New Community Recommendation Part 1

While I know that not only synagogue members read my blog, I want to reflect over a couple of postings about the strategic direction of Kehilat Shalom. For the past 7-8 years the congregation has been slowly shrinking. We knew that few families, if any, were moving into Montgomery Village, but we had hoped that the growth rate in Germantown and Clarksburg would sustain our community.
Starting nearly three years ago, an 'expanded' Executive Committee started doing "Strategic Planning." Most of our efforts were tactical - especially focused around Membership retention and outreach. Last summer, thousand of postcards were sent to residents of area including and around Montgomery Village about our Early Childhood Center. We gained 9 new families - but only two were Jewish children. An even larger mailing went out to an expanded area at the beginning of this year, but generated only tiny interest in our Nursery School. From these mailings, we have come to understand that there is not interest among the families that exist in our area, to participate in the programs and activities of Kehilat Shalom at this time.
Our Religious school has gone in my (15) years at KS from 311 to under 100, the ECC from a peak of 96 to 40, and our overall membership from a high of 358 to 260. The trend has been a net loss of membership of 10 members annually over the past decade. We do project some growth from the Clarksburg/Damascus area, when building resumes after the recession is complete, but not the kind of expansion which would give us a strong future. We don't envision any other construction or demographic changes leading to large "Jewish" growth in our part of the county.
The decision of the Board is already complete to sell our School Building in the summer of 2012. [It costs us $70,000 a year to operate our smaller facility] We anticipate that the cash from the sale could pay off the mortgage for our entire facility and leave money for some of the repairs that will be needed in the next 5 years.
This is the first realistic option for Kehilat Shalom. We can remain in place for at least five years with sufficient cash to support our present plant and program. As our membership ages and continues to shrink - there will be a point in time before the balance sheet becomes negative, when (we believe) critical mass will probably be lost and our school, social life, and worship become moribund.
Since no one can realistically plan beyond a five year window, this scenario is the first one offered to our congregation for the foreseeable future. This option offers continuity and keeping our wonderful Sanctuary/Social hall for the near future.
Next blog will be on the options we've considered to be non-feasible.