Rhoda Weisman, executive director of the Professional Leaders Project, which is designed to engender and support a new generation of leaders in the Jewish community, talks about why the Jewish establishment needs to change, why young leaders are just as crucial as big donors and what it\’s like to be a woman at the top.
About a year before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a major reform of California\’s disastrous workers\’ comp system, the same basic reforms were fought and eventually killed by elected Democrats trying to protect lawyers who gamed our broken system but gave heavily to Democratic campaign coffers.
It\’s the obvious first topic of conversation, and Paul Castro has no problem addressing it. As the newly minted executive director of Jewish Family Service of Greater Los Angeles (JFS), Castro now runs a Jewish social outreach organization – and yet he is neither Jewish nor holds a degree in social work.\”It was more of a challenge for the organization than for me,\” Castro told The Journal. \”I\’ve never really not felt part of the family at JFS. The fact that I\’ve not been Jewish has not been an issue in the day-to-day operations or in my interactions with people.\”
Carlanna is a young woman who was paralyzed in a car accident in high school. She is now a producer with the \”Judge Judy\” show. Alex is a qualified doctor from the Ukraine who cannot work in his profession here. He is now a highly successful radiology technician. Irene was a newly divorced mother on welfare in the depths of despair. She is now a fundraiser working on the corporate level and providing services and support to single mothers.
Gerald \”Jerry\” C. Lasensky describes himself as the Jewish community\’s traveling salesman, road warrior and itinerant emissary.
If you can read this, you can Web surf. That\’s the conclusion of a recent survey conducted by Mediamark Research, Inc., for the Joseph Jacobs Organization\’s Jewish Publications Network. The survey found that people who read Jewish newspapers (that\’s you, now) are more likely than not to own a computer and surf the Web. Here\’s the facts:By the way, you can read this same story online at our Web site: www. jewishjournal.com.
\”I\’ve been pushing this rock uphill for 10 years, and I won\’t stop until I reach the top,\” says Jay Sanderson.\n\nThe \”rock\” Sanderson is edging upward is the Jewish Television Network, and it\’s been grunt work most of the way.
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