Boycott of Salt Lake City JCC Membership and Fundraising

The undersigned, including members of the Utah Jewish community and friends of the Utah Jewish community, will boycott membership of the JCC, not participate in any fundraising events for the JCC (i.e., Shalom on the Range), nor contribute to the JCC.

One of the core goals of the JCC in Salt Lake City has been to provide educational, cultural, and recreational opportunities to the Jewish community in Utah. For many years, the JCC offered adult and Jewish programming for young adults, Jewish singles, and seniors, as well as Jewish cultural activities for a variety of age groups. In the opinion of the undersigned, the current management of the JCC has moved the JCC in a direction that does not reflect the core values, priorities, and ethics of the Salt Lake City Jewish community.

Over the last five years, the current JCC management has eliminated many adult (e.g., singles, seniors) and Jewish programs not specifically related to health and fitness. Many of these decisions were based on philosophical issues, not fiscal necessity. Up until a few years ago, the Salt Lake JCC organized monthly Jewish singles events paid for by event attendees. The current JCC management cancelled Jewish singles programming. One of reasons JCC management stated for the elimination of the Jewish singles group was the fact that it was called a "Jewish singles group." In some cases, the decisions to reduce or eliminate Jewish programs led to a reduction of funding from the United Jewish Federation. As a result of these and other changes, many members of the Salt Lake City Jewish community cancelled or did not renew their membership with the JCC.

The treatment of past JCC employees reflects on the ethics and values of the entire Jewish community. In the opinion of the undersigned, the treatment of Debbie Kesner-Steinberg (Adult and Jewish Programs Director for eight years) and her assistant was an embarrassment. After eliminating many of Mrs. Steinberg's programs and her assistant's position, the JCC recently terminated Mrs. Steinberg's employment. The JCC then committed time and resources to attempt to deny unemployment compensation to Mrs. Steinberg. In the opinion of the undersigned, it is unfortunate that the so-called leadership of the JCC put so much energy into that initiative and did not put an equivalent amount of energy into making Mrs. Steinberg and her programs more successful in their eyes. Given the decision to eliminate singles and several other adult Jewish programs, it is difficult to envision how anyone with Mrs. Steinberg's job responsibilities for adult and Jewish programming would have been successful.