LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD Update Congregation Meeting May 31, 2015

Let Your Voice Be Heard: Purpose 1.5 years ago we conducted our first LYVBH workshops at the request of our then- president Sally Zenick. Our goal was to get feedback on:  What draws our members here  Why our members stay  What gets in the way of meeting the needs of our members  How we can do better  And who is willing or able to help do it Our vision was that this would be the beginning of on ongoing feedback and action process. Today is a review of what’s been done and a preview of things to come. This fall we will be conducting additional LYVBH workshops. 2

The LYVBH Workshops  Two LYVBH workshops were conducted - September 28 and October 6, 2013  52 people participated in these workshops  During each session, participants offered feedback and ideas about  Why Beth Shalom was important to them  Challenges and barriers  Resources and assets we could leverage  And actions we could take to improve 3

During the LYVBH Workshops  Themes around the Whys, Challenges/Barriers, Resources, and Proposed Actions were identified and summarized  Participants voted on the top priority actions  Participants were asked to self-select actions and interests 4

Synthesizing the Workshop Data Five key themes were identified, consistent with Beth Shalom’s Vision Statement:  Ritual  Community  Education  Social Action  Jewish People/Israel Additional cross-topic themes included:  Communications  Leadership - preparing a pipeline of future committee chairs, Board members and potential presidents 5

And then…  We presented what we learned and relevant Proposed Actions to appropriate committees for follow up actions  We presented what we learned to the Board  Some action teams were formed or individuals identified to address priorities that don’t fall under a standing committee  We provided updates to the congregation through L’Chayim  Many ideas from LYVBH were immediately put into action  Some were easy fixes  Some took more time  Some are still in process  And here we are now, giving another update, and asking you to participant in the next round 6

What We Learned, What’s Been Done, What Still Needs to be Done 7

Why People are Members Top Five Reasons 1.Religious/cultural identity 2.Social/family connections 3.Traditions and values 4.Education 5.Social action 8

Some Challenges and Actions Taken 9 Accept credit cards for payment Provide more ways to pay Improved e-newsletter format and single source for all news and updates Multiple addressed per member family Improved L’Chayim and Website Increase & Improve communications & coordination Changes to High Holiday services Experiment with more varied Shabbat service offerings (e.g., Bark Mitzvah) Still more to do More diversity in services to appeal to different groups More diverse programming options and experiments Improved weekly Religious school Working on curriculum improvements Still more to do Multiple education challenges Java & Shmear Still more to do Social and community challenges

What We’d Like to Focus on Next  Volunteer/leadership development. Creating a pipeline of future leaders for committees and Board positions.  Youth (and education). 10