy Chosen People. We have surrendered The Light, and now our Jewish community wonders why it is coming to nothing. Shame on us all. Materialism is closing in for the kill. No heart, no soul, no spirit, no God, no Judaism. What else can be expected ! We are becoming things in our so called atheistic enlightened age. We have lost our way.