The 2024 Santa Clara County Jewish Community Study employed a holistic approach that included community engagement sessions, surveys, focus groups, interviews, organizational inventories, maps, and shareback sessions. The study collected information about the county’s Jewish community, organized and analyzed the data, and, crucially, facilitated reflection and meaning making among key stakeholders. The study process ultimately surfaced a series of fourteen key strategic issues and groups, highlighted in the report, that represent important challenges and opportunities to Jewish organizations as they seek to build a countywide communal identity and develop strategic initiatives to strengthen Jewish life broadly across the county and for the many diverse groups that comprise the community.
(*DATABANK NOTE: This study does not make population estimates, it is focused on community needs and experiences. Survey results were weighted to the population estimates from the 2017 Bay Area community survey)
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Key Findings:
Even before the October 7 attacks on Israel, safety and security loomed large for the Santa Clara County Jewish community, much of it driven by concerns over antisemitism.
91%, of Jewish organizations reported that they already had security policies in place.
Of 29 communal initiatives, combating antisemitism and ensuring the safety and security of local Jewish institutions landed number one and number two funding priorities, respectively.
Two-thirds of community respondents said they think there is a lot or some antisemitism in Santa Clara County (as opposed to just a little or none at all), and nearly twice as many respondents perceive antisemitism as increasing (41%) rather than remaining stable or decreasing (19%) in the past five years.
More than 40% of respondents said they had either witnessed or directly experienced antisemitism in the past 12 months, a figure especially heightened for respondents ages 18-34 (76%).
The two most commonly cited barriers to connection that keep people from participating and joining the community among the survey respondents are a lack of time and finding no appealing programs, events, or activities.
A second tier of barriers includes difficulty finding information about Jewish organizations, programs, events, and activities; programs, events, and activities feeling too religious; the cost of joining and participating; and a perceived low value proposition of membership and participation.
There are wide-ranging human service needs in the community. Asked whether they needed a series of 21 human services for themselves or someone they care for in the past year, regardless of whether they received help for them or not, survey respondents far and away identified mental health needs for themselves (40%) or their children (32%).
A second tier of needs—each identified by more than 10% of respondents—included financial planning; employment; coordinating or providing care for a relative or friend; physical, visual, or auditory disabilities; activities of daily living; affordable housing; services for older adults aging in their own homes; and transportation services for older adults. Altogether, 68% of survey respondents identified at least one of the 21 service needs the survey asked about.
Just one-third of survey respondents agreed there is a strong sense that community members should donate to Jewish organizations and causes, and just one-fifth agreed there is a strong sense they should volunteer for Jewish organizations and causes.
Similarly, one-fifth of respondents agreed that there is a clear and understandable way to get involved in community leadership.
Santa Clara County Jewish organizations are diverse in terms of budgets, staff, and constituents. Operating budgets vary from less than $10,000 to more than $50M. The mean reported budget is $3.7M and the median is $850,000.
Staff run from as little as a few people to more than 200, and altogether the total staff labor force reported by the 54 organizations in the inventory is more than 2,400. The number of participants, members, or constituents served ranges from fewer than 100 to more than 5,000.
Among the top challenges facing Jewish organizations is staff recruitment and retention. More than three-quarters of the organizations said it is challenging to identify and recruit qualified staff, and more than half said it is challenging to retain qualified staff.
General support for and connections to Israel (pre-October 7) are strong across numerous survey items, including concern about Israel’s security; recognition of Israel’s vital role in the Jewish people’s future; and pride in Israel’s accomplishment.
At the same time, support and connections are complicated by concerns about policies of the Israeli government and about Israel’s upholding its human rights values, and the rejection of the term “Zionist” by many community members.
Approximately half of all survey respondents enroll their children in formal Jewish educational experiences. Among those with children ages 0-9, 48% enrolled them in either childcare, preschool, or early childhood education programs. Among those with children 6-17, 50% have enrolled them in at least one of the following: Jewish day school, part-time religious school, private bar/bat mitzvah tutoring, Jewish day camp, Jewish overnight camp, Beged Kefet, a Jewish youth group, or teen travel to Israel.
Compared to three older age groups (35-49, 50-64, and 65 and older), young adults are the least likely to feel very or somewhat connected to a Jewish community in Santa Clara County. Top barriers to feeling more connected include difficulty finding information, time, lack of appealing programs, and costs.
Young adult survey respondents reported even greater interest in Jewish food, cooking, and holidays (90%) and religious practices than others (74%).
More than half also said they are interested in social and entertainment events (64%), Jewish arts, culture and literature (62%), opportunities for volunteering (59%), sports and other recreational categories (57%), professional networking and development (54%), and community relations/advocacy on behalf of Jewish communities (52%).
Nearly three-quarters of young adults said they prefer in-person rather than online Jewish engagement, substantially more than their older counterparts.
Twelve percent of survey respondents are newcomers to Santa Clara County (resident in the county for four years or less). Newcomers tend to be young (57% are 18-34), married (77%), and have children (67%).
In the Santa Clara County Jewish community survey, diverse groups of respondents—those who identify as Jews of Color, LGBTQ+, in interfaith marriages or partnerships, or as having a disability—vary in how much they seek Jewish community with others who share their identities, how comfortable they feel in Jewish organizational spaces, how welcoming they perceive Jewish communities are, and whether the feel the community provides meaningful opportunities to them.
Russian-speaking Jews (RSJs) and Israelis, the two largest Jewish immigrant groups in Santa Clara County, share several social and demographic similarities. Among survey respondents, about half of each group lives in the northwest part of the county. The median number of years in the county for each group is about 10 (slightly more for Israelis, slightly less for RSJs). Both groups are highly educated, with 70% of Israelis and 80% of RSJs having a college degree or more, quite similar to respondents overall. Despite their high levels of education, both groups have slightly elevated rates of economic vulnerability compared to other survey respondents.
Eleven percent of survey respondents indicated that they are either just meeting or unable to meet their basic expenses now, and another 12% said they either just met or were unable to meet their basic expenses at some point in the past three years. Altogether, then, just under a quarter of respondents (23%) indicated some level of economic precariousness within the past three years.