A Tough Transition

As intense mediation continues over the Jewish Community Centers (JCC) crisis, the first effects of the centers’ collapse are becoming apparent. One of first will be felt when the Westside JCC closes its pool and fitness center May 31.

The closure comes at a time when Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles (JCCGLA) is struggling to right Los Angeles’ damaged JCC system by going independent and divorcing itself from its prime benefactor, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

JCCGLA is struggling to reinvent itself as a Federation-free entity. A stripped-down JCCGLA — comprised of Valley Cities JCC, Westside JCC, Conejo Valley JCC, the Zimmer Children’s Museum and The Shalom Institute/Camp Shalom — plans to turn to community support in the coming months.

At the same time that JCCGLA is separating itself from The Federation, several JCCs want to sever their ties with JCCGLA. The centers say they plan to achieve their autonomy by obtaining a commitment of support from The Federation, which will not commit to these centers until matters with JCCGLA are completely resolved.

JCCGLA and The Federation are currently deep in a mediation process to resolve issues pertaining to JCCGLA’s financial debt and related interest payments and the sale of certain JCC centers to pay off the loan JCCGLA borrowed with Federation assistance to redress major financial mismanagement. Both organizations say they want to resolve their issues in a fashion that has the best interests of the community in mind.

"The issues are complex, and everybody is working very hard to find a common ground," Federation President John Fishel said, adding that both nonprofits are working as fast as they can. "We’re meeting on a weekly basis at this point."

The JCCs seeking autonomy from JCCGLA — West Valley and Silver Lake-Los Feliz — are waiting for the outcome of these discussions, which will affect the future of their buildings and the shape of allocation requests from The Federation. Other JCCs — North Valley and Bay Cities — will close for good on June 30 so that JCCGLA can sell the properties to help repay its debts.

The individual JCCs are in various stages of health, with Westside, Valley Cities and West Valley JCCs appearing to be in the best shape.

Nina Lieberman Giladi, JCCGLA’s executive vice president, said that Westside needed $43,000 a month to keep its pool and fitness center open, "and that condition was not fulfilled."

However, the senior day care, via support from The Federation’s Jewish Family Service, will remain in operation. Westside will determine in June whether the gymnasium will be rented out to Jewish schools and organizations. The center met its Early Childhood Education (ECE) benchmark and is actively enrolling for 2002-2003, with 83 nursery school children already aboard, up from 55 this time last year.

"We’re here to stay," said Paula Pearlman, president of the Westside JCC Advisory Board.

Westside continues to fundraise for its ECE program and its renovation campaign. More than $4 million in donations and pledges have been raised for the center’s long-planned overhaul, and a financial end goal for the capital campaign is currently being worked out. Meanwhile, Jewish organizations, such as New Israel Fund, will continue to rent office space at Westside.

Pearlman wants The Federation to do more to protect essential community services at her center.

"What the centers do in a nonreligious manner, keeps Jews Jewish," she said.

Valley Cities, now the site of JCCGLA’s central offices, has met enrollment and fundraising benchmarks necessary for its survival and is readying its fall ECE program.

At West Valley, Tsilah Burman, board president, confirmed that her West Hills site is working toward its independence from JCCGLA.

"From our perspective, we’ve been paying a lot in our overhead, and we feel that we’ve gotten nothing for that," Burman said.

West Valley staved off the closure of key programs earlier this year by turning to an outside donor to fund them on an interim basis.

"JCCGLA said they were closing our health and P.E. and senior programming, and it didn’t happen, because we worked out the situation," Burman said. "What we’ve done so far is to try to do this without any interruption of services."

Burman wants to reach a resolution "before July 1, when we have to send out membership renewal notices and apply for a new Federation allocation. We told JCCGLA that this had to be done now."

At Silver Lake, board Chairman Janie Schulman reported, "JCCGLA said that they’re not going to operate us next year, and they have offered to let us use our building till 2003."

The Federation has offered Silver Lake-Los Feliz financial assistance through June 30, 2003 — a commitment to be finalized pending the outcome of the JCCGLA-Federation mediation.

"Both the JCCGLA and The Federation have seemed to put aside their differences to help us," said a pleased Schulman.

This week, Silver Lake members will form committees to organize running the center themselves. This will include a real estate committee to scout for a potential new site in place of the current building, which JCCGLA may list for sale next summer.

North Valley and Bay Cities are still slated to close by the end of June.

"They are trying to get support and funding in the community to form their own center," Giladi said of North Valley.

In a letter sent last week to savethejcc.org, James Barner, who with fellow Santa Monica parent Daniel Grossman tried to save Bay Cities, wrote of his disillusionment with The Federation, which he claims is not doing enough to save Bay Cities.

Fishel refused to comment on specifics regarding individual centers or matters currently in discussion. However, since the year began, The Federation has stated firmly that the JCC system of 2001 was not feasible or fiscally responsible and was in need of a radical reorganization.

JCCGLA told The Journal that, despite rumors to the contrary, no such angel investor had approached them regarding Bay Cities.

"We had hoped to work out something with Beth Shir Shalom," said Giladi of the shul that was slated to assume control of Santa Monica’s JCC, "but the cost turned out to be something that Beth Shir Shalom couldn’t take over."

Barner reports that Bay Cities teachers and parents have already moved on in their search for new work and schooling, respectively.

"A lot of the parents have sent their kids to non-Jewish preschools," he said.

JCCGLA is also moving on, completing a multiyear business plan after taking a respite from its fundraising — which Giladi said has already accrued "several hundred thousand dollars" — because of the situation in Israel and Argentina.

"We did not want to take away from [The Federation’s] Jews in Crisis campaign," Giladi said.

In explaining their exodus from The Federation system on their Web site, JCCGLA freighted their new direction with optimism:

"It is a recognition that community priorities have changed, and that JCCs cannot thrive as a deficit-funded Federation beneficiary agency. We must move forward, responsible for our fate. Not only is it doable, it is already underway."