The Long Range Plan Committee first met in the summer of 2020 with the following Havurah members: co-chairs Rachael Duke and Eliana Temkin, and committee members Fran Berg, Miryam Brewer, Amanda Coffey, Deborah Eisenbach-Budner, Laurel Singer, Stacy Hankin, Debbi Nadell, Adela Basayne, Sam Sirkin, Ben Walters, and Beth Yohalem-Ilsley.

After our initial meetings, we split into two groups with one group designing and conducting focus groups of various members and cohorts, and the second group developing the census and survey that were sent to the entire congregation in 2021 and early 2022.

Focus Groups:

At least nine focus groups were conducted in 2020 with participation from Steering members, committee co-chairs within each governance cluster, past presidents, Shabbat School families, and Havurah staff. Approximately 80 leaders and members participated in these focus groups.

The team analyzed the feedback from the focus groups, and the information was used for the data analysis in 2022.

Census and Survey:

Our census and survey were processed through the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. OVBC donated their time and systems to Havurah, and we are grateful for their expertise and assistance.

We conducted a demographic census during the summer of 2021 to gather information about the makeup of Havurah households, with a response rate of 87%, 423 of 486 member households at that time, representing 1054 people total. Between the time of the demographic census and the end of 2022, we added another large number of Havurah households, so that our current membership is over 505. We recognize that census data may not be 100% reflective of our membership due to the difference between total households and those who answered, but experts in demographic surveying consider this a reasonable sample size.

Later in 2021, we conducted a lengthy survey to gather detailed information about what is important to Havurah members. Approximately 38% of the adult members of the community (285 adults) responded to the survey, with the 41-55 age group slightly underrepresented, and the 61-75 age group slightly overrepresented. We have taken into account these discrepancies as we compiled our recommendations.

Team members solicited questions from leaders of Steering, committee chairs and staff, and also repeated some questions from the survey done in 2014 for our previous Long Range Plan. We were able to compare some information with the previous survey and share changes with the data analysis team.

Data Analysis:

After the results of the census and survey were received by the committee, we convened several sessions focusing on data analysis. Additional members participated in this phase of the committee: Fran Berg, Miryam Brewer, Bob Brown, Janet Byrd, Jack Lazareck, Bob Liebman, Marian Rhys, Andrea Sanchez, Sam Sirkin, Chari Smith, Judy Steinberger, and Ben Walters. In addition, we had help from Karen Westerman on preparing graphs and charts for use in the final presentation.

The data analysis team worked on identifying themes, trends, concerns, and issues that are reflected in the executive summary and recommendations being presented to the Steering Committee in January 2023.