In the greater Chicago area, Jews have been migrating in droves—but from where to where?
Based on births the past decade, we can expect the number of Jews utilizing Illinois Hillels to increase or decrease by 2018?
Based on that same birth data and synagogue affiliations trends, the enrollment for Jewish camps is likely to….?
Jewish seniors are increasingly choosing what types of housing arrangements and services?
These and other Jewish demographic questions are not trivial. Neither are the answers.
Learning who we are, where we live, how Judaism informs our life choices and what our needs and dreams are is what the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago gauges every decade. What we learn from these community surveys, supplemented with frequent service updates from our agencies, allows us both to regularly adjust and engage in long term planning.
These surveys matter. The results reveal how Federation can better serve the community. The stakes are so important—the allocation of tens of millions of dollars annually and what and how we address Jewish needs—that only real data, not anecdotes or impressions, can be trusted.
As involved, caring members of the community, we sense that our community is different today than it was in 2000, and is different than it will be in 2020. But humility compels even the most informed among us to acknowledge that we only can count on scientific surveys to point out the best paths to further improve how we address community needs.
The survey is not just a snapshot to frame and hang on our wall as a revealing picture of who we are now, or even more accurately, who we’ve been the last 10 years. Instead, this data provides the building blocks of information and analysis that will guide the strategic deployment of philanthropic resources across our community’s family of agencies.
Enjoying the trust of the largest number of donors in our community, as well as raising and allocating the largest amount of Jewish philanthropic funds, JUF/Federation applies the lessons gleaned from the community survey every decade in order to fulfill those challenging, sacred responsibilities.
Federation also shares relevant survey data with our key Jewish institutional partners, including social services agencies, day schools, and synagogues. For their own planning purposes they all need to know who is affiliating and why, who is moving in or out of their neighborhood, and the background and Jewish lifestyle choices of the people they serve now and in the future.
Other key consumers of this data are major Jewish foundations interested in leveraging the Federation system via grants that address priorities of their own. Community survey data serves both to confirm and debunk assumptions, allowing for more informed and hence successful initiatives.
If you are called please participate in the community survey. Your participation is essential for the collection of accurate, relevant data that our community needs to ensure our future strength.
We are not merely counting for counting’s sake. We are counting because you count. Our community counts. How wisely and effectively we distribute communal tzedakah counts.
Our dreams count. Of that, there is no question.
Work on the 2010 edition of the Jewish Federation’s Chicago-area Jewish Community Survey has now begun. A professional survey research firm conducts the survey by calling thousands of households throughout the Chicago area. Calls will continue for several months. Some people will be asked just a few questions; others will get a more detailed set. All responses are completely confidential, and no personally identifiable details are linked to the answers. For information call the Community Survey Hotline at 312-357-4545.
