Congregations interested in learning more about the Communities of
Practice that will be launched in January 2013 should sign up for the
webinars. Applications for each Community of Practice are available now and will be due on December 5th.
Pre-requisites
To be accepted into a Community of Practice, a congregation will:
Pass a Board resolution in support of the Community of
Practice application and participation should the congregation be
selected.
Use the specially-designed Board of Trustees Discussion
Guide for each Community of Practice to ensure that the
appropriate lay and professional leaders agree to participate and that
the congregation will support their representatives in a Community
of Practice.
The Board resolution must be passed and submitted to the URJ by January 11 for accepted congregations to participate in a community of practice.
Application Process
Congregations will need to show readiness for this undertaking by:
Sharing why the congregation wants to be part of this particular Community of Practice
Defining the infrastructure currently in place to support participation and sustainability
Explaining any change processes previously undertaken
Committing to have participants attend initial and final in-person meetings
Demonstrating the stability of both the congregation's lay leaders and staff
Submitting a complete, thoughtful application that has
been signed by the president and the lead professional(s) for the
particular Community of Practice
Community of Practice representatives should serve as co-chairs
of a task force or committee comprising members who are interested in
exploring the subject of the Community of Practice, creating an idea for
experimentation, and assisting (in some way) with the implementation
of that idea or experiment. Together with the Community of Practice
participants, the members of the task force or committee will learn
about the topic, enabling them to be full participants in the
congregational change process.
Congregational representatives must be empowered by their
congregation to implement the ideas for change that arise from their
participation in the Community of Practice. Each congregation will be
expected to implement some congregational innovation based on:
Specific Community of Practice subject
Congregational culture
Congregational needs
Congregations must be willing to share both successes and
challenges within the Community of Practice, enhancing the learning for
the entire community.
Congregations that wish to apply to more than one Community of Practice will asked to prioritize their applications as they may only
be selected to participate in one.
Two or more congregations may choose to work jointly on one project that will be implemented in each synagogue.
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