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News: September 2006

The Levy Family Campus one year later

In one year, APJCC membership has grown 7-fold

By Cecily Ruttenberg

One year has passed since the Gloria and Ken Levy Family Campus opened its doors to the public. In that short time, the building has transformed from an empty vessel to one teeming with life.

“This campus is truly everything we dreamed it would be,” said Jewish Federation CEO Jyl Jurman. “We took a real leap of faith that the campus would be successful, and we were right.”

This month, one year after the Levy Family Campus opened to the public, the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley, which acts as the landlord of the Levy Campus, has surveyed the numbers and come back with an initial appraisal of a very strong first year.

Eighty percent of the $24.7 campus has been paid off; APJCC membership has grown seven-fold from 300 members in 2003-2004, to 2,000 families and growing; the incoming Yavneh Day School kindergarten class more than doubled in size from nine students to 20, and Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley has supported more than 5400 people in the past year, up from 4800 in 2004 - 05.

“We absolutely love being here” said Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley (JFS) Executive Director Mindy Berkowitz. “It was important for us to be back in the heart of the Jewish Community.”

In the past year the Levy Campus has been a focal point for celebration. Legendary actor Henry Winkler spoke to a sold-out Annual Dinner hosted by the Jewish Federation; the APJCC gala filled a transformed gymnasium complete with carpet and covered walls; IDF soldiers sang to a standing-room-only auditorium after a Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration on the athletic fields; renowned Jewish singer Debbie Friedman performed for thousands at the grand opening celebration. Other exciting campus events include monthly SBI speakers, summer circus camp, onsite personal training and massage and much more.

The dream of a Jewish community campus in the South Bay began over a decade ago, when the APJCC, Federation, JFS and Yavneh Day School operated out of dilapidated buildings on the Oka Road site. The APJCC had purchased the land from the city of Los Gatos in the 1970s, after the old Berry Elementary School vacated the site because of growing enrollment. The land was a huge asset, but it took time to find money to rebuild.

In the early years of 2000, Gloria and Ken Levy, and Eli Reinhard, made tremendous financial commitments; plans for the Levy Family Campus moved forward in earnest. The old buildings were razed on April 1, 2004, and the Levy Campus opened to the public just one-and-a-half years later in October 2005.

APJCC CEO Hal Bordy says the campus, with its beautiful rooms and facilities, has been the critical turning point in the Jewish Community Center’s success.

“There’s no question, 75 percent of the members primarily joined to use the fitness center,” said Bordy. “The fitness center and preschool carry the financial load of the rest of the JCC. This allows us to offer programming for seniors and teens and adults.”

Bordy feels the campus is accomplishing another important goal—reaching out to Jews in the community that are not affiliated with synagogues but want some sort of connection.

“I’ve had some people talk to me who are very marginally identified as Jews and don’t want to go to synagogue,” Bordy says. “And they feel comfortable here. You can be any kind of Jew you want to be here. We’re non-discriminating and non threatening.”

In fact, approximately 50 percent of all APJCC members are not Jewish. Bordy says having members from the general population is both good for Jewish public relations and good for the APJCC’s bottom line.

And while the APJCC and the Federation welcome the general public, they are eager to beef up the number of Jewish members. Toward this goal, the APJCC is preparing to launch an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at Jewish residents in the Silicon Valley. The Jewish Federation’s Young Adult Division (SVYAD) is going after the young unaffiliated Jews by holding monthly “Silicon Valley Connect” cocktail mixers, advertising in non-Jewish publications.

Each day a flat-screen TV monitor in the Levy Campus lobby presents a daily list of events and classes. Most days—just one year after the Levy Campus opened—the screen is full!

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