The new name is just one step. “It’s fun and exciting,” says Kanter. “Changing the name is an expression of our readiness to move forward.”

“The LGBTQIA+ population is in a different place,” he adds. For the most part, the community has come out, and LGBTQIA+ rights are “close to equal.” The JCC is emphasizing community building, a process that Lacks says has occurred in a “really holistic, organic way.”

David Hatcher and his husband, Herbert Godoy, found their son, Jaylen, through David's job, but they found a community through the JCC.

An executive news producer at WNBC in New York, Hatcher was responsible for a recurring segment called Wednesday's Child, which highlights a child in the foster care system who is up for adoption. "I had approved the script for Jaylen's story," he remembers, "and when I went to look at the piece before it went on air, I felt an immediate connection. I told Herbert, ‘This is our boy.'"

Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan has long prided itself on its deep connection to Israel; in fact, that connection is one of our core values.

In May 2015, the JCC demonstrated its commitment to that value when it first collaborated with Israel Story, a podcast which has been characterized as the Israeli version of This American Life. The result was a multimedia program called Israel Story Live.

Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan's third-floor gym may not be the first place you'd expect to see a group of anglers practicing their fly fishing skills, but the JCC is a surprising place.

The JCC purchased a beautiful 21-acre property in Pomona, NY, in January 2016. The site, formerly a German biergarten known as the Platzl Brauhaus, quickly morphed into a state-of-the-art Jewish day camp we named Camp Settoga, complete with a heated Olympic-size pool, a 16-element challenge course, tennis courts, basketball, gymnastics, golf, culinary arts, a working garden, and much more.

In the years since it opened its doors in 1989, JCC Manhattan has worked to shape a vision of 21st-century Jewish life on the Upper West Side and beyond. That vision is the inspiration behind JCC Harlem, a 6,000-square foot space opening its doors to the public in January 2017.

Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan's literacy programs rest on one basic truth: One person can make a huge difference in another person's life. Judy Gross, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan's Director of Literacy + Math Programs, embodies this principle while inspiring thousands of others to make a difference as well.

Gross was raised with the value of helping others. "Long before there was such a thing as community service requirements," she says, "my parents encouraged their children to give back in a meaningful way."

Since 2008, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan has encouraged the community to welcome Shabbat not with a bang, but with a "Shabbang."

Thousands of people have come together on Friday evenings to break bread with friends, family, and neighbors. Shabbat Shabbang and Shabbat Shabbang Jr. dinners feature gourmet dinners, Shabbat rituals, and entertainment in a warm, welcoming environment.

If you've stopped by Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan's Box Office to ask a question or register for a program, chances are you've met Director of Registration Colton Tracy and his team of registration associates—the smiling, patient souls who share the impossible task of knowing a little bit about everything that goes on at the JCC—and the Upper West Side in general, for that matter. Managing registration for approximately 1,200 programs in any given season can be a challenge, but with a decade at the JCC under his belt, Tracy has got it down.

For Daniel Passantino, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" is not a phrase to be taken lightly. In fact, the 28-year-old Manhattanite takes it literally.

"Thursday is recycling night," says Passantino, who finds many of the bottles he uses to create one-of-a-kind glassware designs discarded on New York City sidewalks. He looks for unique colors and shapes, and admits to being "very picky. Of 100 bottles I look at, I take maybe five or fewer," he says. He sells the finished products through his website, bottle2vase.com, at art fairs, and via word of mouth.