1. How can I make my social action committee more effective?

Most people become interested in community organizing because of this question. It’s a great question to ask.

Many leaders report frustration with their social action committees. They ask questions like: How do we bring in new people? Why is a small committee doing social action and not the whole congregation? How do we move beyond service projects, and begin to address the systemic issues of injustice?

Congregation-based community organizing may not be right for every congregation. But for many, it transforms the way the social action committee (indeed the entire congregation) operates.

Community organizing begins with people, not programs. Social action moves from a committee that runs programs to a culture of developing a social network within the congregation that unites existing and new leaders to act together, based on their interests. Social action committees become transformed into leadership teams that learn how to bring in new people, create a network of engaged people, identify shared concerns, develop strategies for successful action, and then conduct evaluation to become more effective in the future.

2. What does Just Congregations do with synagogues?

Community organizing happens locally. It is different in every city, state, and region, based on local concerns and context. That said, Just Congregations helps synagogue leaders across the country engage in community organizing effectively. We do this by offering trainings in various target regions, at URJ biennials and RAC conventions, as well as at the Jewish Funds for Justice's national gatherings. Just Congregations offers direct phone support to any Reform synagogue leader, and matches him or her with experienced leaders as mentors.

3. What’s the difference between Just Congregations and a local congregation-based community organizing group?

Ultimately, congregations act powerfully by joining together with other congregations across lines of race, class, and faith. This happens through local community organizing groups across the country. Just Congregations helps congregations understand organizing; we deepen leaders’ Jewish learning and guide them to integrate ritual into their work; we make connections between local leaders and organizations.

4. How do I get involved? How do I get started?

There are several first steps to become involved in community organizing:

1. Contact your local organizer. Attend a local training through his or her organization. There is a list on this website by region. 
2. Contact the Just Congregations staff or speak with an experienced synagogue organizing leader.
3. Attend a Union for Reform Judaism workshop or training at a regional gathering or biennial.
   

Additionally, it is helpful to begin an internal process by talking to people individually in your congregation. Identify other leaders who have appetite for this kind of work, and the capacity to get things done.

5. Can I get a speaker?

Depending on your location, a rabbi or lay leader experienced in community organizing may be able to meet with your social action committee or board. For more information, contact Just Congregations.

6. How do I get in touch with you?

Visit our Get Involved page for contact information.

7. What is it like for a congregation to engage in community organizing?

Getting started in community organizing is both exhilarating and at times feels overwhelming. Organizing challenges most paradigms under which we are used to operating. For example, community organizing invites us to begin with conversations before action; relationships before issues. It is hard for congregations to be patient with all the relationship building that is required to create a strong foundation of people power. Community organizing moves people to share their stories publicly. Often synagogue members are not used to being public about issues and concerns in their lives.

Organizing teaches congregations to ask new questions. Instead of asking, “What can we do to help?,” we ask, “Who has the power to change the situation?“ Rather than asking, “How much money can we raise to help adult children of congregants who don’t have health insurance?” we have to ask, “Who has the power to make sure these young people are insured, why aren’t they exercising this power now, and what can we do to convince them that change is necessary?”

Many congregations engaged in organizing feel that these challenges are worthwhile because of the way in which participation in organizing enables them to transform themselves into communities in which people know each other; understand each other’s concerns; and perhaps most importantly, when they act for justice they do so with more power and effectiveness.

8. What does this cost?

Effective community organizing happens through broad-based organizations whose institutional members (churches, synagogues, mosques, and others) own and fund the organization. Each member institution pays dues. The amount of money varies depending on the community and congregational ability to pay. (Most often ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars). This number is often linked to the number of members, or may be set at one percent of the congregation’s budget, excluding the religious school. Most community organizing groups cap dues after a certain level. Each member institution elects delegates who lead the organizing group, and hold the group accountable to its member congregations. Although these interfaith organizations raise additional revenue, it is essential that congregations pay dues so that they “own” the organization.

In order to make such a serious investment in social justice work, many members of the congregation—including the board—must understand community organizing as bringing real value to the synagogue. One of the most important benefits of membership is gaining access to the skill and expertise of the professional organizer(s) who staff these groups. Trying to organize without an organizer is usually no more effective than running a youth program with no youth worker, or an education program with no educator. By belonging to an interfaith organization, member congregations share the cost of a professional, keeping costs quite low.

Membership is also a crucial step in building deep, long-term relationships across lines of faith, class, and race with other congregations involved in the organizing group. The first community organizing campaign a congregation undergoes is often the process of building a shared story among many stakeholders about why organizing matters for the lives of synagogue members, the health of the congregation, and improving the broader community.

Some congregations also hire supplementary professional organizers to deepen their effectiveness. Salaries range depending on local context and how much time the organizer devotes to the congregation.

9. Will Just Congregations give me money to subsidize this?

Limited resources may be available from the Jewish Funds for Justice or other sources of seed grants. Generally, congregations pay dues to local organizations from their operating budgets.

10. Where is there local organizing?

CBCO looks different in every city, state, and region. Begin by checking our directory. Feel free to call us and find out what we know about what’s happening in your region. Reach out to other Jewish leaders, and leaders in the Christian and Muslim communities to find out if they are organizing, and how.

11. Are other Reform congregations engaged in community organizing?

More and more every day. Here is a list of Reform congregations which are members of congregation-based community organizing groups:

Arizona:

• Congregation Chaverim, Tuscon
• Temple Emanuel, Tempe

California:

• Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills
• Congregation Beth El, Berkeley
• Congregation Beth Israel, Carmel
• Congregation Rodef Sholom, San Rafael
• Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, San Francisco
• Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco
• Congregation Shir Hadash, Los Gatos
• Congregation Shomrei Torah, Santa Rosa
• Stephen S. Wise Temple, Los Angeles
• Temple Beth El, Aptos
• Temple Emanu-El, Santa Clara
• Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills
• Temple Emanu-El, San Jose
• Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles
• Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles
• Temple Judea, Tarzana
• Temple Sinai, Oakland
• Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles

Florida:

• Temple Beth Am, Miami
• Temple Beth Sholom, Miami Beach
• Temple Beth Torah, Wellington
• Temple B’nai Israel, Clearwater
• Temple Israel, Tallahassee
• Temple Israel of Greater Miami, Miami

Illinois:

• Beth Emet the Free Synagogue, Evantson
• B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, Glenview— Fain Award winners for organizing
• Congregation Etz Chaim, Lombard
• Congregation Or Shalom, Vernon Hills
• Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chicago
• Congregation Solel, Highland Park
• Oak Park Temple, Oak Park
• Temple Beth Israel, Skokie
• Temple Sholom, Chicago

Louisiana:

• Temple Sinai, New Orleans

Maine:

• Temple Beth El, Augusta

Massachusetts:

• Beth Avodah, Newton
• Beth El Temple Center, Belmont
• Beth Elohim, Wellsley
• Congregation Beth El, Sudbury
• Temple Isaiah, Lexington— Fain Award winners for organizing
• Temple Israel, Boston— Fain Award winners for organizing
• Temple Shalom of Newton, Newton
• Temple Shir Tikvah, Wayland
• Temple Sinai, Springfield

Michigan:

• Temple Emanu-El, Oak Park

Minnesota

• Mount Zion Temple, Saint Paul

New Jersey:

• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom, Mawah
• Temple Beth El, Hillsborough

New Mexico:

• Temple Beth Shalom, Santa Fe

New York:

• Central Synagogue, New York
• Congregation Rodeph Sholom, New York
• East End Temple, New York
• Temple Sinai, Roslyn
• Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre

North Carolina:

• Judea Reform Congregation, Durham
• Temple Emanuel, Winston Salem

Nebraska:

• Temple Israel, Omaha

Ohio:

• Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, Beachwood
• Congregation Beth Tikvah, Columbus
• Temple Beth Shalom, New Albany
• Temple Sholom, Cincinnati
• Temple Sholom, Springfield

Tennessee:

• The Temple Congregation Ohabei Shalom, Nashville

Texas:

• Congregation Beth Israel, Houston
• Congregation Kol Halev, Austin
• Temple Emanu-El, Dallas
• Temple Shalom, Dallas
• Temple Mount Sinai, El Paso

Viginia

• Beth El Hebrew Congregation, Alexandria
• Temple Rodeph Shalom. Falls Church

Washington:

• Kol Haneshama, Seattle
• Temple Beth Am, Seattle

Wisconsin:

• Beth Hillel Temple, Kenosha

Many more Reform synagogues are in the process of considering joining community organizing groups. Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Orthodox synagogues also engage in congregation-based community organizing.

Are you missing from this list? Let us know!

If there is no community organizing group near you, we still want to hear from you. New organizing groups form with some frequency—based largely on levels of local interest. Please contact Just Congregations. We may already have heard from other congregations in your area.

12. Can my synagogue be chosen as a Just Congregation?

In addition to supporting URJ member congregations at regional and national trainings, and through ongoing phone support, synagogues in several regions are selected as “Just Congregations.” Because our capacity is limited, we have to focus our intense training in a handful of regions at any one time. Over the next decade, Just Congregations’ geographic reach will continue to grow. For now, the target regions are Chicago, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Dallas, and the New York area. These communities were chosen because of a high intersection between local desire for community organizing training and excellent local organizations with which to partner.

13. What is a “one-to-one”?

The power for justice comes from organized people, acting together. A “one-to-one” is the primary tool we use to build a network of people within a congregation, and the in an interfaith community. Also called “relational” or “individual” meetings, they are 45 minute conversations that happen face-to-face in which two people share their own stories with each other, helping them better understand their passions and concerns. The outcome is a new relationship in which two people feel linked to each other, and have identified common concerns. Congregations engaged in organizing conduct “one-to-one” meetings constantly, both in strategic campaigns to uncover issues for action, and as an ongoing habit.

14. If my synagogue tries community organizing, what happens to the social action committee’s current work?

Social action committees do important work—feeding and sheltering the homeless, tutoring elementary school students, running food and clothing drives, and more. Because this work is so necessary, even when a congregation tries organizing it continues to maintain its commitment to direct service social programming. This is especially the case because the social action committee and congregation-based community organizing often draw from completely different pools of synagogue leaders.