An anonymous gift of $500,000 has propelled the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center to become an independent entity.
And that is only the beginning of the changes.
Earlier this month the entity became known as the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay. To extend its reach beyond Berkeley, the center has leased space at 4500 Redwood Road in Oakland — near Oakland Hebrew Day School, in the Oakland hills — to provide additional programming to East Bay residents who live too far from the North Berkeley facility.
The gift has allowed the JCC to completely pay off its mortgage and separate itself from the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, which will now support it on a grants-only basis rather than in regular allocations.
The gift also allows the JCC to think about the future in a way that it could not before.
“We have already begun dreaming the future, for what we can provide here in North Berkeley, and we’re not going to think small,” said Joel Bashevkin, executive director of the JCC of the East Bay. “There’s a huge potential for the acre that we have here, and there’s a lot of need.”
Bashevkin said the JCC’s childcare programs all have waiting lists, and other programming could greatly benefit by being held in better-designed spaces.
The landmark building was bought from the Berkeley Unified School District in 1987.
“We’ve done an incredible job adapting to the limitations of the building and now it’s time to remodel it,” he said. “We want to make it so it serves our current and future programs better, so we can serve the community better.”
The Oakland space, which is part of a school, is providing after-school childcare and Camp Tzofim, a day camp. One staff member is beginning to work on adult and senior programming, but it is too early to announce anything definitive about plans.
But the future is open as to what can be offered there.
“In the fall, we’re going to be introducing family and adult programs with the caveat of asking the community to bring their suggestions and expectations and work with us to put it together,” said Bashevkin.
The challenge will be in learning how to be a multiregional site. The BRJCC had been independent from Oakland Piedmont Jewish Community Services until they merged boards and staff about five years ago.
“There’s a lot we can bring from Berkeley into that space and community, but it’s going to be Oakland and Piedmont articulating what they want there,” said Bashevkin.
Donald Brody, president of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, was a board member of the JCC 20 years ago when it acquired the building it currently inhabits. He feels he has come full circle, as he just helped oversee the JCC go independent from the federation.
“I’ve been shepherding both agencies through the separation process over the past 24 months, culminating in transferring the real estate to them,” he said. “This allows them to grow and thrive and make changes they want to do on their own now, without federation’s help. We’ll continue to help them on a moral-support basis.”
Bashevkin concluded, “We’re in a coming-back mode. We’re clearing away a lot of the hurdles that we’ve had. We have a great opportunity in front of us to better serve the community and the region.”
For information about programming at the Oakland site, call (510) 530-9222.