Jewish Community of Louisville
In recent issues of Community, I have covered the basic goals of our strategic plan. This update offers the why and how: our Vision and Mission Statement. Let’s get into it.
A Vision Statement identifies what an organization would like to accomplish. For example, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has a mission to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications through the support of research. For our agency, we do not have such a clearly-defined end goal; rather, our vision is a description our agency operating at peak performance.
Our Board of Directors, helped by many of you who responded to our surveys, or spoke with us in focus groups or one-on-one interviews, came up with these themes when determining what our vision statement should address:
- Promoting and celebrating Jewish culture and heritage
- Educating the young
- Caring for the elderly
- Funding Jewish needs
- Supporting Israel
- Advocating for justice and compassion
- Developing and maintaining health and wellness
- Fostering interfaith relations
We found a common vision in these: Fulfilling the needs of the Jewish community. As we strive to fulfill all these needs, we are endeavoring to bring together people, secure financial resources, and develop ideas and delivery capability to fulfill as many as we can.
Our Mission Statement, the statement that describes why our agency exists and why we seek to fulfill the above needs, is: Build and sustain a vibrant, caring inclusive community rooted in Jewish values. Each of the words in our mission statement describes a concept:
Build: provide leadership, financial support and synergy with other Jewish organizations.
Sustain: develop strategic plans, cultivate and train leaders for future generations and provide the necessary resources to help ensure the long-term success of the Jewish people.
Vibrant: provide services and programs in a Jewish environment that help develop toddlers, engage children, motivate teens, challenge young adults, inspire adults, connect families and benefit the elderly.
Caring: take care of those in need, regardless of one’s ability or limits.
Inclusive: welcome and embrace everyone who seeks to be included in each generation across all walks of life.
Community: bring people together, connecting and convening those in our neighborhood, our city, our state, our country and Jews of all nations, including the people of Israel.
Jewish Values: celebrate family, education, culture and the importance of our Jewish homeland, Israel, as we also perform ongoing acts of tzedakah (justice) and tikkun olam (repairing the world).
What does this mean to you?
Whether or not you identify as Jewish, we welcome you to our Jewish Community Center of Louisville and Jewish Federation of Louisville and will strive to help you to fulfill your needs and/or those of your family.
Each day, each of our team members puts forth tremendous effort on our community’s behalf to deliver the results you expect of us. We are committed to deliver programmatic excellence, fiduciary transparency and accountability to all who support us. Together we will fulfill our mission and achieve our vision.
We still need your help. If you haven’t yet made a gift to the 2014 Jewish Federation of Louisville Annual Campaign, there’s still time to help us in the coming fiscal year by visiting www.jewishlouisville.org and selecting the “Donate” button.
We want you to feel welcome, cared for and engaged as together we seek to fulfill the needs of our Jewish community, and encourage all who believe in our mission as we do to join us on our journey.