Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston, Massachusetts

              COMBINED   JEWISH   PHILANTHROPIES   OF   GREATER   BOSTON
NATIONAL   SURVEY   OF   GROUP   SERVING   PROGRAMS   UNDER
JEWISH   AUSPICES   IN   LARGE   CITIES

(September 1968)
By Bernard Reisman
INTRODUCTION
The focus of this report is to examine the experience of large cities wi>th
regard to their patterns of Jewish group services in the community.  There are 16
metropolitan communities in the United States and Canada which have a Jewish population over 50,000.  Of these, the subsequent data deals with the experience of 14
of those communities.  New York City is excluded because its unique situation makes
it virtually impossible to compare to the other cities.*  Washington, D. C is the
other city not considered, since it has not built any new group serving facilities
since World War II (Washington is currently involved in a major building program).

The data provided primarily examine the effect new buildings have on the
pattern of group services in a community.  Section I offers descriptive data on
the size of the community and its building program.  In Section II the effects of
the new building in terms of membership, attendance and finances 'is examined.
Finally, Section III provides some supplemental data on each of the cities which
suggests some of the developmental patterns that precede major building programs.
Two other related areas have been explored:  the issue of how far members
will travel to a Jewish Community Center and the camping services ('residential and
day) of the major cities.  The former data are included in Addendum ttland Charts
7 and 8; the latter in Addendum #2 and #2A.
During the period from 1954 - 1966 there were 12 new Jewish Community Center
buildings opened in New York City.  The cost of these buildings ranged from
$542,000 to §1,885,000 with an average per building cost of $840,584.