New Synagogue Project

In our first eight months, we have found that the hunger for what we are building is real! NSP launched this past May with a series of Shabbat and Havdalah gatherings. Since then, we have regularly had around 100 attendees for Friday evening services, 50-70 for Saturday morning kids’ services and text study, and over 570 registered to attend one or more High Holidays programs. In August, we began recruiting members to help resource and stake a claim in our new community; so far 135 families representing 229 people (including 42 kids) have joined as members. From gifts and membership pledges, we have raised $113,285 toward our budget goal of $180,000. Built using community organizing tools (one-to-one relational meetings and intentional leadership development), NSP now has twelve leadership teams made up of over 70 members of the community - e.g. Singing, Chesed, Justice, Kids’ Education, & Arts/Culture/Learning Teams.

Our goal is to raise $180,000 so that we can pay the salary and benefits of a full-time rabbi, rent to the historic black churches and neighborhood organizations where we meet, program expenses such as prayerbooks and food for events, and administrative expenses such as liability insurance and IT.

Our plan to reach our goal is to raise an additional $25,000 through membership dues through a spring membership drive, $25,000 through our friends and family campaign, and secure $18,000 in gifts from major donors outside our community.