Community of Action

Education and Advocacy:

Working to Narrow the Opportunity Gap in Montgomery County Public Schools

What’s next for Maryland schools? Join us to learn more and then DO more with a fun group of people.

Upcoming . . .

February 9: “What’s Next for Maryland Schools?” We’ll attend this seminar to prepare for upcoming weeks of advocacy in support of new construction funding for South Lake Elementary School. RSVP to Debbie.
February 20: County Council Member Rice’s Education Budget Forum at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown (6:30-8:30 pm)
March 11: March for Our Schools in Annapolis. Join thousands of parents, teachers, students and community members in a demonstration for increased funding for our public schools! More information at www.marchforourschools.com. Please RSVP to Debbie for details about bus transportation.
Join with AIM (Action in Montgomery) on March 7 and/or March 14 (with County Executive Elrich) to show our support for South Lake
For questions or to get involved, contact Susan Stern or Debbie Jacobs.

Ongoing . . .

Volunteer Opportunities at Our Adopted Elementary School

After School Art Club – Do you enjoy helping kids explore art? Don’t mind getting messy with paint, clay and glue? Want to make a difference in the lives of children who otherwise would be home alone or in the care of siblings? Lend a hand at our After School Art Club for children at our adopted school, South Lake Elementary School in Montgomery Village, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (3:30 pm – 5:00 pm). We have the curriculum and the supplies; we’re looking for adults and students (HS & MS) to help staff the club. SSL hours are available. B’nai Mitzvah students are welcome! It is not required that you volunteer at every session, nor that you have previous art experience. For more information, contact Sue Fox.
Chess Club Enrichment Program – A TBA congregant and her high school age son have volunteered to run and support an after school chess club one day a week. The family donated all supplies including chess set, boards, and other teaching supplies.
Mommy and Me Parenting Program – This program was conceived by the Community of Action and is run entirely by Temple Beth Ami volunteers one morning a week during the school year.
Adult English Classes – For the past two years, Beth Ami congregants serve as assistants two mornings a week in ESL classes taught at South Lake for South Lake parents.
Lunch Time Reading Volunteers – For the past three years, Beth Ami volunteers have come in at lunchtime to read with South Lake students under the direction of the reading specialist at South Lake.
To volunteer or if you have an idea for a new enrichment program, please contact Sue Fox.

Civic Engagement

We have developed a non-partisan program with the Maryland Board of Elections and trained 30 volunteers to register voters. Then we tabled at Montgomery College campuses and local shopping centers and registered over 100 new voters over two weeks. Check back for information about a new voter registration initiative.
In June 2018, leading up to the Maryland primaries, we partnered with ten local interfaith organizations to host a candidates forum at the Temple. Forty-two candidates in county and state races participated in 5 moderated panels attended by almost 400 people. We expect to run another large scale election program in 2020. If you have ideas for an issue-based “town hall” or would like to help plan a candidates forum, please contact Debbie Jacobs.

Ongoing Support for South Lake Families

Box Tops for Education Collection – bring your labels to the drop off boxes in the lobby and school offices
School Supply Drive – Summer with Tikkun Olam Committee
Coat and Socks Drive – Fall with Tikkun Olam Committee
Holiday Gifts – Winter with Tikkun Olam Committee
Food Insecurity – Get your group together to make weekend snack bags or help staff the monthly food pantry at the school. Ideal for teens.
B’nai Mitzvah students – run a donation drive for South Lake for your B’nai Mitzvah project!
Contact Sue Fox for more information.

How We Got Started
The Community of Action grew organically out of a two-year URJ/RAC (Union of Reform Judaism/Religious Action Center) community of practice initiative: “Pursuing Justice: Becoming a Community of Action.” Our mission was to educate, act and advocate about a different social issue each year. Since 2016, we have endeavored to take the pulse of the congregation to learn what issue congregants care most about.
- Nothing But Nets – Anti-Malaria fundraising, education and lobbying campaign
- Action in Montgomery (AIM) – The Community of Action participated in interfaith AIM meetings, representing TBA and in many cases, the Jewish community. We advocated at the County level for increased funding for after-school programming. We learned about county government and met lay leaders active in congregations across Montgomery County.
- Listening Sessions – AIM conducted a Listening Session campaign across the county to see what issues residents cared most about. We committed to do listening sessions at Beth Ami and hoped we might be able to use them to select our next advocacy topic. After several months of planning, training (by AIM), and compiling materials (from URJ congregations), we conducted four listening sessions reaching more than 40 congregants in all. Although no one or two topics emerged, the sessions were beneficial. They provided opportunities for congregants to meaningfully connect. Most people enjoyed them and the feedback we received was “the temple should do more things like this.” Moreover, they confirmed what seemed apparent generally; that following the 2016 presidential election people were much more politically aware and seemed to be energized to do something, even if what to do was not always apparent.
- Candidate Forum – Building on the energy we sensed through the Listening Sessions and our greater awareness of the importance of county government, we decided to plan a candidate forum leading up to the June 2018 Maryland primaries. Our intent was to focus on the county council and county executive races. We reached out to other temple groups for partners. The Temple’s Critical Issues Forum was interested and thought it was important to focus on the state delegate races as well. We ran the event together. In all, we ran 5 moderated sessions with a total of 42 county executive and state delegate candidates participating. We secured 10 Jewish and interfaith co-sponsors, and pre-registered almost 400 people.