One of my favorite parts of working with the JCC is the opportunity we have to learn from and with other organizations and communities.
This week, the JCC served as a host site for the National Day of Action to Fight Tech & AI-Enabled Frauds & Scams, a national effort co-led by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and the United to Stop Online Scams coalition to highlight the ways scams, fraud, and financial exploitation disproportionately and adversely affect older adults. As a host site, we brought together a national livestream with in-person community conversations. Beth Schwanke from the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Cyber Law, Policy & Security joined us as our onsite policy expert, helping our community better understand this rapidly evolving challenge and what we can do to protect ourselves and one another.
We also had the honor of welcoming a wonderful organization to the JCC from Philadelphia, Congreso de Latinos Unidos. Congreso came to learn about the JCC’s role in helping to create and host the 10.27 Healing Partnership as they explore the development of a resiliency center of their own. We were grateful to share what we have learned through the experience of building and sustaining Pittsburgh’s resiliency center, but what I found myself thinking about afterward was how much we have to learn from Congreso.
Over the past 50 years, they have evolved to meet the needs of their geographic and identity-based community in ways that are both vibrant and inspiring. They have created a place that is deeply rooted in community and responsive to the people they serve. They came to learn from us, but I left looking forward to more opportunities for us to go and learn from them.
This is one of the things that continues to surprise me about the JCC: the connections that can emerge from unexpected places. Sometimes those connections grow out of opportunity. Sometimes they grow out of a shared challenge. And sometimes, as is the case with the 10.27 Healing Partnership, they emerge from tragedy. No matter its origin story, though, every relationship has something to teach us. Every partnership can contribute to the growth, evolution, and vibrancy of our JCC.
I am reminded of that as we enter October and continue our work with community partners to plan remembrances of both the terrible Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting of October 27, 2018. We remember the people whose lives were lost. We carry their stories forward. And we recognize the responsibility that comes with remembering.
So as the Jewish High Holiday season draws to a close, let’s remember that none of us have to navigate difficult moments alone. We can learn from one another. We can show up for one another. We can build relationships across communities and organizations. And, together, we can create something that is stronger, more connected, and more responsive to the people we serve.
Wishing you and your families a Shabbat shalom and Chag sameach,
Jason