Who is wise? One who learns from all people.
-- Pirkei Avot 4:1
You are motivated to expand and engage with your community of families with young children. You and your leadership team might have some great ideas and a few offerings in place already, but how well do you know this group of parents? What are their interests and needs? Are they looking for activities for the whole family or just for adults? What do they consider to be meaningful Jewish experiences?
Where can you find this type of information?
Whether you are newly launching or re-envisioning your engagement strategy for families with young children, an important step along this journey is to expand your knowledge base. Starting with research and data, as well as engaging in conversation with parents of young children are proven principles to achieving successful engagement. These strategies will help you understand the people you are trying to reach and will ensure you engage them in creating a community in which they want to participate.
Basing your engagement strategy on research is especially critical because much has changed – even in the last decade. Many millennials have become parents, and they engage with Jewish life in ways their parents and grandparents might not recognize. Trying to engage this generation “the way we’ve always done it” simply won’t work. Equally ineffective is making assumptions about today’s parents in light of these and other research findings:
- Younger parents aren’t necessarily less religious. In a study of the Greater Washington, DC Jewish community, more adults aged 18-29 identified as “Jewish by religion” than the next two older groups (ages 30-39 and 40-49).
- Parents raising Jewish children may not have grown up Jewish. In 2016, PJ Library® surveyed subscriber families – parents raising Jewish children under the age of eight – and found that approximately 28% are parents of different faith backgrounds and 40% of families have an adult household member who did not grow up Jewish.
Although research findings alone do not provide an exact roadmap for your community – as there really are no one-size-fits-all solutions – they can help you be intentional and strategic about your engagement plans. Since it might be daunting to identify reliable, valuable, and relevant research findings in the sea of information available online, we are here to help. The URJ has curated a collection of research findings and articles about today’s parents of young children, which can be a starting point for your congregational leadership team to learn about the next generation of Jewish families.
Once you have reviewed the data, what should your leadership team do next?
1. Meet and develop relationships with families raising Jewish children in your area.
Using information about demographics in your area, reach out to people you’ve met only once or twice and to those who are completely new to you. Be sure to strengthen your relationships with early childhood center families, members of your congregation, and other familiar faces as well. Get to know them personally. Learn what their goals are for raising their Jewish children, so you can figure out how your congregation can be relevant to their Jewish life and parenting.
2. Critically evaluate your “welcome.”
Research shows that many barriers stand in the way of parents with young children participating in synagogue life. Identify what these barriers are in your congregation: Are young children welcomed at family events or are they constantly being “shushed?” Are their parents on the receiving end of a lot of eye-rolling? Families today are much more likely to visit your “virtual front door” before they come to your building.
Make sure their experience is positive, and doesn’t create yet another barrier: Do your website and social media channels include photos where families see people like themselves? Are they understandable for people who may not have grown up with Judaism but are now raising a Jewish family?
3. Experiment before launching a whole series of programs.
A study conducted by Brandeis University shows that parents are seeking new friendships and connections in the Jewish community. How your congregation will successfully foster these connections requires you to experiment and collect some data of your own. For example, in some communities, family Shabbat gatherings work best when they are held early on Friday evenings and include dinner. Other communities find that Saturday mornings work best for their families. You may start with events outside your building in places where families naturally gather and you can add value and connection to their visit to the park, book store, or playground.
Whether your congregation is large or small, urban or rural, new or established, it is important to leverage research to better engage your community. Learning about and meeting today’s families with young children is just the beginning of your congregation’s influence on the Jewish future in your community.
Want to learn more? Read the URJ’s Recommended Research and Readings on Engaging Families with Young Children in The Tent, or join the conversation in our Membership, Families with Young Children, or Small Congregations groups.