In January, the Tucson J Board of Directors approved a new strategic plan that builds on our past success while boldly embracing the opportunities ahead. Appropriately titled Kadima B’Yachad: Forward Together, this plan reflects not only where we are going, but how we intend to get there: as one community.
Approximately 1.5 million people walk through JCC doors each week. The Tucson J has over 10,000 members from across Tucson encompassing a diversity of backgrounds and identities. Yet JCC’s operate within a web of federations, day schools, Hillels, synagogues, camps, and countless agencies. As Rabbi Avraham Infeld teaches, “We all have the same job; we just have different tasks.” Our collective job is to build vibrant, durable Jewish life, and no one thread in that web can do it alone.
We are deeply grateful to Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona for their generous grant support that helped make this important work possible. Their partnership reflects a powerful truth our shared success as a community is based on collaboration, not fragmentation. When we work together, we are not giving up power; we are gaining strength.
The J is not simply a facility. It is a gathering place of belonging, strength, and shared purpose. The previous strategic plan, spanning the years, 2021 to 2025, culminated in the Tucson J hosting the JCC Maccabi Games and Access ®, an effort that was successful because of the involvement of the entire Jewish and broader community.
Our new plan is built around six strategic pillars:
Enhance the JCC’s role as the heart of Jewish Tucson, ensuring every Jew feels welcome and finds connection here.
Invest in new marketing capabilities to expand awareness of the JCC and drive increased membership and participation.
Drive growth in programming for school-age youth through innovative new offerings and meaningful collaborations.
Revitalize our fitness, wellness, and sports/recreation offerings to meet the evolving interests of active adults.
Develop a stronger, more agile technology infrastructure that advances user experience, supports staff productivity, and expands our reach.
Explore campus enhancements that make the JCC an even more attractive center for the community and create capacity for future growth.
We are living in a moment of extraordinary change in Jewish life, shaped by geopolitical instability, rising antisemitism, generational transition, economic pressure, technological disruption, and profound shifts in identity and affiliation. Complexity is no longer episodic; it is constant. And in such a moment, leadership cannot be reactive. Nor can it be solitary.
Rabbi Shai Held teaches, “Hope is the refusal to give up on the possibility of transformation.” That spirit animates this moment. We are not standing still. We are moving forward with intention, with courage, and with one another— and we believe our strategic plan will be a powerful vehicle to get where are going, together.
In addition to our partner organizations, we are proud to have support and guidance from the lay leaders who helped steer the direction of the strategic plan, and to the many community members who participated in a variety of ways, including focus groups, individual interviews, and a user experience survey.
As we look ahead, I feel a great deal of hope for our collective future. Hope rooted in our history. Hope strengthened by partnership. Hope energized by the extraordinary people who make up this community—donors, leaders, board members, staff, and families.
Kadima: forward.
B’Yachad: together.
