This document, the culmination of a two year effort by a small group of members, represents an attempt to step back from the day-to-day operation of the Temple that consumes essentially all of the lay leadership's time and to think about where the Temple is today and where we would like it be in 5 to 10 years. It was the intent of the President and Board of Trustees that commissioned it, and the hope of its authors, that it be but a first step. In future years, the practice of periodically stepping back to look at where the Temple is and where it is headed, in the context of where the world around it is and is headed, should be standard Temple procedure. As such, this Strategic Plan must be viewed as a living document - one which will change with the evolution of our congregation and our world.
 
 
 

While many of the conclusions drawn and recommendations made in this plan may be viewed as more tactical than strategic, more short-term problem fixing than long-term visionary, the intent is to present a balance of actions and activities that need to occur over the next several years if we are to achieve the vision of Temple Beth El in 2006.
 

The vision starts with a mission statement and a set of objectives, a sense of who we are:
 

Mission

The mission of Temple Beth El is to fulfill the Jewish religious, educational, social and service needs of members of the Greater Stamford Jewish community who identify with Conservative Judaism, and, to take its place in the area as a caring religious congregation that supports the social service needs of the community.
 

OBJECTIVES

To enforce, strengthen and promote the precepts of Conservative Judaism
 

To encourage members' understanding and appreciation of the importance of attendance at, and participation in, religious services
 

To encourage adult and youth education among its members, emphasizing the Hebrew language, Jewish history and traditions, and religious customs and ceremonies
 

To support charitable and benevolent causes within the Temple, local, national and international communities
 

To strengthen and promote egalitarianism in all congregational activities and organizational structures
 

To encourage and strengthen its members' ties to the State of Israel and to the Masorti (Conservative) Movement
 

Since we do not exist in a vacuum, a sense of the world around the congregation was obtained by study of community demographics, what could be gleaned about Jewish community make-up, and the Temple membership demographics obtained in a 1994 survey of Temple members. Three findings emerge:
 

The conclusion from all of the community demographic data gathered is that there should be no significant changes over the next 5-10 years. The population of interest to Temple Beth El will remain largely white collar, highly educated, with high family incomes, and live in neighborhoods categorized as "affluent" by almost any standard. There is no reason to suggest that the population of middle to upper income Jewish families in this population will either rise or fall in proportion to the community as a whole. There is reason to believe that the mobility, working parents, and other characteristics of the population examined will also apply to the Jewish population.
 

A key conclusion of Jewish population demographic and projection data is that the population of practicing Conservative Jews in all-Jewish families will decline over the next several years. Any gains to compensate for this decline will have to come from inter-married families, from currently unaffiliated Jews, and from other Jewish segments.
 

And, from the Temple demographics, we find that the congregation is diverse in age, length of membership, and interest in programs for children and older adults.
 

In the context of these environmental factors, the vision of Temple Beth El as an active and vibrant Conservative Jewish congregation which fulfills all aspects of its mission statement appears to be both realistic and achievable. That's not to say that achieving it will be fast, easy, or free. The many recommendations of the Strategic Planning Committee will require significant effort to implement. More importantly, the recommendations represent a very real culture change for several segments of the congregation and that factor alone will require significant effort. The continued vitality of the Congregation is dependent upon our diversity.
 

The common thread of the recommendations contained in this report is that our mission demands an increased sense of congregational vitality - more members participating in more programs, more members taking an active leadership role, more members gaining a sense of belonging and fulfillment from the Temple. The recommendations include:
 

Increase the Hebrew literacy and the participation level of members in religious ritual.
 

Emphasize religious school participation which spans pre-school through high school.
 

Enhance the education process through facilities improvements benefiting both faculty and students, and introduce modern technologies to complement the current processes.
 

Increase the level of cooperative efforts across the Stamford Jewish community in all areas of religious education, especially adult education.
 

Improve the coordination of social programming among the Men's Club, Sisterhood, and other organizations.
 

Increase the level of activity and commitment to both inreach and outreach programming through Project Ezra and Beth El Cares.
 

Increase Temple membership to 650-700 families in the short term and seek creative ways to accommodate 700-800 families in the current building in the longer term.
 

Maintain the processes recently put into place to ensure financial stability, including tighter budget and expense controls, coordinated income planning, use of a Financial Review Committee and outside auditors as advisors, and capital budgeting.
Implement a new organizational structure which is designed to reduce redundant efforts and focus all volunteers and professional staff members on the programs most needing their efforts, along with focus of the Temple's leadership on actively covering and coordinating all of the many diverse areas of ongoing activity.
 

The first draft of this plan was the result of the Strategic Planning Committee working with Jewish community leaders, Temple members, the clergy and professional staffs, and the President. The Board of Trustees then participated in an all-day retreat discussion held on January 12, 1997. The plan document emerging from that retreat represented a consensus view of the lay leadership, along with the clergy and professional leadership of the Temple. The next point of review was to present the essence of the plan to the congregation as a whole, inviting those interested to review the entire plan document. A forum of Temple members was held on April 16, 1997. The final step was a formal ratification of the plan by the Temple membership at the 1997 annual meeting on May 21, 1997.
 

To the many Temple members, clergy and professional staff who have participated in this strategic planning process, the members of the Strategic Planning Committee offer their thanks for the care with which everyone approached this effort, and the resulting high quality of the material with the committee worked.