Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside

As the umbrella body for the seven Jewish welfare organisations, JCC held a Planning Meeting at the end of 2011 to try and assess the needs of the community in the short, medium and long term. These are some of the issues that were raised.

DEMOGRAPHICS

The numbers of the Western Cape Jewish Community appear to be slowly on the rise. Indicators currently are:

Young couples are having children in South Africa, with preschool numbers growing.

Longevity sees a growing number of seniors at the other end of the spectrum.

Pointers:

• There are more enquiries for services provided by ASTRA.
• Highlands House is under pressure. Average age has increased from 82 to 86. There will be a greater demand for care.
• Welfare needs have increased with JCS seeing clients from new populations in-fluxing from other areas/countries.

FACILITIES

The biggest need is for actual accommodation and operating space. The importance of the organizations working together and working optimally is vital.  Individual needs of the organizations are important but we also need to think collectively.

FINANCE is the over-riding issue and needs to be considered for all of the issues raised.

• It is imperative that all the organizations strategise in the long term to be physically closer to one another in terms of rationalizing the back office, e.g. switchboards, accounting, etc.
• Awareness of the overall needs of the community must be the guiding principal.  We must aim to be more strategic.

STAFF

It was noted that in the teaching profession, responses to ads for jobs has increased in numbers whereas applications for Social Workers and Nurses is the reverse.

As a Jewish Welfare organization we need to be guided by the principle that we treat our staff – social workers/nurses/care givers – in the way we wish them to treat those for whom they care.

Consideration should be given to introduce bursaries and scholarships for current staff to encourage training development, diplomas, degrees and postgraduate work in careers associated with welfare/nursing.  This would be a valuable fringe benefit and should be available to children of long serving staff.

SUCCESSION PLAN

Encourage young people to get involved in the organizations. Succession starts at Herzlia and we need to get the students involved as they are our future leaders. Leadership role: bring young people into the sub-committees to be involved with specific projects where their professional skills could be put to use and they can see results. Succession needs to be formalized into our structures.

WAY FORWARD?
We can make things change for the better: “Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside”.  The JCC group holds that key!

We would be happy to receive your ideas and input that you think might be relevant to meet the challenges and changes in the future.