Scarce Resource Allocations
1996-1997 Survey of Jewish Communal Professionals
In contrast
to the near consensus on the need for outreach programs,
survey respondents indicated that both their job responsiblities
and their agencies' budgets minimized outreach to the
intermarried. Respondents estimated that only
5% of their agency budget was spent on outreach to the
intermarried; for JOI respondents the percentage
estimate was 8% compared to only 4% of those respondents
sampled from the national list of Jewish communal professionals.
In terms of job responsiblities, JOI list respondents
had more clearly defined intermarriage interactions; they
estimated that 18% of their job responsibilities involved
outreach, compared to only 6% of the Jewish communal list
respondents.
Not surprisingly, therefore, when asked whether they
thought that the amount of money allocated by national
and local agencies for outreach programs should be increased
or decreased, survey respondents from both sampling
frames strongly answered: increased. Table 4 summarizes
the results for both national and local agencies. Approximately
4 of 5 respondents believed that the amount of money
allocated for national and local outreach to interfaith
families and their children should be increased; given
their estimates of how little money was actually allocated
by their agency budget for outreach, the results are
not surprising. Nevertheless, the study did reveal a
widely shared perception among Jewish communal professionals
that the need for outreach to the intermarried is far
greater than is the amount of financial resources devoted
to serving the population.
TABLE 4
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS WHO BELIEVED THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY ALLOCATED
FOR OUTREACH BY NATIONAL AND LOCAL AGENCIES SHOULD BE
INCREASED/DECREASED
| Amount
of Money Allocated Should Be: |
By
National Agencies |
By
Local Agencies |
| Increased
Significantly |
31% |
37% |
| Increased
Somewhat |
48 |
46 |
| Left
unchanged/is just right |
14 |
11 |
| Decreased
Somewhat |
4 |
4 |
| Decreased
Significantly |
4 |
2 |
| Total |
100%
[N=322] |
100%
[N=330] |
< Table
of Contents
|
