one world. one family. - Jewish Federation of San Diego County

UJF’s Connection to San Diego
2007 marked UJF’s 70th year in San Diego. When UJF
was founded in 1937, San Diego had an estimated
2,000 Jews. In the years that followed, the Jewish
community grew steadily to nearly 40,000 in just 40
years. Today, as it celebrates its 70th year of service
in San Diego, the Jewish population has skyrocketed
to more than 90,000. San Diego is currently the
13th largest Jewish community in the nation and UJF,
together with its family of beneficiary and affiliated
agencies, offers a myriad of programs and services for
the Jewish community in San Diego.
This year, UJF launched the Jewish Leadership Institute
(JLI), a program designed to strengthen San Diego’s
volunteer and professional leaders. Over 75 participants
attended the four-session workshop exploring topics on:
What is a Leader?; Jewish Ethics and Leadership Skills;
and Leadership Impact.
Over 50 leaders from 13 synagogues participated
in the inaugural UJF–Synagogue Leadership
Workshop. The theme, “Membership Has Its
Privileges,”focused on synagogue recruitment,
integration and retention. Attendees had the
unique opportunity to network, brainstorm ideas;
share best practices and explore areas of common
concern. UJF awarded close to $90,000 in need-based
scholarships to San Diego youth for Jewish summer
camp and travel to Israel—providing 130 young people
the opportunity to participate in these life-changing
Jewish experiences. Additionally, in partnership with
Camp Mountain Chai, the UJF Israel Center provided
two-week camp scholarships for several children from
our sister community, Sha’ar Hanegev.
UJF worked closely with the Jewish Senior Services
Council (JSSC) and its member agencies (Jewish Family
Service, Seacrest Village Retirement Communities,
Jewish Community Foundation and the Lawrence Family
JCC) to establish a viable infrastructure to implement the
“On The Go” Senior Transportation Program.
In April 2007, the leadership of UJF unanimously
approved the recommendations of the Governance Task
Force to restructure the board by selecting 24 members
to succeed the existing 82-member board. The new board
aims to restructure, refocus and recommit UJF to the
community, while making efficiency and effectiveness
key components of the governing process.
United Jewish Federation | Annual Report 2007
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