WCJCS Mission Statement (1995)

The responsibility which Jews in Jewish communal service feel towards all Jews and Jewish communities throughout the world, took a new form of expression in 1967, when the first International Conference of Jewish Communal Service, solely under Jewish community auspices, was held in reunited Jerusalem. This led to the series of Quadrennial conferences that have been held subsequently in Jerusalem. The growing recognition of the world-wide Jewish professional contacts beyond the opportunities afforded by the World Conference every four years led to the establishment of the World Council of Jewish Communal Service.

The World Council of Jewish Communal Service seeks to enhance Jewish life and strengthen Jewish community by providing a vehicle for addressing world-wide Jewish concerns and by stimulating the professional-to-professional connection among individuals working on behalf of the Jewish community throughout the world. In so doing, the World Council seeks to enhance Jewish communal professional practice throughout the Jewish world and promote the sense of a world-wide Jewish communal service profession.

In pursuance of its mission, the World Council of Jewish Communal Service will:

• Sponsor a Quadrennial convention in Israel to which professionals from throughout the Jewish communal world will be invited. The Quadrennial convention is also seen as the culmination of four years of WCJCS activity and the launching of new WCJCS initiatives for the next four years.
• Sponsor meetings in at least two different regions in the intervening three years. These meetings will be held on different continents. In that members around the world will be invited to attend these meetings, it will provide opportunities for the exchange of knowledge, experience and resources. Regional meetings will deal with important profesional concerns and promote professional-to-professional relationships.
• Sponsor special activies to promote solidarity with professionals serving Jewish communities throughout the world.
• Stimulate research and disseminate the results.
• Assist in the development of Jewish communal professional leaders by fostering professional in-service and continuing education training programs. Where possible, this will be done by working cooperatively with existing agencies and institutions.
• Enhance professional-to-professional communications through a variety of techniques and by stimulating professionals as resources on a worldwide basis, working where appropriate with existing agencies and institutions.
• Stimulate contacts between all professionals that make up the Jewish communal service field and encourage the use of professionals as resource individuals.
• Maintain a world planning calendar to enable professionals to take advantage of appropriate professional opportunities occurring throughout the world.
• Other activities consistent with the Mission.

Membership in WCJCS will be open to all individuals working in Jewish Communal Service agencies throughout the world. WCJCS programming will reflect this inclusinveness.

The Board of the Wold Council will serve as a governing body. The structure should reflect the world-wide nature of its constituency.

Wherever regional groupings of communal professionals exist throughout the world, they will be included as part of WCJCS for program planning purposes. Each region will define its own needs but through joint planning, it will be possible to plan WCJCS events connected to regional meetings and make availabe WCJCS resources for regional meetings.

The President and Associate President of WCJCS will appoint the following chairpeople of standing committees:

• Quadrennial
• Program (ongoing program between Quadrennials)
• Marketing and Communications
• Finance
• Research

An Executive Vice President should be engaged to give professional leadership to this enterprise.

An office will be established in North America and Israel (and hopefully in other regions) and an appropriate budget will be solicited to carry out its program.

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