By Cindy Mindell

WEST HARTFORD – JMAP – Jewish Measurement, Action, Progress – is a community-wide study designed to help the Jewish community navigate its future by understanding its current makeup and needs.

“Like most Jewish communities, the Greater Hartford community is changing. If we are to continue to grow and maintain our vitality we must better understand who makes up our community, appreciate how they interact and experience Jewish life, what they value and what they believe is needed to enhance their Jewish journey,” says Howard Sovronsky, President/CEO of JMAP is co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford and the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, in partnership with Jewish agencies, synagogues and others.

JMAP has two components: information about the needs, values, and priorities in the Greater Hartford Jewish community will be gathered by means of a confidential, anonymous online survey open June 6 to 30. Then, with information from the online survey and other research, JMAP will create what organizers call the “Dashboard” to help the community measure progress toward its goals.

“When a company puts out a new product, they usually do research to find out if that product is needed and is a good fit for the people they serve,” says Kathryn Gonnerman, director of the Center for Innovative Philanthropy at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford. “We don’t have any way of doing that on a broad scale because we don’t have community-wide data. We know that our Jewish community organizations, if they’re member organizations, have ways of finding out what their members want and need, but we’d like to understand this diverse community that we’re lucky to have.”

A traditional demographic study – like the one conducted in the Greater Hartford Jewish community in 2000 – examines the community’s population, geographic locations, beliefs, and practice. In contrast, JMAP will help individuals, day and religious schools, agencies, and synagogues have a better picture of the Greater Hartford Jewish community and what’s important to its members.

“The idea for JMAP came from a very clear need across the entire community,” says Gonnerman. “We know that a lot has changed in the last two decades but we don’t know how those changes have directly affected our local Jewish community. The Pew Research Center’s 2013 ‘Portrait of American Jews,’ for example, provided some surprising information for the national Jewish community – but what about us here? For example, we know that Connecticut is one of the fastest-aging states in the United States. We know that Hartford is one of the fastest-aging counties in Connecticut. We know that the Jewish community has a disproportionate number of people who are aging as well, so what does that look like for us? What will that mean for us?”

The Dashboard will be updated regularly so community members, organizations and funders can evaluate changes in the community and assess the effectiveness of their efforts.

“For any particular issue, we can use JMAP to help us get from Point A to Point B,” Gonnerman says. “You can take lots of different routes to get there. But before we ever take a trip, we look at our car dashboard and we say, ‘Do we have gas? Are the engine lights on for anything? Do we need maintenance? Are all the doors shut; are the seatbelts on?’ JMAP is trying to not just draw the map, but give the community a dashboard so that they have a really clear picture of circumstances and can guide their success accordingly.”

With input from synagogues and Jewish agencies and organizations, the JMAP survey questions are being designed by The Melior Group, an independent third-party research consultancy that will also manage and analyze the data.

“No one should count themselves out of the survey,” Gonnerman says. “It is open to anyone who considers themselves Jewish or part of a Jewish household, or who works at or with a Jewish organization, anywhere in Greater Hartford. Multiple members of a family or household are encouraged to participate.”

The online survey can be completed in 15 to 20 minutes from home or at “pop-up shops” held throughout the community. In addition, Foundation staff will be available to offer help by phone. The questions are tailored to each participant’s unique demographics, based on information that s/he provides at the start of the survey.

Gonnerman stresses that the data gathered are solely for educational purposes.

“None of the specific data comes back to any organizations; it’s not going to be incorporated into fundraising or anything like that,” she says. After participants complete the survey, they can choose to enter a prize drawing, but that information goes to a completely separate place from the survey, also managed by The Melior Group.

But the biggest prize will be the greater understanding the Jewish community gains about itself – its goals and priorities, and its ability to analyze trends in beliefs, practices, and characteristics across a broad range of community members.

“The Greater Hartford Jewish community is on the cutting edge in a lot of ways and this is another way that we’re taking something that has been done and trying something a little bit new,” says Gonnerman. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that the results of the study will be useful for years to come and will look forward rather than just at a moment in time.”

Sovronsky agrees.

“If we wish to be responsive and credible we need objective data that will lead us to better understand what our community needs and desires,” he says. “That is the power of JMAP; an initiative that will empower the Federation, the Foundation and all our institutions to use this information so that we can  become more relevant and responsive in our goal of fostering a vibrant, lasting Jewish community.“

For more information: JMAPCT.org / (860) 523-7460.