Your contribution to the blog

As you can see, one purpose of this blog is for me to tell you about upcoming events. Also, from my side, I will let you know what I'm doing, what my plans are and how I am developing. Most of you will be indirectly paying my wages (!) and so it is important that I am accountable to the community. You will be able to see how the community is developing and what I am doing to that end.

HOWEVER... the blog can be so much more! I aim for it to be a major source of communication and interaction between 'you' and the professionals of the community. Hopefully, if I/we can get the various rabbonim, lay leaders, youth movements, and members of the community both reading and contributing to the blog; then we can create a real feeling of working together and taking the community forward. We will be able to democratize the community!

From the perspective of the professionals, I will invite articles a) laying out what they do b) their vision for the future of Leeds c) what iniatives they are undertaking etc. Doing this will, firstly, humanize these people and you will be able to see the ways in which they are working hard for your benefit. Secondly, the very act of thinking about and writing these articles will help them to re-evaluate their activities and see how the community can be better served. This will create a forward momentum whereby the status quo isn't just accepted, but we see how Leeds can be improved. Thirdly, from this, you can make suggestions, offer encouragement and/or provide a 'bottom-up' perspective about how they can reach more people.

I also want contributions from the 'other side'. This is a forum for the average Joe Bloggs, Jane Doe or Plonie Ben Plonie to have their say. Contributions you can make include the following:

• suggestions for events that you would like to see run
• write a review of an event in the community
• make other people aware of something that is happening that might not get advertised through the normal channels
• tell us what provisions you would like to see that aren't currently available and constructive suggestions about how they could be provided
• suggest an interest group that can be set up and see if there are other like-minded Jews in the community
• bring up an issue that the community needs to address
• highlight the good work done by a particular organisation or person in the community

The most overused phrase I ever heard in a youth-movement was that of 'taking ownership' of something. As cheesy as this is, being a strong community involves everybody having a stake in what happens and feeling that the community is their own. If there were 7000 people, each having an affect on the community, it would be impossible for it not to thrive and grow. If you contribute to the blog and those 'in the know' read it (which I will make sure they will), then this can really happen. Remember, the organisation and leaders have the clout, finances and contacts to make something happen. However, it won't happen unless they have your ideas and support.