Mandel JCC Responds to Evolving Community Trends

For more than 35 years, the Mandel JCC has been a cornerstone for Jewish life in Palm Beach County. Over the years the JCC has successfully responded to trends and community needs, expanding to two locations and touching the lives of thousands of people through high-quality arts, educational, wellness, and recreational programming.

This year alone was extraordinary for us as we reached historic numbers in several of our programs -teaching about 300 students in our preschools, caring for approximately 150 children in our after-school programs, selling over 10,000 tickets to our cultural arts programs, 80 participants in our special needs program and this summer we’ll be bringing a wow-filled experience to over 650 campers.

The fact that our numbers continue to grow every year proves that there is a strong and vibrant Jewish community in Palm Beach County and that the JCC is at the heart.

However, it is also clear that the world is changing and once again trends and needs are shifting. There are fitness centers in almost every gated community and on every street corner. Competition is fierce for family weekend activities and providing high-quality, cost-effective programs to contend is challenging.

The Mandel JCC has just completed its fiscal year planning and a thorough assessment of community needs and facilities usage. The Palm Beach Gardens community has told us that group fitness, children and family programming, bridge, special needs, and cultural arts are the top priorities. Therefore we are responding to these demands with the following strategic implementation:

Palm Beach Gardens

Hours of Operation

• Effective June 1, The Mandel JCC, Palm Beach Gardens will be closed on Saturdays. Effective July 1, The Mandel JCC, Palm Beach Gardens will also be closed on Sundays and week hours will be Monday – Thursday, 7am-7pm and Fridays, 7am- 6pm. (Previous hours were Monday – Thursday 6am-9pm, Friday 6am-6pm, Saturday 1-6pm, and Sunday 8am-6pm)
• Effective July 1, The Mandel JCC, Palm Beach Gardens fitness center will be converted to a group exercise studio giving just under 2,000 additional square feet of space to accommodate for about 15-20 additional participants per class.
• The Palm Beach Gardens aquatic center will have the same hours of operation as the rest of the building.
• We will accommodate facility rentals during weekend or after business hours. For more information contact Ashley Simmons at 561- 712-5225.
• We will accommodate birthday parties during weekend or after business hours. For more information and our new pricing sheet contact Rachel Fox at 561-712-5279.

Programs

• Effective July 1, The Mandel JCC, Palm Beach Gardens will continue to offer sports programs during the new hours of operation. These include pickleball, after school preschool and elementary enrichment classes, youth basketball for ages 5 – 11. The youth basketball schedule will be altered slightly from previous seasons to accommodate the new building hours.
• At this time, adult, high school, and middle school basketball as well as youth soccer will not be offered once the current session ends.
• Our goal for the upcoming year is to provide as many of our family programs within the new hours of operation.
• The Palm Beach Gardens camp, preschool, after-school, gymnastics and other enrichment classes, bridge, and arts & culture programs will continue as always taking into consideration the new building hours for future programming.
• •Mandel JCC cultural arts programs such as The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival and our Annual Mandel JCC Book Festival will continue to flourish under the leadership of Ellen Wedner. After July 1, more of these programs in Palm Beach Gardens may take place outside the JCC as we have had much success with events held at comedy clubs, country clubs, and of course movie theaters. The JCC being closed at night and on the weekends will not affect our ability to bring you high quality cultural arts programs.
• Outside events such as the Gross Family Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust lectures will continue to be offered on select Sundays and evenings.

Fitness

• The Palm Beach Gardens group exercise classes will be able to expand from the limited number of people that we can fit in the current studio because the new studio (converted fitness center) will have just under 2000 additional feet of space and will be able to accommodate more people. We anticipate we can hold about 25-30 more fitness participants in the new studio.
• The current group exercise schedule will stay the same with some typical minor monthly changes.

Membership

• Membership in Palm Beach Gardens is changing. The new membership structure will be take into account the new hours of operation and will be rolled out before June 30.
• ECLC parents will continue to receive membership as part of their tuition which will include access to the JCC facility (pool and gymnasium) and unlimited group exercise classes.

Boynton Beach

• Effective June 1, The Mandel JCC, Boynton Beach will close on Saturdays.
• Effective July 1, The Mandel JCC, Boynton Beach hours of operation will be Monday- Thursday 6:30am-9pm, Fridays 6:30am- 6pm and Sundays 9am-2pm. (Previous hours were Monday- Thursday 6:30am-10pm, Friday, 6:30am- 6pm, Saturdays 1-5pm, and Sundays 9am-6pm)
• Fitness trends in Boynton Beach vary from Palm Beach Gardens and suggest growth in the number of people seeking to work out with equipment. As a result the state-of-the-art equipment in Palm Beach Gardens will replace the 12-year-old equipment that is currently being used in the Boynton Beach fitness center.
• Basketball in Boynton Beach will continue under a revised schedule that will accommodate the building hours.

Additional Questions or Concerns:

Samantha Klein- VP, Marketing
(561) 736-4762 or SamanthaK@JCConline.com