* DC BLOG * DC BLOG * DC BLOG *

Outreach, and new strategies for engagement, are becoming conscious priorities for Moishe House DC. In the ‘early years’ of MHDC, outreach was not considered an enterprise that required proactive steps. Rather, knowledge of the community and our programs was word-of-mouth, viral, and organic. In a sense, this helped foster a productive and successful dynamic; the laid-back attitude promulgated by the house coupled with relative distaste for outreach via social/corporate media and collaboration with ‘mainstream’ Jewish groups in DC certainly struck a chord with a wide – and previously untapped – swath of Jews in DC. This, to some extent, still characterizes our house, and engenders an attitude that MHDC is the young Jewish countercultural haven in DC. As times, and residents, have changed, we certainly haven’t distanced ourselves from this. However, we are working with tools that we believe will allow to not only communicate more efficiently with our community members, but to reach people who would otherwise be outside of our physical network. This means utilizing our facebook group, which has recently been rejuvenated, as well as other 2.0 tools like twitter, youtube, and other open-source, collaborative platforms. The bottom line is that there is a tremendous buzz that surrounds Moishe House right now – both in DC, and nationally as well. It is critical that we as housemates work to communicate the phenomenal accomplishments and offerings of Moishe House to a number of audiences: natural constituents, who we wish to get involved; those who would like to support Moishe House in other ways; and, importantly, ‘mainstream’ Jewish communal organizations. It is not only healthy, but critical for many of these organizations to take stock of the work of young Jewish innovators. In DC, we hope to remain at the forefront of these efforts.