After working for over 30 years as a community organizer, Tracy Salkowitz was thrilled to have the opportunity to help our community unite and grow.
So when the offer to be the new executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona arrived, she jumped right into life in the desert. Her tenure began in July 2012.
Tracy says she thinks the Jewish community is in a state of evolution.
“First, how do we continue to develop and grow?” she says. “We’re vulnerable. We need to take care of things like educating our philanthropists on how and where their donations go – to dispel the myths surrounding what the foundation is all about and what we actually do. Many of our donors want their dollars going to definite areas – we need to let them know they can! I want to be able to inform them where and how far our arms reach, so they can achieve those wishes successfully.”
With programs ranging from the arts and libraries to children and seniors, the foundation has an opportunity for everyone to be able to help while still focusing on their own passions.
“Many of our community are in crisis – we need funds to help those emergencies,” says Tracy. “No one is going to care about the Jews of Arizona or Jewish life in Arizona if our own Jewish community doesn't. If we care about our community, we need to do whatever we can individually.”
Tracy received her master’s degree in Community Social Work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University in 1982. Since then she has headed a number of civil rights organizations specializing in advocacy, organizational development and coalition building. In addition, she served as planning director of Alameda County Social Services Agency. Throughout her career she has focused on organizational strength and development.
“For me, I think that ever since I was a small child, I wanted to make the world a better place. It was the environment I was raised in – my parents were always heavily involved in our neighborhoods and in the community in general,” explains Tracy.
One of her most memorable work experiences happened when she was working at the American Jewish Congress in San Francisco. Her daughter's third-grade teacher asked her to coordinate a legislative program in Sacramento. Tracy agreed on the condition that it would be combined with teaching the children about the legislative process and learning how to lobby.
"Obviously the kids had no idea what lobbying was, but when asked if any of them had ever negotiated with their parents for a new football or sweater, they got it immediately," says Tracy.
The students came up with the issues they cared about and presented them to their legislators. As a result, then California state legislator Carole Migden took on the school lunch program as the top priority of her legislative agenda.
"It was remarkable," Tracy recalls. "Watching civic participation in action and seeing the difference that can be made, it was just extraordinary."
When Tracy started her college years, her goal was to be a dance therapist. During one summer she attended Brandeis Camp Institute in California, which turned her life around. Judaism had always been important to her, but it was during that summer that she realized how central it was to her life. “I ended up on a kibbutz for a year and that cemented my desire to work on behalf of the Jewish community."
She completed her bachelor's at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. There were very few Jews, however, and Tracy found it disturbing when professors that she didn't know would stop her to tell her where they needed funds.
"It seemed as if just because I was Jewish, my family had money to build escalators and new buildings," she notes. "It was pretty awful.”
“Then I went to the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University, and it was fabulous! I was able to study with students from Reform to Orthodox and debate on many different levels with those of the same heritage. The program was outstanding.”
Tracy knew that more than anything she wanted to work within the Jewish Community to run her own foundation. While in Alameda County working as a consultant, she found that people heard of her work and offers came to her. “I actually was on a bit of a sabbatical. My daughter was getting ready for her bat mitzvah, I went through a divorce, then
I remarried and there I was in the midst of the teen years. Being a consultant allowed me to do good work and still be part of a car pool. My ambitions were still strong during that time, but my goals were different.”
“When the offer to be executive director here in Tucson came about, it was truly a gift – my dream position. My husband came with me when I met with the foundation. We fell in love with Tucson and the Jewish Community here. My husband was all for making the move as long as I never complained about the heat! Thankfully, we have great air- conditioning, so I’m a very happy camper.”
Tracy says her motto is, "One person can and does make a difference, together we can move mountains.
