Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1994-11-10

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THE
The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
Sending Cvlumbus and the Central Ohio
Jewish Coirtrnunity since 1922
VOLUME 72
NUMBER 46
NOVEMBER 10,1994
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Syria for peace with Israel
page 2
M. Romanoff to receive
national Agudath award
page 3
AfHcan-AmericaB and Jewish
relatlons-looMngtoffieflitee
page 4
Shifman Family cantors to
present Chanukah Concert
page 6
ABOUT THE COVER
JCC Member Services staff Theresa Gunther
(left)  and  Terri   Batten   (right)   welcome  new
member Jean Bradley at the Prospective Member
, Open House, held in September, to introduce tlte
Choice Plan, the JCC's new membership structure..
early DEADLINES
The deadline for the OJC issue
dated Nov. 24 will be noon on
Thursday, Nov. 17.
The deadline for the issue dated
Dec. 1 will be noon on Wednesday;,
Nov.23. /,.'".•' '"  •
The OJC office'will be closed on Thursday, Nov, 24,
anrf .Friday, Nov.. 25, - in observance of the
Thanksgiving holiday;     -./-,
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COMMUNITY FEATURE
JCC is changing with the times
By Melissa Burns
and Lynn Leonard
"It's flexible."
"It's affordable."
"They really listened to us."
These are responses from
members of the Leo Yassenoff
Jewish Community Center
(JCC) when asked about the
Choice Plan, the JCC's new
membership program, available thisfall. The JCC currently serves approximately 8000
members. However, in recent
years the Center had not enjoyed the growth that it experienced in the early 1980s, when
the College Avenue facility
was brand-new and competitors were few.
"Theconcept of restructuring membership was discussed
three or four years ago, when
we began to see some stagnation inTthe membership numbers," saidjSah'dy Meisel, chairman of the JCC's Member
Services committee. "The
board and president felt strongly that we needed to do something. We couldn't continue to
implement fee increases each
year, in part because people
now have alternatives that they
didn't have before—socially,
for recreation, child care and
camp. To keep memberships
affordable, we had to bring in
more members."
"The Center's purpose has
evolved," adds Executive Director Joel Dinkin. "Although
the JCC is a social service
agency, with Jewish continuity as its mission, there's competition. It's a very different
world that we live in."
The different world Dinkin
speaks of is a shift in demographics and a change in lifestyles,
"The populations the JCC
serves now live in different
places," said JCC President
Carole Genshaft. "With both
parents working and an increase in single-parent homes,
households are made up differently and the traditional
family has changed dramatically. The challenge for the
JCC is: How can we meet the
needs ofthe community in a
way that's attractive to members and fiscally responsible?"
To determine the answer to
this question, the JCC commissioned a full-scale survey
to measure the satisfaction of
its members—what they liked
and what they found lacking.
The research, funded by a
grant from the Columbus Jewish Federation/was designed
to determine how people are
living today and what they
need and want in a membership.
What did the research yield?
According to Meisel, "There
were no huge surprises. We
learned what we knew in our
hearts all along, which is that
we had to lower barriers to
allow people easier access to
the Center. We had to create
more flexible ways, and less
expensive ways, to join the
JCC."
As a result of the research,
the JCC tailored its new membership structure to meet the
needs of today's members.
Hence, the name, "The Choice
Plan." Based on individual
fees within the household, the
Choice Plan offers options to
fit a variety of lifestyles. For
example, in the past, to encourage family membership, if
one spouse joined, the other
was also required to join. That
structure changed about two
years ago, and ultimately led
to the current "unbundling"
of membership options. To be
even more competitive, the
JCC has lowered costs almost
across the board.
"Our main goal in the Member Services office is to help
members and prospective
members find the services that
fit their needs," said Member
Services Representative Terri
Bailen. "If I can meet a need
or address a concern, I feel
that I'm doing my job well.
Membership is not a cookie-
cutter product, but a service
designed to fit the lifestyles of
a very diverse population."
"The Choice Plan was introduced in a rollout fashion,
with the Individual and Young
Adult categories changing in
January, 1994," said Meisel.
"In September, the Choice
Plan was made available to
new members. And now, the
Choice Plan is being offered to
current members as they renew for 1995. The response
has been overwhelmingly positive."
Michael Greenberg, a member for about ten years, plays
softball in the summer and
basketball in the winter at the
JCC. He also uses the Health
Center  during  the  winter.
Though Greenberg is a member of the Health Center, he
uses the facilities for only
about six months out of the
year. In the past, he had to pay
a;,full year of Health Center
membership. Greenberg said
he had spoken to the JCC
Board of Trustees about adapting a short-term Health Center
option to meet his and other
members' needs, and "as soon
as the Choice Plan came out, I
was first in line to sign up."
Greenberg is referring to the
new short-term Health Center
option, which offers upgraded
exercise and locker room facilities for an additional fee. Although the annual fee is more
economical in the long-run,
this new option provides an
affordable alternative to the
annual Health Center membership. As a result, general
members are adding Health
Center memberships, and new
members are joining the Health
Center. It is this type of option
that allows the JCC to remain
competitive with other local
athletic facilities.
"I'm pleased with the new
program," said Greenberg.
"The JCC recognized a need,
they're fulfilling it, and I think
there will be a lot more folks
like me who will take advantage of it."
Katherine Arment is another new member who joined
under the Choice Plan. The
JCC's College Avenue facility
is close to her house in Bexley,
so she goes to the JCC before
work. Arment's father was a
swimmer, and he had told her
for years that the JCC has the
best pools in town. So when
she heard about the Choice
Plan, she and her two children
joined. Though primarily a
swimmer, Arment enjoys the
whirlpool and sauna. She says
the people who work at the
JCC are very friendly, and she
likes what the facility offers.
"I was a little intimidated at
first because I wasn't joining
with a spouse. I wasn't even
joining with a friend.-1 was all
by myself. But I'm very comfortable there," she said.
Of course, the JCC offers
more than recreation services.
Lauren McGarity, who now
serves on the Member Services Committee, has been a
member of the JCC for about
see JCC pg. It
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