Re: Scheduling major events on Yom Kippur
From: Raines Cohen (rc2-coho-Lraines.com)
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 23:21:16 -0600 (MDT)
On 9/25/03 4:32 PM, Tom Hammer <thammer302 [at] yahoo.com> wrote:

>I just received word of a local couple who lead a
>forming cohousing group in this area who cannot come
>to a major event here on the East Coast because the
>event was scheduled on Yom Kippur.  As I understand
>it, this is the biggest holday of the year for Jews. 
>It would be like scheduling a regional cohousing event
>on Christmas.  I believe these folks also felt
>excluded, and they may not have pushed their members
>to attend as a result of their feelings about the
>scheduling.  

This is the problem with scheduling any event, there are only so many 
days in the year, and once you limit it to weekends within a certain 
quarter and cut out other conflicts, only certain dates are left. 
Hopefully any event planner looks at the calendar and factors in the 
effect major holiday conflicts have on attendance, as well as on 
perception of the event. It may help to know that (I'm pretty sure) at 
least one of the event planners involved in scheduling it is Jewish, so 
it was not an intentional slight.

That very same weekend we have a major cohousing event scheduled in the 
Sacramento area. When we first announced it, we heard similar feedback. 
Yet, once it was clear that the main part would be done Saturday well 
before sunset, and that the Sunday part was an optional session "sold 
separately", that helped address concerns.

>If we want to be a movement that successfully recruits
>diverse groups, I think we have to be very sensitive
>to schedule our events around the major religions in
>the U.S.  Otherwise, the message that may come across
>is that we really do not care about diversity.

I think the reality is that as we do more and more events, we'll be 
conflicting with each other's events as well as with EVERY religion's 
holidays out there. The key, as I see it, is to have so much going on 
that missing one event will not be significant, given that you know 
another one will be along before you know it.

Knowing that previous runs of the particular event you're referencing 
have sold out rapidly, and that it recurs on a regular basis, it doesn't 
bother me as much that one hits a holiday that some people can't make. 
Heck, schedule one on Christmas, too, it'll attract a different audience 
and bring different kinds of diversity.

Raines

Raines Cohen <my initials,2,dash,coho,dash,L at my first name .com>

  Member, Swan's Market Coho [Oakland, CA] <http://www.swansway.com/>
Congratulating my tenants on the birth of their baby girl.

  Secretary, Berkeley [CA] Cohousing
Gearing up for our first meeting since July, lots to catch up on.

  Pass-the-baton-guy, East Bay Cohousing <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
About to announce a training seminar.

  Boardmember, Coho/US <http://www.cohousing.org/>
Sending Takoma Village Cohousing lots of bright energy in the hopes thqt 
their power has been restored by now, a week after the hurricane.


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