By Nancy B. Greer
President & CEO
Ensuring Jewish continuity is the guiding light for the investments that your Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle makes for keeping our community vibrant and thriving.
One of those longstanding investments has been leadership development. Foundational to a vibrant, thriving future for our community is building a “leadership ladder”—preparing groups of dedicated individuals ready to take on responsible positions at Jewish communal organizations. Thanks to our generous donors, we have a suite of programs for building that leadership ladder. I want to focus today on an exciting shift in the works for one of them: the Advanced Leadership Development Program (ALDP).
Since 2013, ALDP has trained young adults with promising futures as community leaders. In the nine-month program, participants hear from experienced communal leaders, explore leadership styles and perspectives through a Jewish lens, and create an invaluable network of peers.
ALDP has reached an inflection point. In the face of an ill-defined new normal, it is time to pause and think deeply about the future of leadership development for our community. Consequently, in fiscal year 2021, instead of holding a nine-month ALDP program, the Federation will invest in creating a “Brains Trust,” drawn from past ALDP graduates. They will engage in conversations about developing leaders with the capacity and connections to nimbly engage the community during these uncertain times. The group will engage in scenario planning—scoping out leadership strategies for building a healthy, vibrant Jewish future through compelling Jewish experiences in a “together and apart” environment.
Call it Leadership Development 2.0—tapping our community’s well of energetic and committed emerging leaders to figure out adapting leadership preparation programs for our changing world.
I want to thank the leaders who will be stepping up to take part in this forward-looking endeavor and the generous donors like you who make the work possible. The future of our community will be what we make it—L’Dor V’Dor.
