Steve Wechselblatt, marketing and communications director for the Central federation, shows the opening page of its new and improved website, shaped in collaboration with an Israeli web designer.
Photo by Elaine Durbach
September 11, 2008
Just in time for the New Year and the start of its 2009 annual campaign, the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey is launching a fresh and more engaging on-line presence.
Marketing and communications director Steve Wechselblatt said the new format is geared to offer easier access and “to inform, educate, engage, and inspire the local Jewish community.”
In addition to maintaining its current information function, and in line with the organization’s new strategic plan calling for enhanced collaboration, the updated design of the site (www.jfedcnj.org) will offer more opportunities for dialogue. In a blog-style feature titled “Speak Out,” people will be able to post their ideas and opinions, memories and experiences.
For starters, members of the community have been invited to relate a favorite memory of the High Holy Days. Contributors can send stories — of up to about 350 words — to Wechselblatt at swechselblatt@jfedcnj.org.
Federation executive vice president Stanley Stone said the first on-line venture came about through United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization of North American federations. “The cost of setting up a website on our own would have been prohibitive,” he said, “but through the system’s FedWeb, we were given a format that we could plug into, using all that the system offered and introducing our own specific details.”
UJC came up with the FedWeb concept in 2000, working initially with 18 community representatives from around the country, people with expertise in interactive technology and marketing. According to a report issued later, the plan was to develop “an electronic network to connect people to Jewish life and enable each federation to fulfill its own Internet strategy and communicate with its constituents effectively, efficiently, and interactively.”
“But it was time to do more,” Stone said this week. “The reality is that more and more people — especially in the younger generation — use this form of communication to connect with organizations. It was essential that we look at this phenomenon and see what new ways we could provide for them to get involved.”
Local graphic designer John Brady created the new Central logo — a cluster of flame-shaped leaves emerging from a branch with many parts. The site itself was shaped by American-born Israeli web designer Karen Wolberger. She and Wechselblatt communicated back and forth by phone and e-mail, coordinating the suggestions from federation staff and lay members led by Don Rosenthal.
Just how much back-and-forth was entailed can be seen from Wechselblatt’s computer inbox and “sent” files. The list of messages runs for screen after screen. It could have been a cumbersome process, but both Stone and Wechselblatt said the long-distance arrangement with Wolberger worked remarkably well.
“It was more economic to work with an Israeli designer,” Stone said, “and with the time difference, quite often we’d send her a bunch of questions and suggestions during the day, and by the time we came into work the next morning, the work was done.”
Wechselblatt said that in addition to offering all the existing functions — like the community calendar and features highlighting local and overseas programs — the new site offers improved navigation, designed to make it easier for viewers to understand local, Israeli, and international initiatives.
The site includes a “flash” introduction, a mini-slide show highlighting the various ways the federation system connects, aids, and educates Jews. The images start with one from a synagogue struck by Hurricane Katrina that shows a man plowing through waist-deep water holding a Torah scroll above his head. They go on to include a loving caretaker tending to a child with disabilities.
The site will offer text and video descriptions of community events and in-depth information about Jewish resources — local, national, and international — including education programs and Israel experiences. Wechselblatt said he hopes to see the site evolve over time, as members contribute their feedback and suggestions, making it an ever more relevant part of Jewish life in the Central community.
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