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Hi, my name is Joshua furman. I'm the curator of the Houston jewish history Archive at Rice University. And today I'm here with Joel Duncan, chief executive officer of the Evelyn rubenstein jewish Community Center in Houston, Joel. How are you? I'm great josh, thank you and you

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and thank you for inviting me to participate. My pleasure. I'm really looking forward to this conversation. Uh and again, today is April 15, 2021. So Joel, why don't we start by talking a little bit about your childhood where you grew up, what your Jewish upbringing was

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like. I grew up in Pittsburgh in an area of Pittsburgh, Gonna squirrel Hill, which was predominantly a a jewish neighborhood. And I have fond memories of walking around the streets, the business district where you would see kosher bakeries on almost every corner, and it was also

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the kosher butchers and these were the butcher shops where they would uh kosher the kitchen and the chickens in the back and you would see basically chickens and pieces of meat hanging from the windows and the, and the butchers with the deep german Yiddish accents and

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uh so that was sort of the uh the environment in which we, we sort of grew up in and um but I think the real key piece for me was uh my house was 23 minute walk to the JCC in Pittsburgh at that time. It was

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called the Irene Kauffman Center. It was a settlement house initially and turned into a really doubled up as a, as a JCC and we used to go there as a child for programs and activities uh every day would hang out there at camp after school activities

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and that just sort of became my home away from home and participate in different club groups by basketball there and um and I think that's really where it all began, I started working part time with Children and I was, when I was in college I was

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debating about what I was gonna do and I was thinking about going to Rabbinical school and uh I took some type of professional preference test in terms of career preference ended up, it said I should be a secretary in a Y. M. C A. And I

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remember telling my mother that I wanted to go work as professionally as a JCC and she said you're gonna do what you're gonna play basketball the rest of your life because that was her, you know, perspective of it and um that was it, that I think

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that that the the experience in terms of growing up in the JCC coupled with um I spent my summers at Camp Ramadi up in Canada and was very involved in U. S. Y. Uh that sort of led me down the pipe the path of jewish communal

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professional, also josh, my father at the time was a executive director and principal of a conservative synagogue in Pittsburgh, so we spent um so much of a lot of time at the synagogue with him and again, I think doing something jewish was always became just part

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of the plan and I think the JCC, because that's where I grew up as a kid. Um and that's what sort of led me to uh this, this roadmap, this path sure, sure, Joel, that makes perfect sense. So then take us from from Pittsburgh to Houston,

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how did you? So I finished up, yeah, I finished up her undergraduate school in Pittsburgh and at the time in the seventies, if you're going to pursue a career in a JCC world, getting a master's in social work was the desired degree, everybody said, gotta get

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an MSW, get an MSW, get an MSW. And I went to, ended up going to Yeshiva University in new york, uh which had a concentration of jewish communal profession, obviously for obvious reasons. Um got my master's in social work in new york while I was in

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new york, um I received a scholarship from what was then J W B, the jewish welfare board, which was the umbrella organization of jewish community centers, which is now the JCC association. And um part of the uh the the scholarship was if I worked in a

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JCC for two years, the funds would be forgiven and they would help with the placement and having spent my entire life in the Northeast in Pittsburgh and then in new york, I was tired of the winter in the cold and um decided that I wanted to

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go someplace away from the northeast and took a job here in Houston um in 1979 jerry, wish she hired me and working with Children and camp program. That was sort of the start of my uh, my my career. So it really wasn't so much about Houston

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texas. Um, but it was about getting out of the northeast and there was an opportunity here and then a few months after I was here, I was set up on a blind date, with which is now my wife of almost 40 years and so Houston has

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become um, is certainly has become our home. That's, that's wonderful. Do you remember some of your first impressions of, of Houston of texas when you first arrived here? I mean, yeah, it was, it was, it was unbearably hot and I didn't know what to expect. So

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I came down here um, I had a ford mustang, I'll never forget. It was um, it was a black car with red vinyl seats and no air conditioning. So, and it was a stick shift, it was not and so I can only imagine coming to town

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here and um, and when that kind of, and so first of all getting adjusted to the heat and the culture and everything first, when Elaine and I started dating uh, we invariably used to go out in her car um anywhere because it had air conditioning and

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um, but just quickly settled in and and make connections, you know, at the time at the jail at the time, there were a number of uh number of staff that were right out of college or out of graduate school. So there was a cohort of staff

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that became both colleagues as well as social outlets And um and I also remember that and I lived um near Gessner in in 59 in an apartment and um I had a great experience um and I remember my first couple of years, I was, I was

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directing the day camp at the Gordon campsite out in Richmond Richmond Rosenberg area. And so uh in love being a part of the camp experience here. Again it was very hot but again it was also became a social outlet and social network in terms of connecting

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um connecting with staff also at that time um you know the icons of the jewish community profession were working at the center at that time. So jerry wish she had just become the ceo hans maier was director of the jewish federation. Uh We watch was the

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B. B. Y. Regional director and his office was right down the hallway from mine. Um and we would work together on projects linda Berger who was linda late at that time was was working with older with young adults popular program population Elaine Kellerman who's with the

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Bureau of jewish Education now with the jewish Federation 40 years later is was a colleague at that time at the center? Uh Suzanne Jacobson who had just started her career at the Federation? So uh these are all dear friends and colleagues now, but they were dear

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friends and colleagues then um as well, so surrounded by, you know, highly committed, jewish communal professionals um and a lot of talent, uh so it was it was great in terms of nurturing of my career and learning um sort of the ropes of what life was

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like working professionally in the jewish community, wow, it's really amazing to hear about the cohort of jewish communal professionals that you came to work with and how, you know, for the most part they're all still here and still engage in one way or another. That's and

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I think that's, I think that's a trademark of this community in terms of the longevity of jewish communal professionals, in part because of the core value of partnership with lay leaders and that jewish communal professionals here are highly respected and regarded and entrusted to do their

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work and, you know, Malcolm slack o blessed memory was another colleague and friend who spent over 40 years in this in this world as well. And so there's a lot of good stories to tell and I think um uh was certainly that network of people was

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also helped create the Foundation for me and my professional career in the JCC world, which is now, you know, well into 40 into my fourth decade? Absolutely. So do do you remember any of those uh programs or initiatives that you did in in those early years

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either running the day Camp? Uh you know, you you mentioned that or something else? Well, what were some of the first early programs that you put into place here that you remember? Well, one of them I remember was we started a cub scout program, a jewish

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cub scout program. And you know why cub scouts? Um it really wasn't so much about the cub scout experience, it was about bringing jewish kids together under the umbrella of a scouting experience. Um and I met some and and actually some friends, some some Children in

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that program then are they're grown adults now and continue to be dear friends of my wife and I. Um so the cub scout program was one that um remember dearly that fond memories of, we had great time at camp at the Gordon campsite, you know, we

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would bust kids at, you know, at those times and those in those days, josh, the jewish community was in the funding southwest area and everything was west of the JCC and also the memorial area and um and I remember learning geographically learning about where the jewish

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families were based on where the bus stops were, because we used to bust kids and school busses on air conditioned busses out the camp. Um but I remember some of the biggest stops where the biggest in terms of number of kids at that time was in

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the fund and Southwest community um areas of Memorial where you know, you're not seeing young, jewish families live today. So I think I was able to watch sort of the geography of the city Change and and sort of understand where the Jewish families were based on

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the bus stops of how kids were getting back and forth to camp, even though stops along the way they were made out in Stafford and Missouri City again um it was an unscientific demographic study of the Jewish community in the early in the 80s, seeing where

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the families were and then how things transition with bus stops. Yeah, yeah, that's really interesting. So for me I was so that was a good learning opportunity as well, but we had a great time at camp, great experiences. Very good. So you left Houston, if I'm

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remembering right in 1990 for another opportunity, do you want to tell us about that? Yeah, so I um I had decided that the JCC world was going to be my career and um so I was, you know, there wasn't a whole lot more room to grow

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here, taking on more responsibilities, jerry was still in the middle of his career and so I had an opportunity to go to the JCC in columbus Ohio and where I was the ceo for 16 years um It was a great experience to be able to raise

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our Children in another community and be a part of another community. Um it turned out to be uh many levels uh for us somewhat transformational because it really gave me the opportunity to take on that next challenge as a jewish communal professional and B. C. E.

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O. Of a of a JCC smaller community, about half the size of Houston, but just a wonderful experience. Um very different lifestyle um Against smaller city, much more concentrated jewish community within a geographic area, used in a much bigger city, much more spread out, but it

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was a great experience. Okay, and then what about the process that would bring you back to Houston? Tell us how that unfolds. Yeah. Um Um sometime in around 2005, 2005, early part of 2006. Uh the late leadership here was beginning having conversations around succession planning for

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jerry jerry, wishy and his retirement, which he began having some conversations about and they reached out to me to see if I would be um interested in an opportunity to come back to Houston and succeed jerry. Uh the timeline was about a two or three year

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window of time and uh after giving it some thought and consideration, it seemed like absolutely wonderful thing to do, I was ready for that next challenge. Houston being a bigger city, bigger jewish community, bigger opportunities. Um Houston is the home of my wife and her family

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were here. Uh and so it was an opportunity to come home as well and um so it worked out for us to come back in uh june of 06 and then jerry retired four years later And I'm curious to hear Joel between 1990 when you left

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2006 when you came back, what what changes did you notice in in terms of Houston the city and also the Jewish community? Well, first the first major changes, the jewish community, parts of the jewish community had shifted from the fund in southwest to the more into

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my Ireland and and certainly Bel Air. So that was a big change that we, you know, we sort of, we discovered although I think it's important to note that and I remember the early years when I was here and we talked about the funds and southwest

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community uh the infrastructure that was built by the um the Orthodox Habad community uh in the young Israel community in funding Southwest, so the population shifted was the, the was not the Orthodox community because they had built the schools and the synagogues there. Um, but was

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the other parts of the jewish community shifted either to the Myelin area or into um into Bel Air. So for me that was a big change, I think the second this the jewish community also, you know, I remember in those coming back in those 60708 learning

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about the jewish community, how much more spread out where I think you you know, my in the eighties, I think you pretty much could count on the jewish community either in the more land in the southwest area, parts of Memorial that clearly had spread west, Houston

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became an even a more opportunity for more growth and development for the jewish community. And um but people you know, people were moving more inside the loop to be and I think that's a function of being want to be closer to work, uh shortening the commute

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uh newer homes values of homes, a combination of different kinds of things. So I think it was that shift as well, I think the another shift that I noticed was the growth of the jewish day school movement Um became much more prevalent uh from 06 and

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beyond than it was. I think my first time here and I think that it's also a function of uh the the challenges associated with running a large you know, public school district and h. I. S. D. In terms some of the challenges which they face and

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had had faced in which I think um uh push the agenda even further out the need for high quality jewish education experience, the jewish day school experiences as well. So I think that became uh a change was that I saw um you know in an 06

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and beyond that it was certainly in the in the eighties because in the eighties, everybody pretty much was in the for the most part was in the public school environment and I think it was I weiner at the time was um the small, you know, small

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middle school, high school, middle school at the time, that was way out in guest in an airport um you know, in the funding southwest area. So I think those changes clearly I saw um as well, Houston also felt much more diverse than I think it did

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in the change in the general population, in the mix of the general population became I think a component um as well. And I think probably the last piece, I think people were just much more sensitive to the flood And the flood control issues and it seemed

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much more prevalent the in '06 and beyond that it was in the 80s, there were heavy rains and some flooding, but I think that the the the the constant repetition made it more and more of a concern as well as the city continued being developed in

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the the Buildings and concrete and highways and streets, you know made you know, the flooding even more of an issue. Um the second go around as well, I would also suggest that uh you know, the the community that I left in earlier in the 80s, the

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sense of cohesion in the community was pretty, it was pretty was still there and I came back um you know this is a community that there's a lot of support among each other and the synagogues and temples and the agencies and that clearly had not if

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anything that got that that those bonds got stronger. Um I believe over time and maybe I felt it differently but um support among the jewish institutions can was and continues to be a I think a key ingredient for the success of the jewish community today. Right?

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So you've spent, as you mentioned, you know your your whole professional career in the jewish center movement, you've had the opportunity to work in another city and I'm sure you have colleagues all over the country, you know who um who serve as the heads of J.

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C. C. S. So I'm curious to hear in your mind what makes the E. R. J. C. C. Special or unique? Uh Good great question. I would say a couple of things. One, there's a core value here of partnership with laypeople. Um you know that it's

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a shared, it's it's viewed and not just talked about but really I think it's there's a deep significant deep relationship and meeting around the shared we shared responsibility for jewish community between the professionals and the lay leaders. So I I think one that makes us, I

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think that makes us special second is we've got wonderful facilities. Um If you you know if you were to take our JCC and stack it up against any other JCC in the country. Um, early chartered facilities, recreation facilities, gymnastics, tennis are Kaplan theater or bertha Alice

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center. Uh, these are top notch facilities and so they allow us to create excellent programming um, and attract the community a third is I think what stands out here also is our partnership with the jewish federation and its support. And another piece josh, which is very

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unique in Houston is the support that we get from United Way of Greater Houston and we are the largest recipient of United Way funds in the country as a J. C. C. And I think that's also an indication of the United Way community, the general community

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recognizing that this is an agency that makes a difference and we want to be a part of that. And so I think those are just some of the, I think characteristics, um, I think the other pieces because we participate in some benchmarking over time with the

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JCC association. We have a longstanding loyal dedicated base. Over 50% of our members have been members for 10 years or more. Um, so that tells us that people are here and even if they may not step foot in the building for a period of time, um,

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they support us financially because they want this institution to be here for today's generations and generations to come. Um, I guess the last piece is um, this is truly a neighborhood center. Um, you know, we were in the middle of a residential area. Um And so

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we clearly are a a neighborhood neighborhood center. I think that's how the folks that bought this property in the late fifties early sixties and built it and the houses and then built around it recognized that the value of this was gonna be, this was a neighborhood

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um that the JCC was going to partner with for years to come. Yeah. Yeah that makes sense. And we'll we'll come back to the you know question about the relationship between the E. R. J. C. C. And the surrounding neighborhood. In a little while. I want

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to turn our attention now to to some of the difficult events that the city and the community have experienced in the last couple of years and um the er JCC has of course been right in the middle of all of it um for worse and for

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better. So take us back to those difficult days at the end of august 2017 when hurricane Harvey dumped some 51 inches of rain on the city in a matter of a couple of days. Tell tell us first, what what was the physical impact of the storm

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on the seas facilities? You're gonna make me go there. Huh? Yeah I'm gonna make you go there. I'm sorry that's okay. Um You know um There's there's just images I and in life that you always have image you know you know mental images of. Um so

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for me, um coming here that that first day seeing the playground and the mystical garden, these big wells sort of filled with water and um just absolutely speechless and not knowing what to expect when I walked into the building. Um, obviously it was, it was dark.

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Um, and the first, you know, my first inclination was to try to go downstairs, which I couldn't because it was, you know full of water and you know, you sort of um at that point, you know, you your instinct just sort of take over um and

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say, okay, you know, how you know, where are we gonna get out of this? And um, so that was the first question. The second question I had was how can we support the community while we're closed? Because we have been in, you know, Memorial Day flood,

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the tax day flood. The center for the community, the jewish and the general community distribution of supplies, critical supplies coming and going, people dropping off donating and picking up that that we need. Um, it was, you know, you you sort of put the the, the pain

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and the discomfort off to the side and you just, you know, you go into action mode and you start to figure out, you know, sort of walk, walk through it. My first call was to members of our executive committee and we talked earlier about the partnership

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and said, hey, this is where the status of the building, but there's one area of the campus, which was not flood. And that's the tennis center and I want to turn that into a distribution center. And um, so what I'm suggesting is that we're gonna help

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the critical need of the community now and we'll figure out how to get the water out of the building, you know. Um, but we're gonna leave the wine garden building as it is for now and focus on, you know, the critical needs and that's what we

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did. And um, the, uh, I mean volunteers were here by the hundreds. The cars were lined up. You know, we was four or five days, um, straight through. I have images of, um, the parking lot. Never forget the images that walk into the parking lot and

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the entire parking lot was filled, but we were closed. Um, and it was filled with volunteers or filled with people who needed help. And you know, it. And I remember talking to the, the sum of our board members who are trying to coordinate the distribution center

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and they insisted on um, having everything drive through. People drive up, open up their trunks of the car and put the supplies in and then drive off. And I said, no, people are gonna park because what people need is to see each other and to touch

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base and talk and get that self assurance. And also we are partnering with Jeff s and they had staff on the ground here as well. And I said, no people have got to come out of the cars and they need a hug and they need to

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touch, they need to be seen and touched and told the story and connect and for good, bad or indifferent and um, and we did that and we, you know, people walk with each other through the, the snake lines that existed in terms of picking up the

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supplies, they help them carry out through the car's etcetera. Um, and then there was this outpouring of support that was coming from um, I mean all across the country, I mean the federation, you know, the community raised over $20 million but we were getting truckloads of

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supplies and the dynamic of amazon. So how people were helping is they were going to amazon and having amazon, you know ship ship supplies from amazon right here and we were getting every day we're getting boxes, boxes of an amazon truck and um, and, and then

00:27:16.960 - 00:27:31.120

so there was that those feelings and the balancing for me was having them to walk through the building and the parts of the building and just seeing the devastation, the, the, you know, taking the 34 days to clear out the water, the level level and just

00:27:31.120 - 00:27:49.840

in shock, but I mean it was everything was done. Everything was really everything walking in through the preschool and seeing that flooded the capitol theater. Um, it every part of the campus had some damage done. And we just went into this mode saying, okay, what were

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the critical needs? And um, childcare was a critical need because we knew people had to get back to work or had to have their Children taken care so they can clean up their homes. So childcare was one. We then went into this partnership with congressman Emanuel,

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we call the camp party and we had a couple 100 kids over at Emmanuel and they were there and coordinated by the center and by the federation and Congregation Emmanuel and the other thing, the other sort of miracle for me and I think for the community

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is we found a partner with a church that was around the corner from here that did not flood that we could begin to serve our meals on wheels program. And so we were shut down for two weeks, but we're able to get that up and running.

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And so that was going on. We turn the tennis center into a childcare facility. We sort of said, what are the critical needs, who are the critical clients that we have to serve? Let's take care of those first and then we'll deal with the building and

00:28:44.670 - 00:28:59.630

the facility over time. Um, to tell to, to deal with whatever we needed to deal with. And at no point josh did anybody ever stop and say, you know joe, hey gonna pay for any of this? Um where's the money gonna come from? That was, that

00:28:59.630 - 00:29:16.440

was never a question. We, we knew that at some point. We, we knew it, figure it all out. Um, we knew we had to get it done and um, we reached out to a partner at the time was 40 construction and they were on site working

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23 days afterwards and they were here for almost 10 months putting this campus back together. Um and it was just a serious a series of miracles. But I just think it's perseverance and I have images also of our JCC board sitting in the tennis center a

00:29:34.320 - 00:29:44.680

month after harvey, you know, trying to figure out what was next and how we're gonna get there and how we're gonna pay for it, but nobody really focused on that. It was like, you know, this is what we need to do when we had a plan

00:29:44.690 - 00:29:59.550

and the plan was driven by um who were the critical populations that we need to serve and what was that? A pecking order of what to get done. And I remember visiting, you know, long winded now, but I remember visiting the chairperson of our day camp

00:29:59.550 - 00:30:14.150

committee, Michelle finger ready and we sat in her around her kitchen table And she said, What, you know, how are we ever going to camp in the summer of 2018? I promised her at that point we figure out how to have camp in 2018. We did,

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the building was finished and we did and, and you just, you know, you get into a mindset and you know, but you had a point, we had a plan and we executed that plan, um, and staff, you know, the resiliency of the staff was just in

00:30:29.620 - 00:30:44.890

the way people as well was incredible. And federation came in with lots of grants and funding and we borrowed some money from the S. B. A. But we got it done and um, it was, but it was, it was, it was painful memories. Um, but looking

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back, um, good stuff. And, and I remember josh, there was a, um, some folks in the community who had put together a musical, uh, a brief musical ceremony, um, to, to tell stories from the Memorial Day floods, which had been a couple years before in the

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tax day floods, which had been a few years before. And it was, it was a son. We, we the, the, it was a one time concert that was performed in partnership with some musicians at Rice University on the stage of the capitol theater, the sunday before

00:31:25.840 - 00:31:43.650

Harvey. And it was a way to commemorate and tell some meaningful stories and have some survivors tell some stories from Memorial Day and with no idea that a week later this city would be paralyzed from a flood that we could never even imagine. And so, you

00:31:43.650 - 00:32:00.620

know, those things sort of you know uh pop up in your mind um in in those those sort of experience over time. Yeah wow thank you for taking us back there. I know it I'm sure it's not easy for you. It's not easy for me either.

00:32:00.630 - 00:32:14.960

Um You know having lived through it. I you know on my own I remember my my wife and I and our daughter going to the tennis center to volunteer to help you know sort and and and distribute supplies and it was it was quite a time

00:32:14.960 - 00:32:27.470

and we all we all wanted to be able to do something right something to help and and to have the J. C. C. You know open at least you know part of it to serve as a as a center as a center for the community to

00:32:27.470 - 00:32:46.450

come and as you said get a hug, find a friend, see a familiar face and get some support. It's interesting for me when we when we started opening it wasn't about getting a program started or getting a facility open. Somebody could work out, it was about

00:32:46.450 - 00:33:00.270

giving people a sense of community in a in a touch point. Um and an ability to sort of get back to some level of normalcy um in a sense of belonging. So it didn't matter whether it was the pool that was gonna open or the fitness

00:33:00.270 - 00:33:16.130

center or we would have an educational program or child care, whatever it was just you know people wanted to uh one of the opportunity to figure out how do they, how do you reconnect? And obviously and so that was the focal point of this and and

00:33:16.130 - 00:33:33.320

the lessons learned and and for me professionally as in the ceo was it just reinforced this notion about it's not so much the what it's the y and the y here was people wh why people wanted to come back because they wanted to get connected. They

00:33:33.320 - 00:33:49.770

want to maintain their connection to community and um so it didn't matter what we were doing when we were doing it. The fact is it was at the j give me an opportunity to reconnect. Um And that for us I think was a lesson. Very valuable

00:33:49.770 - 00:34:13.260

lesson because that's carried us through harvey and and other challenges that we've you know that we've had to face. Yeah. So you know obviously the devastation to to the building, to the to the physical facilities of the E. R. J. C. C. Caused by harvey was

00:34:13.270 - 00:34:39.490

just unimaginable. So tell us Joel now about the decision process and the discussions that went into um considering whether the JCC should relocate to another part of um Houston what what options were considered and why did did the board ultimately decide to stay put where where

00:34:39.490 - 00:34:59.540

the JCC is. So I have to have to go backwards before Harvey so we were involved in, we had a master plan had been created in 2016 and we had established a project to do renovations on the campus in the wine garden building. Uh and we

00:34:59.540 - 00:35:18.810

started doing some fundraising in the latter part of 16 and then through 17 it was a $25 million project and we had raised 12.5 million by august of 17 and we're going to go public in october of 17 with the project Harvey struck and obviously the

00:35:18.810 - 00:35:39.030

campus was significantly damaged and uh we put that campaign and project on the backburner. And so for the for 2017, in a good part of 2018, our focus was on getting the building and reconnecting with the community. When that was done. We felt we were in

00:35:39.030 - 00:35:57.110

a better place. So in the fall of 2018 um we were able to, we started to set our sights on the future at some point josh, a couple of months after Harvey, um um one of our vice presidents of the board had reached out to me

00:35:57.110 - 00:36:11.130

and he said, I have, you know, I want to share something with you. Um It's either gonna, you know, uh you need to know about it and it's either gonna make your wife and crazy or you'll just say, hey no thanks, but I think you ought

00:36:11.130 - 00:36:26.480

to know about it. There was a piece of property in in the northern part of bel air that was about to go on the market and um, and it represented a potential for a new opportunity to build a new J. C. C. From, from the ground

00:36:26.480 - 00:36:43.980

up in a location that some people perceived as a little more centrally located where I talked earlier about here. We're in a neighborhood. This was more in a somewhat of a more of a more commercial area. Um, but was given a tremendous amount of of consideration

00:36:43.990 - 00:37:05.570

to move a little further north to be able to connect other parts of the community. Um, and the board was very, we were, I was authorized to begin to, you know, engage in serious conversations about the potential and beginning having conversations about purchasing it. Um, but

00:37:05.570 - 00:37:24.950

if as ways as it worked out the between the city of Bel Air and the, and the property itself had a number of deed restrictions on it. That before with the discussions turned to serious they would do. The deed restrictions would not really allow us to

00:37:24.950 - 00:37:43.910

fulfill our mission and provide a lot of the critical core programs that, um, that um, um, that we're, that we wanted to provide obviously at the, at the alternate location. And then there was this, uh, I used them with tug of war, but there was the,

00:37:43.920 - 00:38:01.950

the very difficult debate um, in the board room around the, the sense of the neighborhood and the commitment to the marlin, the greater my island community and what the implications that we were to move a mile with over a mile north. Uh, there were the funding

00:38:01.950 - 00:38:17.580

implications, uh, they were donors, who, you know, who are more, I think we're looking for the j to make some quicker decisions, you know, as it turns out, you know, this this um this piece of property in Bel Air still tied up in a lot of

00:38:17.580 - 00:38:36.100

zoning issues with the current owner and here we are, well under, you know, into engaged in our building property, are building renovation work for welfare into our campaign. Um, but there's, you know, there was this this ongoing question about, you know, uh in struggle around the

00:38:36.100 - 00:38:55.770

neighborhood, um and leaving, leaving the neighborhood and what's that message. Um and as opposed to being more centrally located. There were questions around economics of it. Um, At the end of the day, the board decided to um stay put and renovate here and in um March

00:38:55.770 - 00:39:12.970

of 19 confirmed that and began on this path that we've been on over the last very exciting path that we've been on over the last few years. It was not an easy decision. Um and it was not a unanimous decision either. Um it became the unanimous

00:39:12.970 - 00:39:32.930

decision towards the end, but it was um it was never whether a difference of opinion, it was never divisive. Um and there was it was a a healthy discourse of of discussion that took place over a number of months and I think at the end of

00:39:32.930 - 00:39:52.920

the day decision in the state to stay and rebuild here. We went through this process to get there and it's sort of it validated staying put by having an opportunity to think about doing something else. It gave us all opportunity to think, okay, what's the value

00:39:52.920 - 00:40:09.210

of staying put, what's the long term implications of that? And that has served as a foundation for our work, our plans here and our campaign here, um you know, etcetera. So the the the the debate ended up being a in this conversation, I think end up

00:40:09.210 - 00:40:25.550

being a good thing um you know, for the center and I think it was a somewhat of a healing, I think component as well post harvey uh somewhat of the opportunity people to come together. Um and I and I believe that our our commitment to stay

00:40:25.560 - 00:40:47.190

has helped immeasurably in terms of the homeowners making decisions to stay in the neighborhood, reinvest in their homes, reinvest in other homes, uh etcetera. So we're starting to see a rebirth here in Ireland in the greater island area um as well. So, um it was it

00:40:47.190 - 00:41:05.290

was a great, it was it was a challenging time um and I had people talking in both both both sets of my ears. Um but it ended up being I think a a really healthy conversation and dialogue for the center because I think it did serve

00:41:05.290 - 00:41:25.670

to unify the board in the past. Presidents in the community and rally around our decision to stay here. Um Great thank you for taking us into that whole decision process is very insightful and um I certainly I certainly can can hear and understand and appreciate the

00:41:25.670 - 00:41:42.850

symbolic value of the J. C. C. S. Continued presence in the in the mire land and Maryland estates neighborhood. Um Absolutely and and it seems that you know all of the institutions in the community have have pretty much decided more or less to stay where they

00:41:42.850 - 00:42:01.490

are um And have made you know the similar. Absolutely and there was listen I think there were um maybe other conversations were not as public as ours but seven acres was having a similar conversation because they had extensive flooding other by uh Beth Israel you know

00:42:01.500 - 00:42:19.410

I don't know they had some conversations better sure in which flooded JFS had just renovated their building, you know prior to harvey. So I you know there was this commitment along the sort of the braised bio corridor. Um They also stay. So I think that also

00:42:19.410 - 00:42:35.200

made it a little bit easier for us to make that decision today even the other night I had a presentation I made to Maryland state homeowners and there were 35 homeowners and I got a number of people who thanked us for staying put because what it

00:42:35.200 - 00:42:49.270

means only for the neighborhood but for them personally in terms of home values and the quality of life within within the neighborhood. And that's also it's been an interesting thing I think piece for us josh. You know we are a neighborhood center but we're a neighborhood

00:42:49.270 - 00:43:04.630

center were also a community center. And if you look at some of our penetrations out, you know into the community. Um you know in the summer of summer to 20 we had obviously because of the pandemic and much smaller camp in the summer of 2019 we

00:43:04.630 - 00:43:21.930

had Children, our day camp program from over 30 zip codes. Um so the reach. Um so it's both the neighborhood center from a facility letter from a facility standpoint but a community center from a program standpoint and and those kind of that kind of those kind

00:43:21.930 - 00:43:38.810

of data points in our reach that really helped us strategically to think about what the future looks like. I wanna I wanna talk more about the future plans for the E. R. J. C. C. And how the renovation and rebuilding is coming along in a little

00:43:38.810 - 00:43:55.340

while. Um But one of the challenges that you've alluded to along the way in this conversation is you know how does the JCC um reach the folks who don't live in the immediate neighborhood. Um And I wanted to ask you a little bit because I know

00:43:55.340 - 00:44:09.970

that in recent years you know there have been some discussions about closing the facility, the JCC in West Houston. Can you tell us a little bit about that and about the efforts that you and your staff are trying to make to reach jews who live, you

00:44:09.970 - 00:44:27.380

know, not necessarily in the um, Ireland Bellaire area, but further out. Yeah, so there's two pieces here. I'll talk about West Houston in a second, but the notion about reach. So um, we have consciously made decisions to take some program off site. So we've done book

00:44:27.380 - 00:44:42.990

festival programs off site, we've done our film festival programs off site. Uh, so we've tried to make some conscious decisions where possible to do some programming on the community. For a number of years, we had a very successful mission me, our family engagement program, there's also

00:44:42.990 - 00:45:01.060

doing a lot of programming offsite in pockets within the jewish community. But the other piece, I think strategically that we've made decision on, I want to say 67 years ago and I think none of us really thought understood the implications geographically. So we created something called

00:45:01.060 - 00:45:17.680

a program membership Which allowed anybody over the age of two to join the center for at that time was $180, which in essence was basically a registration for you in order to access any program you wanted at the center. So if you lived in West University

00:45:17.690 - 00:45:33.450

and you have yet, you had an interest in our gymnastics program. Um, prior to this, you know, creating this new concept, the family would have to join as a family member. And so we were keeping our, we're keeping people away because our structure didn't allow for

00:45:33.450 - 00:45:45.830

easy access. So now we create this program membership. So if you have, if you have a 10 year old daughter who wants to take her gymnastics program, she can come over here for 100 and $80 and and participate in gymnastics and the family doesn't have to

00:45:45.830 - 00:46:02.490

be a membership. And I said, I mentioned earlier about the camp in the, in the summer of 2019 and over 30 zip codes. There's, I'm convinced that this program membership concept has allowed people to access us because they want a one off activity they want, there's

00:46:02.490 - 00:46:15.900

something that we're doing that they want to engage in that fits at that time and place for where they are. And this program program membership allows them to be able to do that. And so if you were looking at sort of the change of our demographic

00:46:15.910 - 00:46:31.740

mix over the years, it's much more diverse in part because where people are, but also because we have created opportunities, ease of access to come to the center. So I think it's consciously around the mission and engagement programs off site, some of arts and cultural programs

00:46:31.740 - 00:46:53.420

off site, but the just the structure in and of itself um, made I think has access created easier access the West Houston piece was a different challenge. So, um uh that was post harvey and we were financially, we're being, we were challenged from the operating budget

00:46:53.980 - 00:47:09.650

in terms of being able to about, we're working on West revenue, increased expenses. The program enrollment had dipped to its lowest in years for a whole variety of reasons. Um and the board made a decision not to abandon West Houston, but sort of just shut the

00:47:09.650 - 00:47:24.980

program for a period of time to give us a chance to sort of regroup. And um, we made a decision in uh in the spring of 2018. And within a few days having made the decision and having met with the parents, uh a small group of

00:47:24.980 - 00:47:41.170

parents approached us with a goal to say we this is not gonna happen under our watch. Uh we're passionate about this program and want to be connected to the Jewish community And we're gonna go out and raise some money and um and we're, we need 4-6

00:47:41.170 - 00:47:57.850

weeks, we're gonna raise the money, we're gonna raise this money. How much do we need in order to keep the facility open and operating going forward. And they did and raised over $100,000 in a very short window of time. And uh, six weeks later, we, the

00:47:57.850 - 00:48:17.190

board reverses decision and I said the rest is history because now we are um, enrollment is that higher than it's been in a decade and a lot of energy and prior to the pandemic, we've been doing a lot of collaborative programming with Temple Sinai and army

00:48:17.200 - 00:48:35.390

and uh Nevada West Houston at the J and we'll be picking that back up after the pandemic as well. But um, we've, now, we're back in just as a story where the parents said, we need you out here, we want you out here and we're willing

00:48:35.390 - 00:48:55.170

to try to figure out how to make this happen. And sure enough they did. And uh and so that's, that's a good story. What was, what was a challenging time and a difficult decision ended up being a, a good, a good win for everybody involved. Um,

00:48:57.740 - 00:49:17.940

So if you, if you only had to oversee the JCC during one major natural disaster in your career day, new right, It would have been enough. Um, but you have now steered the JCC not only through hurricane harvey but also the covid 19 pandemic. So I

00:49:17.940 - 00:49:42.170

wanna, I wanna talk to you for a few minutes and, and to get your perspective about When, when did it first become clear to you and the staff and the board in in early 2020 that the things might be taking a difficult turn. Um It's a

00:49:42.170 - 00:50:01.120

good question. So I would say to you, um We started, so our, our children's scholarship ball was the last Saturday in February of 2020 and I think we started to get a sense at that point based on some people's behavior that, um, this was not, there's

00:50:01.120 - 00:50:21.280

something going on that we have to start to pay a little bit more attention to. Um, so I, we started having some converse initial conversations um, and, but again we didn't quite know, um, you know what to expect. I think we, I think the wake up

00:50:21.280 - 00:50:38.780

call for, I think everybody in Houston was the canceling of the rodeo. And at that point I think we all said, alright, what's, what's really going on here and literally pause and reflect on this and understand what's happening. Um, it was also me personally very challenging

00:50:38.780 - 00:50:56.810

time because my dad, I had passed away that, that I think was, was March 14th, it was right at the time as the world was shutting down. Um, so you know, as the ceo was personally, I was in a different place um, for, and so it

00:50:56.810 - 00:51:08.190

wasn't, you know, quite on the ground for a, you know, a period of time understanding what was sort of what was building up. I was actually out of town for a few days before that he passed away and the way the funeral and then I came

00:51:08.190 - 00:51:25.880

back. But we made the decision to close the center on a sunday. The board. We, we, we, we convened the board on sunday. Um, it was weird because we brought the board in and, and um, some people wearing masks, um, you know, and people were sitting

00:51:25.890 - 00:51:43.250

56 ft apart from each other even before social distancing became you know, a popular thing to do and it just was weird um and people weren't handshaking and you know and and connecting and that kind of regard but it was an easy decision and we made

00:51:43.250 - 00:51:58.180

decisions shut down not knowing when you know sort of the future held and after things sort of settled down. For me personally I remember coming back into the building and it was a parking lot was empty and um everything was dark and I started having these

00:51:58.190 - 00:52:13.080

images of harvey because you know, I remember coming to building when it was dark and nobody here and stuff and and I started asking myself so where is this going and how we're going to begin to sort of navigate out of this. So you know, we

00:52:13.080 - 00:52:25.230

paid a lot of attention to what was happening with you know, in terms of messaging from the health department in the city and the county and uh C. D. C. And learning but there was a tremendous amount of sharing and learning going on among the JCC

00:52:25.230 - 00:52:43.770

network where Ceos were talking to other C. E. O. S. And early charter directors were talking the other early childhood directors. Um But for me personally what I think the uh what was uh the harvey piece what struck out was, alright let's pause and let's talk

00:52:43.770 - 00:52:58.250

about those critical populations again, who are they and how are we going to serve them meals on wheels. We opened up, we figured out how to open up the center and safely serve meals on wheels. Um so that was the first thing we did and that

00:52:58.250 - 00:53:13.480

was within a week or two of have been closed and we started talking about the child care. How can we get back to providing the child care as an essential service? What does this mean for summer camp in terms of, you know, we're two months away

00:53:13.480 - 00:53:25.890

from camp in terms of people depend on us for child care but our hands are tied because I'm not being critical of the government. We didn't know when we would be allowed to do it, but we spend time to prepare for it and the staff just

00:53:25.890 - 00:53:41.370

went into automatic pilot and said, okay, we've got a challenge, We've got a problem. How are we gonna solve it? And beginning to understand all the different populations, how we're gonna serve the different needs. Um I sort of put up on the, on the, on the

00:53:41.380 - 00:53:54.080

whiteboard sort of a timeline about when I my goal was to open by june 1st and we've been the map out. How are we gonna get there even if the government didn't allow us. I wanted to be ready to turn as soon as we had the

00:53:54.080 - 00:54:11.070

window, the permission to unlock the doors and hope reopen program so that we were ready and the other piece we did. Um, and to this day, it's probably one of the best decisions I ever made. Uh we put together a medical advisory task force, um, infectious

00:54:11.070 - 00:54:29.270

disease doctors, epidemiologists, people in research, a couple of our parents, but they, it was wasn't just going to cherry pick for professionals at the medical center, it was finding those professionals who were connected to the JCC who understood jewish community understood center and then brought a

00:54:29.270 - 00:54:46.640

science to the table to help us navigate this from a medical standpoint. And we continue to talk with our community about a sense of partnership and we were just getting everything ready, not knowing what to expect. And we did open, you know, we opened on june

00:54:46.640 - 00:55:04.150

1st uh the fitness area and an outdoor pool and the child care opened and camp opened on uh june 15th and again and we secured a P. P. P. Um, just we were just going with the flow and understanding, you know, sort of day in day

00:55:04.150 - 00:55:20.220

out, making decisions on a day in day out kind of basis. There's a lot of trial and air, there's a lot of getting comfortable with lots of different things, a lot of conversation, a lot of learning. Um, but what we were doing unbeknownst to me and

00:55:20.220 - 00:55:32.070

I think and our staff and let people on the board at the time is we were, we were building trust in the community that we could do this safely because it goes back to what I mentioned earlier about harvey, what didn't change was people's desire to

00:55:32.070 - 00:55:45.660

want to be engaged. I want to be connected, want to feel part of something, even if it was outside wearing a mask, going to the swimming pool or whatever, they wanted to be a part of something and we knew that and we just had to set

00:55:45.670 - 00:55:54.950

that up in terms of how do you do that, but do it in a safe and healthy way. And we had some bumps along the way and we had to shut some classes of kids along the way and camp groups along the way. But we've been

00:55:54.950 - 00:56:10.600

open since. Um, and we've been able to sort of continue to learn and grow with it and continue to build that trust. And um, and I'm convinced that because our staff had the experience from Harvey and I think we, we dealt with the harvey piece, um,

00:56:10.610 - 00:56:24.500

we sort of had an understanding about how to work through the crisis management and plan for it. And you know, I learned the concept in social work school many years ago, but trust the process, you just have to trust that things are gonna work themselves out

00:56:24.500 - 00:56:37.890

if you put yourself in the right position, you try to do the right things, you'll get there over time and you have to trust that you'll get there and um, you know, I learned over years, josh, there's an expression when you, you know, when you come

00:56:37.890 - 00:56:49.770

to a fork in the road, you take it. Uh so for me in my seat, I've learned over the years when you get to that fork in the road, you gotta make that decision, you don't know where it's gonna go and but you gotta trust your

00:56:49.770 - 00:57:05.380

instincts and trust your judgment that you gotta make that decision and you gotta move forward and that's going to continue to guide you down that path. And that's what's happened here. And um and that it's been, listen, it's been it's been amazing as we've been able

00:57:05.380 - 00:57:26.350

to grow and get back into our world, our virtual world or in person world, a combination of hybrid um support financially from the community. Um it's been an amazing, amazing process. Um none that I would want to have to experience ever again. Um but it also

00:57:26.360 - 00:57:45.770

has allowed us think this sort of take stock in who we are and what we do and what's important, you know, as well and um um uh forever will be indebted to staff, you know, who um who carried, you know, it's like anything else when you

00:57:45.770 - 00:57:58.000

have a crisis is is people you always know, you can count on and the same people who carried us, this same staff that carries through harvey have been out in the forefront day in day, out of this pandemic. Um and the lay people support has just

00:57:58.000 - 00:58:15.500

been remarkable as well. So I feel very fortunate as a community um and our medical group continues to meet and continues to provide its direction as we as we, you know, can work through this and turn the corner to hopefully getting back to some um normalcy.

00:58:15.510 - 00:58:35.220

Yeah, for sure. And I I know that you know, our community owes you and the staff and the the medical board um a huge debt of gratitude for all that you've been able to accomplish. So a year plus of you know, the book fair, moving online,

00:58:35.230 - 00:58:52.770

the film festival virtual, the melting program in which I've taught for many years, you know, move online. Are there are there like moments that that will stick out in your mind long after this is is hopefully over things to look back on. Uh maybe laugh, remember

00:58:52.780 - 00:59:07.670

uh remember about a year ago um we had our annual meeting and it was a virtual, we had, you know, we had to go through the formality of the annual meeting in order to um uh we elect our officers and a new president and I said

00:59:07.670 - 00:59:20.460

to our new president, you're gonna be doing virtual. Um you know, once you come in a shirt and tie in a sport jacket and wear shorts um He did, I didn't because my wife wouldn't let me out of the house wearing in that kind of outfit.

00:59:20.470 - 00:59:47.810

Um so you know, I think um um it's those kinds of things that uh I think seeing people for the first time I you know I think has been you know those are memories I think will you know continue um the um you know seeing kids

00:59:47.810 - 01:00:06.470

walking with their iphones because they have to show us their completed health survey. Um You know it's so there's a combination of today's technology with today's medical needs with our guidelines. Um and um you know are making you know just the decisions that we've made over

01:00:06.470 - 01:00:26.500

time thinking how is that anybody ever gonna accept them and make them happen And they've been done with such ease and grace. Um And we're getting we've gotten such great appreciation from people uh for what we've been able to do and provide services. Do you think

01:00:26.500 - 01:00:41.860

that do you think Joel that any aspects of how you shifted to provide programming online will remain after the pandemic is over? Yeah we're I mean we're actually started working on next year's program plans and I think there's uh there'll be a hybrid. I you mentioned

01:00:41.860 - 01:00:59.300

book festival and I remember sitting in um in november early december listening to the committee. They had a virtual meeting committee meeting in evaluating it and there were people who wanted to maintain um the virtual experiences but what I heard repeatedly what people was missing josh

01:00:59.300 - 01:01:18.030

was the bookstore. Um Not because they couldn't buy a book online. Okay. The notion about being at the JCC being together with other people kibitzing socialized and schmoozing in the bookstore. Okay. It was a destination That I heard that was the biggest piece I heard and

01:01:18.030 - 01:01:33.040

people said even if you even if it's a hybrid model in in 2021 whatever you know in person or hybrid whatever the most continue here was gonna have the bookstore Gotta have a place that we can come and hang out. And it goes back to this

01:01:33.040 - 01:01:55.820

notion about engagement. You have to build community and we build community lots of different ways. The bookstore is just another way that we build community and um so yeah we're gonna continue with some of the with some mix. Um as well. Great. So um now we

01:01:55.820 - 01:02:12.130

get to the most exciting question and hopefully the most fun question for you of all you've had some difficult topics to deal with. Tell us about you know how the construction and the renovation and the rebuilding process is coming along. Where are you? You know now

01:02:12.130 - 01:02:29.260

it's it's april of 2021. So where are you in the process? When do you anticipate that things will be completed and what what are you most excited about when you imagine the new J. C. C. Campus? Yeah. So I've been thinking about this question. Um and

01:02:29.270 - 01:02:47.380

how to respond. I'm gonna give you a couple of response a couple piece of information. One is you know we paused the campaign in March when we closed the pandemic March of 20 but never paused the planning When we picked the campaign back up in July

01:02:47.390 - 01:03:05.860

fundraising really. The pace of fundraising was very high was very successful and I'm convinced in part that our, our ability to move forward in this time frame is because we were re opened on June one and that people saw us open and said that Jay is

01:03:05.860 - 01:03:21.940

open, there's a reason that they're here and the reason they're open and I want to support it. And um, so I'm convinced that it had had nothing to do with the project, like reopening the building, but getting reopened, getting programs and people back engaged to demonstrate

01:03:21.940 - 01:03:41.660

the community that there's a need and we can do it and people, people desire to support us. So that's, that's piece one. Uh, we had a ceremonial groundbreaking on the 31st of january, um, but we've been uh, it's no longer ceremonial um as of today, um,

01:03:41.670 - 01:03:55.940

almost the entire back portion which is being torn down to the ground. Um, the locker rooms, the fitness center of the indoor pool, the racquetball courts, everything has been de mode, and also in the front part of the campus where the new Federation building is the

01:03:55.940 - 01:04:11.120

path site is being um, as we speak outside my window, it's being um, being created. We're open, we're open for business, the wine garden building and the tennis center and gymnastics and birthday Alice. we've sort of divided the campus in terms of access and parking and

01:04:11.130 - 01:04:31.700

front and back. Uh we've got Camp that opens up in middle of June over 500 kids a day, 500 kids a week, they're gonna be here for camp. So we're open and projects going along very well uh where uh it's a $50 million 44 million, so

01:04:31.700 - 01:04:46.000

we've got about six million in which to raise, um it's going to be done and completed in phases, I think the first phase will be the new indoor pool um in the outdoor pool, which will be late spring of 22 so about a year from now,

01:04:46.010 - 01:04:59.430

also about a year from now, the Federation building, the new Federation building will be completed at that point will tear down the existing Federation building, so Federation is staying where they are, so that we do not have to incur additional overhead expenses by moving them off

01:04:59.430 - 01:05:15.920

site and we'll tear it down, so um and then the new, our new three story activities building will open probably late fall of 22 so we're probably, it's about 18 to 20 month kind of window, but we're gonna be open and fully operational and then somewhere

01:05:15.920 - 01:05:31.690

towards the latter portion of the project, that timetable will begin some renovations to the existing Weingarten building um and updates um as well, so it's very exciting, um it's a little surreal, I walk around a little bit and you see things sort of, you know, being

01:05:31.690 - 01:05:45.850

torn down yesterday um and I had not anticipated this, I walked out one of the doors, not thinking that, thinking that part of the building was still standing and they weren't, and I sort of paused and I was like, wow, and then I walked out back

01:05:45.850 - 01:06:00.420

by the tennis center and you could look east and see the, the federation building cause you never could do that before because the fitness center and everything was in the, in the, in the way and the building was in the way, so it's really exciting. Um,

01:06:00.430 - 01:06:15.880

you know, it's um it's time, I mean it was, the building was over 50 infrastructure, the buildings over 50 years old, it was aging. Um, it's gonna be actually a wonderful piece one for me. I think one of the most exciting pieces is that our new

01:06:15.880 - 01:06:34.180

aquatic center, indoor outdoor lap pool, new family recreation pool. Uh, and um, we will be a destination for families with Children for years to come for the, for spring and summer and fall swimming. Um, and real excited about that. Um, you know about that as well.

01:06:34.190 - 01:06:58.040

Um, So yeah, it's been, it's been great, and you know the level of community support has been unbelievable. So we raised 44 million from just about 250 donors and um, so we've gotten some fortunate some, some very, some major leadership gifts here. And um, and it's,

01:06:58.050 - 01:07:16.730

it's, um, you know, for me having been involved in a lot of the fundraising, um, it's, it's so, it's great to hear and stories from people, but why they want to do this and, and it's also from from individuals who um, probably won't live a long

01:07:16.730 - 01:07:34.840

time in order to see it and utilize it. But they wanted here, they recognize the value and they want to know that it's here for generations to come and, and it doesn't get any more special than that when, because, you know, when people have made these

01:07:34.850 - 01:07:54.560

significant leadership gifts, Who, you know, are in their 80's know that, you know, they'll they'll, well, they'll see it open, but they won't see it productive for years to come, but they know that their, their legacy is this gift that they've made to this community for

01:07:54.560 - 01:08:08.870

years to come. And and to me that is so special because it really says, how do people feel and what does the JCC mean to them? Sure, thank you, Joel. This has been such a great conversation. I really appreciate your taking the time to speak with

01:08:08.870 - 01:08:21.700

me and um, looking forward as well to, to the new building and all the opportunities that it's going to provide this community for years to come, Thank you so much, appreciate josh. Thank you. You bet