By Anne Ruisi
You could say it was serendipity that led Brooke Bowles to the Levite Jewish Community Center.
In November 2021, Bowles was the volunteer director of Full Circle, a nonprofit boutique with secondhand women’s clothing housed at the LJCC.
She was spending a lot of weekends at the boutique and one weekend got to spend some time with the then-executive director of LJCC and two board members. A week later, they offered her a job as director of marketing and fund development, even though she wasn’t looking for a job. She took it.
That decision culminated with Bowles last month being named the center’s executive director.
“A lot of what attracts me to the Jewish Community Center is I see so much potential here,” Bowles said.
A Life in Community Work
The Chattanooga native came to Alabama to earn her bachelor’s degree at Auburn University, graduating in 1996. Fresh out of college, she came to Birmingham for her first job at the Sparks Clinics at UAB. From there she worked as a social worker and then as a program coordinator at Glenwood.
During her career to that point, she’d worked with children and adults with disabilities, including those with autism. In 2007, she became interested in creating a community-based model for people with autism that would help them thrive independently without having to resort to group homes or day programs, Bowles said.
She founded Triumph Services, an organization that began with 16 adults with developmental disabilities. By the time she transitioned away in 2019, there were about 600 such people being served across the state through what became a nationally recognized model, Bowles said.
She’d decided she wanted to do something different and to pour her energy into other nonprofits.
“I really love taking something and growing it,” Bowles said.
Quick Rise
While starting out as director of marketing and fund development at the LJCC, she moved up to associate executive director in February 2022 and was appointed interim executive director a year later. That position became permanent last month.
“There’s a spirit of warmth here, that you are really loved. And that’s a Jewish value, actually, that all people are made in the image of God. And you support all people. You don’t let anyone fail,” she said.
That spirit of uniting people where everyone belongs continues today at the LJCC.
In one recent example during the COVID pandemic, the center expanded its Wi-Fi coverage to the parking lot when schools were shut down. People were welcome to come into the building, but many were more comfortable outside.
Another way the LJCC reached out to the community was the Mobile Food Pantry in partnership with the Community Food Bank. Boxes of food were picked up by people in a line of cars stretching down Montclair Road all the way to Publix, Bowles said. Often, they picked up an extra box for a neighbor who couldn’t make the trip.
A major challenge during the pandemic was that the center lost 35% of its membership. One of Bowles’ goals is to rebuild that number. Since last year, the LJCC has brought up its membership to 88% of its pre-pandemic level, so there are now about 4,000 members.
It can be difficult to get people to come back, since many who use the center for working out got used to exercising at home. But they are coming back, and the LJCC is getting the word out that there are many types of programming available, such as ballroom dancing, a knitting group that makes items for Children’s of Alabama, blood drives and support groups, Bowles said.
Ambitious Goals
About 6,000 Jews live in the Birmingham metro area, the largest concentration in the state. Seventy percent of LJCC members are not Jewish. Yet Jewish values are at the heart of the center, such as one that translates as “healing the world,” or “repairing the world.” The LJCC is interested in partnerships that help the center accomplish that.
One example is the annual Lapidus Montclair Run, a Thanksgiving race that over the years has raised more than $100,000. Proceeds are shared by the center and the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders.
Bowles said she dreams about developing a program to teach more Birmingham children how to swim. It has a practical value that’s rooted in a Jewish value, Bowles said. Teaching children to swim can be seen in the context of preparing children to become independent.
She’d also like to see more inclusive programs to draw in people with disabilities, such as water aerobics and art classes.
Continuing work against anti-Semitism is another goal. Bowles said she’s working with the Birmingham Jewish Federation to host experts on anti-Semitism.
“At the end of the day, this place is about bringing people together. That’s what I love to do,” Bowles said. I’m so excited I to get to do it here.”
