Yesterday, as we reported, JFNA, Federation, the Joint and JAFI leaders convened in NYC to resolve issues that brought the Joint to the precipice (and beyond) of leaving the system. Best I can tell -- a lot of talk and crisis averted...for the moment.
How can I tell that nothing more occurred: I read the JFNA Leadership Briefing -- JFNA, JDC, JAFI Agree to Pursue Funding Framework -- one of the least informative releases in a history of press releases. Eventually those of you who haven't seen it will be able to find it on the JFNA website -- as of this moment, it hasn't made it there (probably because the chachams in the Communications area are trying to find a few more cliches to insert in the quotes attributed to the organizations' leaders. Summing them all up, and reading between the lines, "we have a long, long, long way to go before there is sh'lom bayit." Keep looking at www.jewishfederations.org. While the Briefing is hysterical in its creative way of saying nothing, it is also quite sad.
The parties reviewed a Federation-generated proposal that would have created a long overdue national advocacy/education role, a methodology for determining a minimum local partnership share for overseas needs, and a pool from the organization's' core budgets that would be evaluated at a JFNA "planning table," the last being a sop (accompanied by a $250,000 2011 Budget allocation) to JFNA'S Chair justifying the wasted hours in preparation for and execution of the ill-fated 2009 FLI. I don't know what were the areas of agreement if any; I don't know the areas of disagreement, if any. I only know that JFNA should win the 2010 Heroes Award for creative p.r. (so good that part of its release on "#ish" made the New York Times yesterday). They are great -- and totally uninformative.
So, it's on to...the next meeting, I guess.
Rwexler
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4 comments:
The complete press release is available here, http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-big-3-talk-talk-and-more-talk/
ah where is our George Mitchell now that we need him or her?
The issue really is that the split was valid when hundreds of thousands were making aliyah. Now, JDC is faced with feeding the elderly in the former Soviet Union and providing medical and other services. The allocations from local federations have fallen and the dollar has declined in value. Is the American Jewish community willing to tell people that they will no longer receive food and medicine? JAFI is an organization in search of a mission while JDC is saving lives!
Pa-leez
JDC has not reduced its summer camps to buy food - it has not rearranged its own budget for hunger. Have you heard of any Jews dying of hunger anywhere? There is food insecurity amongst the Jews of Brooklyn.
Don't beleive everything you hear!
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