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The Contra Costa JCC has operated without a building for 13 years. Now that executive director Yana Agranovsky Berger has taken up the reins at the organization, will that change?

“It’s a big question, and everybody likes to ask,” she said with a laugh. “If you know somebody who wants to put their name on it, they’re welcome to contact me.”

Building or no building, Berger, who started the job in March, has plans to grow the organization, which she said hasn’t had full-time paid staff for years. The first step has been reaching out to the Jewish community to find out what they need and want, and she’s meeting as many people as she can.

“It’s a communal effort, and I’m all for collaboration, hearing from our community,” she said.

Julia Gliner Povlak, a member of the JCC board, remembers when the board decided to look for an executive director.

“We would sit around and have all these amazing ideas and ways to serve the community, and we were all in volunteer positions,” she said. “We had nobody to help us execute.”

She said Berger stood out for being tenacious, intelligent and growth-minded. Berger is also local, a resident of Walnut Creek.

“She’s a mother to three young kids in the community and knows what the needs are for young families,” Povlak said.

Povlak pointed out that the demographics of the Contra Costa Jewish community have changed since the Covid pandemic, with many new families moving to the area from San Francisco and other parts of the East Bay. It’s an active Jewish hub; hundreds attended an Israel Independence Day event in May.

Berger has been busy getting to know them, Povlak said, “meeting with community partners and community members: the senior citizens down to young families, leadership across the synagogues and other organizations, and hearing from them what the community needs are.”

In response, the JCC has been pushing out more programs and workshops, holding events in synagogues, community spaces and living rooms. Among the programs are a communal bike ride, Shabbat in the park, an “antisemitism in schools” workshop with Club Z, a “cooking for the holidays” event (with longtime J. food columnist and author Faith Kramer) and a series of book talks. The JCC has also set up WhatsApp and Facebook groups and newsletters, and is bringing Zoom talks to senior communities.

“I’m trying to find ways how we can connect people with each other around community, connect them through a common interest,” Berger explained.

One of the flagship programs of the CCJCC is the Under One Tent series, a cultural festival with a loyal following. That’s staying put, said Riva Gambert, the longtime organizer.

“The Under One Tent programs will continue and be added to a fabulous lineup of programs for people of all ages,” Gambert said. “We’re growing our in-person offerings and are presenting them to a wider and more diverse community.

The JCC was founded in 1976 and drew members from throughout Contra Costa County, as well as from Alameda County cities on the east side of the hills, like Pleasanton and Livermore.

In 2011, it closed abruptly. The shuttering of the cash-strapped organization was a surprise to most of the community, which was unaware the center was running out of money. At the time, J. reported on the sudden closure of the preschool, a move that left the families of 80 children scrambling. More than two dozen people lost their jobs.

“Practically overnight, the Walnut Creek institution went from a bustling hub, with a popular preschool and senior services center, to a locked-up, empty shell,” J. wrote at the time. 

The building was sold, and from that point on the organization began operating as a “JCC without walls.”

“I see ourselves as the center of the Jewish community,” board president Larry Jacobs told J. in 2021. “Not necessarily a center in the physical sense.”

Over the past few years, the CCJCC has gotten into grantmaking. According to the website, the JCC gave $115,000 in grants in 2023, including to six Chabad centers, the East Bay Holocaust Education Center, Urban Adamah, Shalom Bayit and this publication. The grants are funded by principal interest earned from the sale of the building.

“The grants were minimal from [the JCC’s] operating budget, but overall it was a big amount back to the community,” Berger said.

Right now she has turned her attention to the upcoming commemoration of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the war in Gaza. The event will take place the evening of Oct. 6 at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette and is being organized in collaboration with synagogues and Jewish organizations across the county.

Partnerships are a part of Berger’s vision for the JCC, especially in a time when Jewish people feel a stronger need for community.

“There are certain things that we can do together, make them meaningful, make them strong and make them impactful,” Berger said. “And right now, going back to the very difficult time that we are at in this time frame, I think coming together and showing unity, it’s so important.”