The Email Sent to International Staff

Here is the contents on the email that I sent to Matt Grossman (BBYO's CEO), Allan Bogan (VP of Community Impact Overseeing the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic), Celia Livshin (Area Field Director Overseeing the Greater Philly Area, South Jersey, and Greater Chicago Area), and other members of the International Staff: Dear Matt, Allan, Celia, and the rest of the International Staff, My name is Ari Kaganovsky, and I am the current Kohane Godol of Kehilah BBYO #5405 in Liberty Region #13. While this isn’t the first time that many of you have heard from me recently, this time I am writing on behalf of the teens, parents, advisors, donors, and alumni of my beloved region. After hearing about the decision made by International staff to divide Liberty Region into two councils, Liberty East and Liberty West, I was immediately furious, upset, and overall, disappointed. None of the people who are most affected by the decision were given a chance to make their voices heard and resolve concerns. Within seconds, I knew what had to be done. Within the past few weeks, I have reached out to International staff on issues important to me as well as many members and advisors in the region. I received somewhat unhelpful responses that implied that my very real and rational concerns have not been taken as seriously as they deserve to be. This is supported by the fact that my peers and I have seen little action to address these concerns. As a result, I felt that a petition was the best way to show that most teens, advisors, alumni, and parents are united against the split and our lack of involvement in the process. Initially, I thought if I could get between 300 and 400 signatures, more than half of Liberty Region’s current membership, our concerns would be heard. However, we reached this benchmark so fast that I knew we could not stop there. It has now been less than 24 hours since I created the petition, and it has been signed by almost 1,500 people, almost double the number of members in our region. We are appalled at what is being forced on us. While many of the other individual emails and calls from members, advisors, and parents may be easy for you to push aside, this email comes from the 1,400+ petitioners who signed because they agreed with the reasons set forth as to why the proposed change sent to us yesterday must not stand in its current state. These petitioners include members of the 93rd and 94th Grand Boards members of the 73rd and 74th Grand and International Boards, Regional Godolim and N’siot across the Order, and hundreds of current members of Liberty. When we received an email yesterday afternoon titled “Exciting News for Liberty Region!”, we expected there to be some fun, innovative opportunities outlined. However, the opposite was true. Every single parent and teen was shocked at what the email contained: that we were about to be split into two separate councils with two separate boards and calendars. While we see the reasoning behind your decision, this action came completely out of left field and seems to forget a number of points that are not addressed. In just six weeks, our Liberty Region family would be separated into two councils based on geography. But this was not even the element that irked each and every one of us. What made this decision so bothersome to the Liberty Region Family is the way that it was addressed. As a teen-led, staff-advised organization, the fact that not a single teen, not even the regional board, was involved in this makes us feel so disrespected. How are we supposed to support an organization when the values it prides itself on have clearly changed? When we all joined BBYO, we were told that our voices were the most important in voting for leaders and passing legislation to shape our chapters, our region, and the movement as a whole. Unfortunately, this seems to not be the case anymore. We feel unheard and ignored, neglected and shoved aside. There was not a single quiet reaction to this by any active member of Liberty. Younger members were crying to their chapter leadership, asking how did this happen without being given a voice. Older members were calling their best friends across the region since 8th grade, asking how did this happen without being given a voice. Advisors were texting their teens, asking how did this happen without being given a voice. Parents were talking to their children, asking how did this happen without you being given a voice. Alumni were contacting those currently involved in the organization, asking how did this happen without you being given a voice. Donors were reaching out to staff and current members of Liberty, asking how could they continue to donate to BBYO when its values and promises have been violated by staff without the consent of the teens. Teens from across the Order were messaging their brother Alephs and sister BBGs from Liberty, asking if they were next. We view it as a problem when every single group of people involved in BBYO to some degree is angry about the events that have unfolded in the past day. This is not the first time this has occurred in our area. Alumni have come forth and stated that when they were told about the merger of CRE and Philly Region back in 2013, it was poorly explained and sloppily executed. They felt unheard then and are horrified to hear that yet again, Liberty Region has lost its voice to the unchecked power of the International Office. Many have reached out to ask how to help, willing to take time out of their college and adult lives to make sure that the injustice done to them is not repeated. In regards to the geography, we completely understand why it would seem that splitting Liberty into two councils would help to extend outreach into Western New York where BBYO does not currently exist. On the contrary, this would only isolate the Philly and Delaware teens, as well as the Allentown and Harrisburg teens. Cities like Rochester are still 4.5 hours from Allentown and Harrisburg, and only 15 minutes of travel time would be added if they were to drive to the suburbs of Philadelphia. This makes it even harder for the teens in the proposed Liberty West, where their communities have to work twice as hard to keep BBYO strong to begin with because they would be even farther from the center of the region and from areas with high Jewish populations. With only two large, one medium, and a number of extremely small chapters in Liberty West, the council would be unable to function on its own. This can also be seen when looking at the number of leaders caucused for Liberty Region’s 7th/6th boards in their current state. There are only four Alephs, two from each of the proposed councils, and nine BBGs; however, only two of these BBGs are from chapters inside the boundaries of Liberty West. These leaders caucused to be on a regional board that extended from Philadelphia, to Harrisburg, to Wilmington, to Wilkes-Barre and beyond. If this decision was supposed to come to fruition within the next year, it should have been released (and voted on) long before the election packets came out to give plentiful time to encourage teens to run for council boards. While Liberty’s membership may look like it is time to split on paper, looking at activity and leadership tells a completely different story that has been neglected. Furthermore, a split like this would not be financially sustainable. Over the past year, convention attendance has declined to lows that I have not seen during my time in BBYO. If the proposed split were to occur, teens whose friends are in the other council would likely not attend council conventions, making these weekends even less successful or special. Additionally, our region lost so much money during Fall Fest in November that we could not even fund a Spring Kickoff, which was then left to the chapters to plan with little-to-no regional funding or guidance to assist in ensuring the success of these programs. We were told, not consulted or discussed with, but told to plan WOW factor kickoffs with a month’s notice. This was nearly impossible for chapters to do and broke the banks of many because they wanted to give their members and prospects the best experiences possible. Moreover, since the announcement of this proposed regional split, a number of donors, including some of our biggest, have stated that they will not continue to donate in the future and have asked to be given refunds on the monetary support that they gave during Liberty’s Text-A-Thon these past few weeks. Their reasoning has been that their donations were going to one united Liberty Region, not one divided into two councils. Without the support of the Friends and Alumni Network (FAN), our region simply would not function. Overall, this decision must not stand without having extensive conversations between the members of Liberty Region and the international staff who were at the forefront of this. We refuse to watch friends, tradition, democracy, and our region be torn apart without direct talks being held. This is not the teen-led organization that we thought we were a part of. With this occurring only one day after the March of Our Lives, we teens have been empowered by the growing teen-led movement to stand up to injustices. We deserve to have a voice, and in an organization where we pride ourselves on being activists who can make a change in the world, it was disappointing to find out that we had no input on this matter. Thank you all for leading a movement that preaches activism because it has taught our brother Alephs, our sister B’nai B’rith Girls, and us, the teens of Liberty Region #13, how to fight against injustices. Below is a copy of the petition’s contents, and I will send a copy of the list of signers once it becomes available later. Sincerely, The Teens, Parents, Advisors, Alumni, and Donors of Liberty Region #13, and the Petitioners From Across the Order