How do you reach out to people within your community? How do you connect with people with similar traditions and beliefs if you just moved into a new community? These were two of the reasons that the United Jewish Communities (UJC) developed FedWeb. FedWeb was designed to help Jewish Federations and Jewish communities across North America by providing resources, assistance and direction to help them fulfill their strategic Internet objectives. Four communities, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Tidewater, Virginia, acted as design partners.

UJC cited three primary reasons as to why FedWeb was developed. According to UJC, 33 percent of Jewish households relocate every 5 years and they want to be part of a community; many young, unaffiliated Jews are active on line; and 70% of Jews are not affiliated with Federations.

With FedWeb, Federations can create a unique Web presence even if they have limited computer skills. UJC reports that anyone who knows how to use a PC, has access Web access and knows how to cut and paste can create a local federation site using the proprietary administrative tools.

In trying to make the portal package available to all federations, UJC has scaled the monthly subscription fee to the size of the Federation. According to UJC, the fees are a fraction of what it would cost for a local Federation to create and maintain a Web site on their own. UJC has also brokered arrangements for content, enabling the FedWeb sites to stay fresh and engaging. Plus, each FedWeb site may add information to the Central Library adding strength and value to the Federation system.

Anyone interested in learning more about how FedWeb was developed or the UJC are invited to visit their Web site.