Jewish Federation of Cleveland to Conduct Survey

If you have 18 minutes to spare in the next few months, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland asks that you give it to them.

The Federation has contracted Jewish Policy and Action Research (JPAR), a professional survey services company, to phone people in all of Cuyahoga and parts of Portage, Geauga, Lake, Summit and Lorain Counties.

"I think that one of the most critical pieces is people picking up the phone and answering," said Community Planning Committee Chair Enid Rosenberg.

Between March 21 and the end of June the company will survey households, including 1,000 Jewish households, to gauge the penetration of Jews in Greater Cleveland as well as their human services needs, their geographic distribution and their religious and cultural attributes.

“The idea is to use all of this information to inform the planning and services of local Jewish organizations,” said Jewish Federation of Cleveland Senior Associate of Planning and Allocations Shelley Fishbach.

The landline and cell phone numbers will be dialed randomly, and the company’s goal is to continue the Greater Cleveland Jewish Population Study until at least 1,000 households are found in which at least one person identifies as Jewish.

Fishbach said that caller IDs will register the incoming call as "CLE CMNTY SURVEY" if the company phones.

The Federation conducts the survey every 10 to 15 years. The last survey, conducted in 1996, found that 83 percent of households in Beachwood have at least one person who identifies as Jewish.

Fishbach noted that the results of this survey will come at an interesting time – this fall, just months after the release of the 2010 U.S. Census results. “It will be interesting to note how the Jewish population fits into the patterns of the general population,” she said.

The U.S. Census does not track religion and Fishbach said that there is not another source for these local statistics.

For more information about the survey, visit the Federation's website.