March 1, 2022
Phil Malcom & Margie Utesch
Phil Malcom:
We often think about working hard at our job, and I think sometimes we lose sight that our relationships are our job.
Announcer:
Welcome to Agency for Change, a podcast from KidGlov that brings you the stories of changemakers who are actively working to improve our communities. In every episode, we’ll meet with people who are making a lasting impact in the places we call home.
Lyn Wineman:
Today on the podcast, we are talking with two individuals who are part of an organization that’s been in Omaha since the 1900s, and has provided a safe haven where compassion, generosity and responsibility inspire them to improve the quality of life, not only for the Jewish community, but up for the city of Omaha as a whole.
Lyn Wineman:
Hi, everyone. This is Lyn Wineman, president of KidGlov. Welcome to another episode of Agency for Change. And I am very excited today to introduce Phil Malcom, interim CEO, and executive director of operations. And Margie Utesch, marketing director of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, an organization which has worked hard for many years to build a strong and vibrant community. Phil and Margie, I am eager to talk with the two of you. Welcome to the podcast.
Phil Malcom:
Thanks for having us, Lyn.
Margie Utesch:
Thank you, Lyn.
Lyn Wineman:
Absolutely. Absolutely. So thank you for being on the show with us. And to kick us off, Phil, could you give our listeners a little background on the Jewish Federation of Omaha and how you help the community?
Phil Malcom:
Yeah, absolutely. I’ll tell you a little bit about what we do, but also kind of who we are. So what do, is we build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish community. And then we also work to support Jews in Israel and around the world. And there’s a lot of different ways, as I’m sure we’ll talk about today, that that sort of plays out. And sometimes it’s in some surprising ways. But that’s the core of who we are, that’s our mission. What we’re sort of made up of is kind of a family of brands, is the best way I know how to describe that.
Phil Malcom:
Not a lot of people know of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, but many people might know about some of the agencies that are under our umbrella. The Jewish Community Center is probably the biggest and most well-known out of all of those, and that’s part of the Jewish Federation. But we also have Jewish Family Service on campus. The Institute for Holocaust Education is housed out here. Community Relations Council. The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home is out here as well, that’s a skilled nursing facility. And we also have Jewish Senior Outreach. Those are all part of the Jewish Federation.
Phil Malcom:
And in addition, on our campus, we have some partner Jewish agencies that are out here as well. The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society is housed on our campus. Technically a different nonprofit, but part of our campus. Friedel Jewish Academy, which is a K-6 Jewish day school is housed out here. And the regional office of the plain states region of the Anti-Defamation League is housed on our campus as well.
Phil Malcom:
So most people know us for one or more of the brands that are out here, but the Jewish Federation’s all of it. It’s all kind of housed under one big umbrella, and I like to say that we kind of do a little bit of everything. We have a service for people at every age. We have fitness, childcare, cultural arts, skilled nursing, as we talked about earlier, advocacy, mental health, all of that is housed within our agencies.
Lyn Wineman:
Phil, I like how you described that as a family of brands. Right before the pandemic, I got to attend a meeting at the JCC, and I was amazed at the variety of activities that were going on. There were people taking fitness classes, there were different classes, there were seniors, there was a group of ballet students walking down the hall, there was notices for physical therapy and different types of things. So really impressive, and it’s got to feel sometimes like a best kept secret as well, all of those different things that you have going on under one roof.
Phil Malcom:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Lyn Wineman:
So Margie, question for you. I understand you’ve spent the last 10 and a half years as marketing director at the Jewish Federation, and I love getting together and talking with fellow marketing people. But prior to that, I understand you were the publicity director at the Jewish Community Center as well. Talk to me a little bit about that career path, and what drew you to working with this organization?
Margie Utesch:
Okay. Well, I started my career at the Steinberg Omaha JCC in 2003. I managed publicity and marketing for the J and its departments. The J has many departments that consist of fitness, aquatics, sports and rec, performing arts and dance, theater, rentals, youth and camp, Jewish teens, and early childhood. These departments offer a variety of programming to JCC members, and also the Omaha community. And then in 2011, the Jewish Federation of Omaha reorganized and developed a central service model for its agencies. Marketing became one of those central services. This allows us to streamline marketing efforts and establish consistencies in the many brands that we have here on campus.
Lyn Wineman:
I am a big believer, Margie, in consistency in branding, right? It’s got to make all the messages stronger, to know that they’re woven together with your leadership.
Margie Utesch:
Yeah, absolutely. It’s interesting how people in the community learn about us, and they don’t always learn about us as the Jewish Federation of Omaha, but they might come to our campus to do an IHE program or an ADL program, or obviously most of our visitors are JCC members, or they might come here for a theater performance, or they may do therapy at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. So people have so many different access points, and marketing, we’re trying to clarify that in a way the community—however they learn of us first, but then to expand upon that and share all the other many great things that we offer the community.
Lyn Wineman:
I love that. Going along those same lines, I love to hear about people’s backgrounds. Phil, I understand your background is in theater, and you’ve had a hand in writing, composing, directing, and even executive producing several projects. And now as the executive director of operations and the interim CEO, that’s got to feel like a different type of executive producing role, I imagine. Can you walk me through your love for theater, and how that led you to this current role at the Jewish Federation of Omaha?
Phil Malcom:
Sure. Yeah. And I should put some quotation marks around everything that I’ve done in theater. My wife always makes a joke that I actually hate theater, because everything that I’ve ever written was some sort of pop culture parody of a musical. And so she always sits me down, says name a musical that you really like, and then as I fumble through it, she says, see, I don’t think you really like it.
Phil Malcom:
But shortly after college, some friends of mine and I had a… there’s a nonprofit in Lincoln called the Colonel Mustard Amateur Attic Theater Company. Big, long name, but mostly it was a bunch of young 20-somethings writing these pop culture musical spinoffs, and getting a whole bunch of volunteers together to agree to perform them. And we had these kind of big downtown spectacles, with full volunteer orchestra and hundreds of volunteers. And it was this big fun thing.
Phil Malcom:
It was the sort of thing that you just kind of do at a certain point in your life. And I, at the time was dating my now wife. She lived in Omaha. We were tired of driving back and forth from Lincoln and Omaha to see each other all the time, and so I said, well, I’ll come your way. I’m probably in between undergrad and grad school anyway. So I came to Omaha. I had a family friend who knew of an opening here at the Jewish Federation, and I applied. I think I was the events logistics person on campus for the facilities department, thinking this is something I just do as a gig for a little while and then move on.
Phil Malcom:
And I just ended up falling in love with the organization, and with the campus, and what we do. And so the position just sort of grew over time and ended up where it is now. And it is different, but in so many ways, in both sort of careers, it was just about people. It was about relationships and building community. That’s what the Colonel Mustard was back in Lincoln, it was just a bunch of people hanging out in a house, writing a musical together, right? And this is a much bigger group of people trying to build a community together, and trying to have a positive impact on their city. But it’s all people at the end of the day.
Lyn Wineman:
I love that. I love that. Phil, some people know this about me, but my first choice for a career in college, was to be a theater major. And somehow my parents talked me out of it, and I ended up in advertising. Which was probably a really great decision, because I’ve loved my career in advertising. So it leads me to something I read about you, because I love this name, looking through the… and tell me if I’m mispronouncing this, is it the SHALOMaha calendar? SHALOMaha calendar. I love how you did that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen though, so many events and programs. And Margie, we’ll go to you on this one. Could you talk to us about some of the different offerings that are available? And just because I’m curious, do you have a favorite class or program?
Margie Utesch:
Yeah. The SHALOMaha calendar is located on the Jewish Federation of Omaha’s website, which is jewishomaha.org. Our goal with this calendar is to collaborate with the local synagogues and Jewish organizations here in Omaha. It provides the community one place to see what’s happening. It’s also a great tool for newcomers looking to get involved in the Omaha Jewish community.
Margie Utesch:
A few of my favorite annual events that are on the SHALOMaha calendar are the backyard concert series, which we offer every summer, usually during August. And we bring in local bands to play on a Sunday evening, usually 5:00 to 7:00. We bring in food trucks, it’s free. It’s just a fun way to spend time with your family. It’s super kid friendly, because we have a great playground in the backyard, what we call our backyard. Also, the Jewish Film Festival, which is now in its 19th year. This year, we held it here, in our own remodeled Alan J. Levine Performing Arts Theater.
Margie Utesch:
And then lastly, it’s more of a festive holiday, it’s called Yom Ha’atzmaut. It’s Israeli’s independence day. This year, it actually falls on May 5th, but we are doing our own community celebration on Wednesday, May 4th. And we’re doing kind of like an Israeli market. And usually that’s called a shook. They’re still kind of getting it all together, but we’re hoping to bring in people from the community to have boots, and there will be games for kids, and music and just kind of a fun festival atmosphere. That’ll be here right on our campus.
Lyn Wineman:
That sounds great. And that’s on May 4th?
Margie Utesch:
Yeah.
Lyn Wineman:
And people can find out more about it on the website.
Margie Utesch:
Yes.
Lyn Wineman:
And we’ll have that website in the show notes on the KidGlov website as well for anyone.
Margie Utesch:
Okay. I do want to make one note, though. I mean, on the SHALOMaha calendar is a lot of Jewish engagement events, but as far as the JCC and all the programs that they offer, those are housed on the jccomaha.org website. Well, basically because they offer so much programming, like day-to-day programming, it would be kind of crazy to navigate that calendar. And you probably already noticed on there, there’s just a lot of-
Lyn Wineman:
A lot.
Margie Utesch:
… of stuff on there. Which is really cool, because you can filter by maybe your interest or organization.
Lyn Wineman:
Fantastic.
Margie Utesch:
To help you navigate it. Yep.
Lyn Wineman:
Sounds great. All sounds like great things. I can’t wait until summer hits, in time for that summer concert series as well. Phil, how about you? Any favorite programs or events that we should watch out for?
Phil Malcom:
Yeah, that is such a tough question, because the main strength of our organization is the breadth and depth of our programming. As Margie was just saying, even that dense calendar houses just a sliver of all the stuff that’s happening out here. But a couple of them that come to mind right away, would be there’s a program we did recently, and I think it’s going to launch into sort of a bigger ongoing thing, it’s called Ezra’s Invisible Backpack. It is a partnership between Jewish family service on our campus and our own sort of community engagement department, based on a children’s book. And it was a way of teaching the language of mental health to children.
Lyn Wineman:
Oh, very timely.
Phil Malcom:
Yeah. And so the idea behind it is that every child is carrying, and every person, but every child’s carrying around an invisible backpack that has their own load of stuff, right? And sort of the whole point of the experience is to provide some framework and some language for kids who don’t necessarily know how to process all of those big emotions. And all the attendees were given a clear backpack with some little foam bricks, that were branded and labeled in there.
Phil Malcom:
So then the idea behind it was to give some framework for kids to know, to talk about how many bricks are you carrying in your backpack today? That was the recent program. We just piloted it. It went really well. We’re hoping to do more and more of it actually within the community, even outside of our walls. But that’s a really great one. And then, as Margie alluded to, the JCC is just a deep well of programming. I was just talking with our executive director the other day, and he was telling me about how they have 30 new camps. Not 30 camps, but 30 new camps that they’re doing this summer.
Lyn Wineman:
30 new camps. Wow.
Phil Malcom:
So their summer camp program has well over a thousand children at a regular. I mean, it’s a whole thing. Obviously in different camps throughout the summer, but there is so much programming, especially for young families at the JCC, and throughout the campus. But that summer camp is one that we like to highlight, because I think it’s one of our primary strengths as an organization.
Lyn Wineman:
That is great. What a wide variety of programming, once again. So my next question is for both of you, but I’m curious, what are some misconceptions people might have about the Jewish Federation of Omaha, or the JCC, and how would you address those? And Phil, let’s start this one with you. And then we’ll go to Margie.
Phil Malcom:
Probably the biggest misconception I would say, is that we’re just a fitness center, in my mind. Most people think of our campus…for the people who know of our campus, they think of it as, that’s where the JCC is. And then when they think of the JCC, they think of fitness. They think of it like any other fitness center. But as we were talking about earlier, there’s just so much that we do out here. I’m going to put on my operations hat for a second here.
Phil Malcom:
Our campus, the building’s about 300,000 square feet. We’re on 28 acres. There is so much going on out here beyond that. Even within the JCC there’s aquatics, and youth sports, and cultural arts. And there’s an early learning center, there’s a preschool out here. As I talked about, on our campus we have a K-6 Jewish day school. We do advocacy with the ADL. We do mental health with Jewish family service. We have skilled nursing at the Blumkin home.
Phil Malcom:
It’s just, there truly is a service for somebody at every single age out here. And you kind of don’t know that until you’re here, until you come out and see it. So I think to me, that’s the biggest one, is every time I have a newcomer out here, they say, oh, I thought you guys were a fitness center. And then I walk them through everything. Kind of your experience, Lyn, and you said, oh, there’s a lot more going on.
Lyn Wineman:
Right. I mean, Margie, for you, from a marketing standpoint, keeping all of those messages straight and getting them out there, that’s got to be a big responsibility. But I’m curious, what misconceptions do you think people have from your side?
Margie Utesch:
Yeah. So the biggest one for me, is that you don’t have to be Jewish to belong here, right? So the Steinberg, Omaha JCC offers a modern facility promoting health and fitness, and it’s open to the entire Omaha community. Also, we’re not a religious organization. The Jewish Federation of Omaha is a social service organization, but with the values we hold as Jews, we require us to create a welcoming space for all. So just knowing that we’re open to everyone, we offer something for everyone.
Lyn Wineman:
That’s a great clarification. Thank you for that. So you mentioned the campus. I didn’t realize it was over 28 acres, did you say?
Phil Malcom:
Yep.
Lyn Wineman:
That’s a big campus. So I understand there have been some big changes on campus. As I was preparing to talk to you, doing a little research, I saw that you just completed a pretty substantial renovation. Margie, what can you tell us about the need for those improvements, and maybe how they’ve helped the organization accomplish its goals?
Margie Utesch:
Yeah. Our 47-year-old campus needed to be renovated in order to stay relevant with our community. In order to create an engaging campus, that meets the needs of our 21st century visitors, we needed to update and rethink how our spaces could be better utilized, as well as match our facility with our innovative programming that our staff are developing or have developed already. So that was the biggest reason.
Lyn Wineman:
Yeah. It always makes me think, if you think back 47 years, a group of people founded your organization, they set the path forward. You have to wonder, did they even imagine what the Federation and what the JCC would become today? And the whole idea of all of the programming that you’re doing. Maybe they did, but then again, maybe they didn’t. It’s cool to see how things evolve. Well, congratulations on such a big project. And that leads me to my next question, Phil, what is next? What is next for the campus or the organization as a whole? And where do you think the organization is going in the next 10 years? Or maybe even the next 47 years?
Phil Malcom:
Yeah, so I believe earlier in the conversation, somebody talked about it being a well kept secret out here. Our vision for the future for the organization, is that every person in Omaha has some sort of meaningful relationship with the Jewish Federation and its agency. That’s going to look different for different people, but the number of times we have newcomers on our campus say either, I didn’t know this was here at all, or, I didn’t know you do all this stuff. That’s an opportunity for us, and really it’s a message that we need to make sure that the city of Omaha knows all the stuff that we do and all the services that we have to offer for them. The next 10 to 20 years are all about exposure. They’re all about outreach to Omaha. They’re all about making sure that the Omaha Jewish community itself is vibrant and invested in what we do.
Phil Malcom:
We often talk about how the size of this campus is pretty large compared to maybe the size of the Omaha Jewish community. The Omaha Jewish community isn’t a super large percentage of Omaha’s population, but it is a deeply engaged and deeply generous portion of Omaha’s population. The Jewish community has been deeply involved in really building every part of this city, whether you’re thinking of that in terms of development, whether you’re thinking of it in terms of philanthropy, cultural arts, the Jewish community has been rooted in Omaha’s history all along. And so our job and our goal is to ensure that that community stays vibrant, stays engaged in what we’re doing out here, and then continues to open its doors to the wider Omaha community, because that’s what we’ve always done. So that’s what the next 10, 20 years look like for us.
Lyn Wineman:
Phil and Margie, I hope that this podcast will be a good starting point for you, not necessarily that you haven’t started, but a good point for you to share that story and all of the aspects of the things that you do as well. So everybody who listens to Agency for Change knows this next question is my favorite. I ask it of everybody, because I am inspired by motivational quotes. And I get to talk with such interesting people, like the two of you. I’d love to hear an original quote from Margie, and then Phil, to inspire our listeners. So Margie, let’s start with you.
Margie Utesch:
Okay. So thinking about this question, I mean, not taking it too serious, but my motto is, coffee makes everything better.
Lyn Wineman:
I love that.
Margie Utesch:
Okay? And I say that in a way, like when you’re having a hard time or things seem not to be going in the right direction, take a deep breath and reset. Just take a pause and then readdress. So that’s just kind of my motto for life.
Lyn Wineman:
I love that. I love that, because sometimes too, you think about coffee and how having coffee is something you enjoy in solitude, but sometimes with other people as well. So I think that’s great. All right, Phil, how about you?
Phil Malcom:
I think that mine sort of relates to that idea of building community, and whether you’re talking about here or earlier work or whatever, but also I think just to what good work is, mine is put your best work into your relationships. We often think about working hard at our job or whatever, and I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that our relationships are our job. That everything at the end of the day, all leadership, all community work, it’s just relationships in some way or another.
Lyn Wineman:
So that’s fantastic. And it ties back to something you said earlier, about how the relationship aspect of theater connects to the relationship aspect of what you’re doing today. Those are both great quotes. Thank you for that. So for our listeners who would like to learn more about your work, and you’ve mentioned the website, but let’s hit it in here again, how can they find out more about you? How can they support you?
Phil Malcom:
So Margie’s listed a handful of our websites, but I believe, and Margie, hop in on this because you’re going to know better than I do, but I think we’re on about every social media handle there is out there. Some of those things are under Jewish Omaha, but sometimes that isn’t necessarily the brand that a young family’s going to think to look for. So a lot of those things might be under Jewish community center, or Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, or Jewish Family Service. But Margie, keep me straight, does that sound about right?
Margie Utesch:
Yeah. So we have a variety of social networks that we put information out there on, and engage with the community with. The JCC has Facebook, Instagram. The JFO has Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Both of them have Twitter. We also have YouTube channels for both of them. With the pandemic, we’ve really amped up our video footage and offerings, because when we closed, the J started offering virtual programs for our children, for fitness. We also provide educational programming on the JFO’s YouTube channel, to engage in some of the Jewish education. We have a program called Bateman Rush, it’s called the house of study. It’s a collaborative effort with the rabbis here in our community, and they talk about interesting topics, and people tune in. And all those are recorded, and you can go back and re-listen to them.
Lyn Wineman:
That’s great. That’s got to feel like a full-time job, just keeping the website and the calendars and all the social media updated.
Margie Utesch:
Yeah.
Lyn Wineman:
Just so people can find all of the different things that you do. And I love that you’re putting out programming on YouTube, because we are still kind of in a weird time, and people are accessing things in different ways. So Phil and Margie, as we wrap up our time together here today, I always like to end with this question. What is the most important thing you would like our listeners to remember about the work we’re doing? And Margie, let’s start with you, and then we’ll go to Phil.
Margie Utesch:
I guess our biggest thing is that we want the community to know that everyone’s welcome here. Everyone’s welcome to engage with our agencies, are welcome to come into our campus and enjoy what we have to offer. We have something for everyone. We have something for every age.
Lyn Wineman:
That’s great. And Phil, how about you?
Phil Malcom:
Yeah, I think I would probably just echo Margie, that regardless of your age, regardless of your religious affiliation or non-affiliation, you’re welcome on our campus. And I can guarantee that there are programs and services out here that you would enjoy participating in, whether they are sort of traditional things you think of at a JCC, with fitness and children and youth programming, or they are adult education. We have a beautiful theater that we just renovated. There’s just sort of everything out here, and there’s a lot of partnerships with even maybe some other organizations that you might not have realized we work with. So we have everyone is welcome, sort of plastered all over our building. That’s our motto at the moment.
Lyn Wineman:
That’s fantastic. Phil and Margie, I fully believe the world needs more people like the two of you, more organizations like the Jewish Federation of Omaha, and I really appreciate you taking time out to talk with me today.
Phil Malcom:
Thank you so much, Lyn. It was great.
Margie Utesch:
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Announcer:
We hope you enjoyed today’s Agency for Change podcast. To hear all our interviews with those who are making a positive change in our communities, or to nominate a changemaker you’d love to hear from, visit KidGlov.com at K-I-D-G-L-O-V.com to get in touch. As always, if you like what you’ve heard today, be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.