Educators throughout Greater New York require Jewish educational services that reflect the needs of their own local communities.

While BJE provides scores of professional growth courses and workshops (special education services, early childhood services, family education, Israel education programs, curriculum development, professional consultations, advocacy through representation on government commissions, a wealth of education materials and resources, the Jewish Education Telecommunications Network (JETNET), coordination of special adolescent projects such as Fresh Ink, professional publications, and much more), many of these services are not accessible enough to every local community in BJE's huge catchment area. Nor is it possible for every community to duplicate these services except at prohibitive cost. Working with strong local committees, BJE can assure that all communities enjoy these services. This is achieved without BJE maintaining local facilities and without communities establishing their own local Jewish education agencies.

BJE is helping communities develop local programs by:

• identifying gaps in educational services in both formal and informal Jewish education;
• guiding lay and professional leaders in developing needed services;
• establishing coalitions of local Jewish institutions;
• planning, implementing and supervising programs;
• developing alternative models of Jewish education for public and private school students and their families;
• strengthening the relationship between providers of Jewish educational services and consumers;
• raising community consciousness about Jewish continuity;
• strengthening the bonds between local communities, BJE and UJA-Federation.

For example, based on the articulation of the needs for Jewish education for special needs populations and the need for on-site training programs in family education and outreach to marginally-affiliated populations, BJE :

• helped design a Jewish education program for the developmentally disabled at the Samuel Field Y in Nassau;
• is sponsoring cluster on-site workshops in Jewish family education in Northern Westchester and in Nassau County.

These programs could only have been created as a result of a research and planning process in the community, involving both community representatives and service providers.

And, in Nassau County, the process also revealed a common need for one or more umbrella educational organizations through which lay leaders and educators can network, share communal services, develop cooperative programs and plan future goals. Having identified and recruited key community leaders, BJE staff are now in the process of organizing a Nassau Jewish Education Council of lay and professional leaders with representatives from Jewish educational institutions.

BJE will work closely with local UJA-Federation offices and other UJA agencies in providing services that extend beyond conventional classroom issues. For example, along with a local family service agency, BJE will develop substance abuse and child abuse prevention programs that give educators the kind of solid information they need to recognize signs of abuse and to make proper referrals.

A practical system of on-going communication between local lay leaders and BJE directors will assure communities that their best interests are being served.