Brian Schreiber Community Champion:

By Jim Rogal

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT REPRESENTS THE HEART OF A COMMUNITY MORE THAN A COMMUNITY CENTER? Well, in the heart of Squirrel Hill sits the Jewish Community Center (JCC). And at the heart of the JCC is President and CEO Brian Schreiber.

“Servicing this entire community is our day-to-day delivery,” he said. “Our governance is Jewish, but our service is to the community at large.”

Need proof? Just read the JCC’s commitment to inclusion and diversity posted in the building:

“The JCC is open and accessible to everyone, regardless of age, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or special need by welcoming individuals of all backgrounds, embracing their uniqueness and diversity under our communal tent.”

It’s Brian Schreiber’s job to live that commitment every day, which he does passionately, and with good reason.

“We are on the second busiest bus line in the city, and we are fully ensconced in this community,” he said. “This is an urban neighborhood with an urban school system and urban residents, and we embrace what it means to be part of our community.”

Schreiber describes the JCC as “the go-to place for community engagement. We are the community’s gathering place, and the people of this community are used to collecting here.”

The JCC already is a partner in one form or another with most every business, organization, nonprofit, and enterprise in Squirrel Hill—and beyond.

“We feel a responsibility not just to Forbes and Murray, but to the whole city,” Schreiber said. “We open up our space to community meetings, town halls, organizational gatherings, whatever; we are open to all meetings.”

Spoken like a true Pittsburgher, which he most definitely now is. But Schreiber didn’t grow up here. He was born in Newark, N.J., and raised in Philadelphia. After working for Jewish organizations in Israel and in Baltimore, Schreiber came here in 1992 to work for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. He began his current job at the JCC in 1999 because “I wanted to be involved in more direct service to people,” he said. And he brought with him a view of his adopted city that remains intact today.

“The qualities of the people who live in Pittsburgh are extraordinary,” he said. “There’s a sense of safety and hominess here that is palpable.”

So is the tradition of passing it on. “There’s a legacy of oral history here,” Schreiber said. “One of the beauties of Pittsburgh is a collective pride in the historical nature of our institutions.”

The JCC is a perfect example. It was founded more than a century ago as the Irene Kaufman Settlement, an agency dedicated to serving Pittsburgh’s immigrants. Over the years and in several locations, it has evolved into today’s JCC, “a fully accomplished community center,” as Schreiber put it.

“When I got here it was already apparent that this agency was a treasure to the community,” he said. “We’ve doubled the scope of who we serve since 1999, and our budget is two and a half times what it was then.”

That mission of providing service will continue into the future. The JCC’s path, as Schreiber sees it, “involves even more inclusiveness and a broader focus. There’s a huge landscape of where this community is and where it’s going.”

One idea being talked about now—providing medical services. “It would be great to incorporate a wellness center here, perhaps provide offices for medical practices,” he said. So, stay tuned.

It’s been the hallmark of the JCC itself from day one, and Schreiber still embraces it today: “The definition of a neighbor is not a geographic measurement, but a moral commitment.”