Shawn Landres

J. Shawn Landres (born 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a social entrepreneur and independent scholar, and local civic leader, known for applied research related to charitable giving and faith-based social innovation and community development, as well as for innovation in government and civic engagement.

The Jewish Daily Forward named Landres to its annual list of the 50 most influential American Jews in 2009.^[1] He is the co-founder of Jumpstart, a nonprofit philanthropic research organization,^[2][3].

A co-founder (with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman) of Synagogue 3000's Synagogue Studies Institute,^[4] Landres is credited with creating the term "Jewish Emergent," which describes new spiritual Jewish communities that have an institutional dynamic in which "relationship, not contract or program, is the driving metaphor;" the term "Jewish Emergent" reflects similarities in organizing philosophy with a parallel movement in the Christian church.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]} A 2007 report Landres co-authored with sociologist Steven M. Cohen and others linked Jewish Emergent communities to social networking rather than institutional structures.^[14] They argued that "Jewish Emergent" encompasses both the independent minyan movement (which was supported by Synagogue 3000)^[15] and so-called "rabbi-led emergent" communities such as IKAR and Kavana Cooperative.^[16] In 2006, Landres co-convened the first gathering of Emergent church and "Jewish Emergent" leaders in a meeting^[17][18] co-led by theologian Tony Jones, who recounted the episode in one of his books.^[19] In 2016, a network of rabbi-led emergent communities established the Jewish Emergent Network, crediting Landres for coining the concept behind its name.^[20]

Landres worked with the White House during the Presidency of Barack Obama on Jewish affairs and issues related to faith-based social enterprise.^{[21][22][23][24]}

In July 2012, the Obama White House invited Landres, representing Jumpstart, to speak as a "spotlight innovator" at its Faith-Based Social Innovators Conference.^{[25][26][27][28]}

In 2013 Landres was awarded the Liberty Hill Foundation's NextGen Leadership Award.^[31] The Southern California Leadership Network (a program of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce) named him as one of its 30th anniversary "30-in-30" alumni honorees in 2017.^[29]

In 2013-14, Landres chaired the research team and co-authored five of Jumpstart's six Connected to Give reports, which "map[ped] the landscape of charitable giving by Americans of different faith traditions."^[30][31] Connected to Give was credited by Indiana University as a "breakthrough finding" distinguishing giving to religious congregations and giving to "religiously identified organizations."^[32] and has continued to be cited in research reports on philanthropy.^[33].

In 2016 Landres co-authored "The Generosity Gap: Donating Less in Post-Recession Los Angeles County"^[34][35][36] for the California Community Foundation and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, described as a model for research on locally focused giving ^[37]

Landres chaired the Los Angeles County Quality and Productivity Commission from 2017 to 2019^[35].^[38][39]

In 2018, Landres was appointed to the City of Santa Monica Planning Commission. He has stated his opposition to medium-term housing for non-residents.^[40] However, as a commissioner and as chair while the City of Santa Monica was updating its required Housing Element in response to its Regional Housing Needs Assessment allocation, Landres took positions generally favoring increasing residential density, including in single-family neighborhoods^{[41][42][43][44][45]} Prior to his planning commission appointment, Landres had chaired the City of Santa Monica's Social Services Commission,^[32] where he focused on homelessness^[46][47][48] and on accounting for social services in land-use planning.^[49] He is a member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Financial Oversight Committee. ^[50] and co-chaired a 2018 bond measure campaign for SMMUSD facilities, which passed despite opposition from homeowners and renters concerned about increased taxes and fees.^[51][52] Previously he chaired the Santa Monica Public Library's Innovation Technology Task Force.^[53][54]

UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs appointed him as a Civil Society Fellow in 2015 and as a Senior Fellow in 2016.^[55][56] He serves on the board of directors of the Santa Monica Bay Area Human Relations Council ^[57] and was a founding organizing committee member of Jews United for Democracy and Justice, formed in response to "rising threats to religious tolerance, equal rights, a free and fair press, human dignity, and long-held norms of decency and civil society."^[58]

In 2019 Landres initiated the idea for CIVruta, a Los Angeles-based training initiative aimed at "encouraging and equipping [community leaders from different backgrounds] to bring the Jewishly informed democratic values of diversity, inclusion, and dignity to service on local boards and commissions."^[59] It was awarded the Lippman Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom funded by the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah (created by the founders of Gojo Industries) and the Democracy Fund.^{[60][61][62][63]}

During the COVID pandemic, Landres has served on the County of Los Angeles Prosper LA Working Group, helping oversee a National Association of Counties Achievement Award-winning initiative to "streamline the County's contracting process, assist businesses, and identify potential cost-savings to County operations.".^[64][65] Landres also serves on the City of Santa Monica Economic Recovery Task Force.^[66]

In November 2020 and April 2021 Landres published two syndicated op-eds calling for reform of California's Brown Act to enable remote participation by the public in local government.^[67][68][69] He has advocated for public participation reform and for increased public access to government decision-making.^[70][71]

Landres graduated from Columbia University in 1994 and received a master's degrees from Oxford in Social Anthropology and the University of California, Santa Barbara, in Religious Studies, as well as a Doctorate in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.^[72][73] Landres' work on ethnographic methodology has been cited in handbooks for the study of the sociology of religion.^[74][75][76] In 2004, Landres took a public role in shaping the interreligious response to the film The Passion of the Christ.^{[77][78][79][80][81]}

Bill Clinton has identified him as the "young man" who suggested "Don't Stop" as the future president's 1992 campaign theme song.^[82][83]

Books

Landres's books include:

• Personal Knowledge and Beyond: Reshaping the Ethnography of Religion (edited with James Spickard and Meredith Mcguire, New York University Press, 2002)^[84]
• After the Passion is Gone: American Religious Consequences (edited with Michael Berenbaum, AltaMira Press, 2004)^[85]
• Religion, Violence, Memory and Place (edited with Oren Baruch Stier, Indiana University Press, 2006)^[86]

See also

• Emerging church
• Independent minyan
• Jumpstart (Jewish)

References

1. ""Forward 50, 2009," The Jewish Daily Forward". November 11, 2009.
2. Kaplan, E. (2009). Jumpstart Nurtures Innovation, Focused on Social Entrepreneurs. Jewish Journal, November 16.
3. West, Melanie Grayce. (2013). Young Jews Courted as Donors. The Wall Street Journal, August 31.
4. "New Field of 'synagogue Studies' Addresses Changes in Jewish Life." Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 6, 2006.
5. Shiflett, Dave. (2006). Getting Hip to Religion. The Wall Street Journal, February 24.
6. Landres, J. Shawn (June 1, 2006). "The Emerging Spiritual Paradigm". Sh'ma Journal.
7. Shawn Landres, J.; Bolger, R. K. (1 July 2007). "Emerging Patterns of Interreligious Conversation: A Christian-Jewish Experiment". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 612 (1): 225–239. doi:10.1177/0002716207301563. S2CID 145807010.
8. Brown, S. P. (2006). Emergent Jews. Jewish Journal, January 26.
9. Brown, S. P. (2006). Emergent Network Could Help Define Synagogue. Jewish Journal, December 1.
10. Bronznick, S. (2009). Visioning Justice and the American Jewish Community. New York: Nathan Cummings Foundation. July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
11. Banerjee, Neela. (2007). Challenging Tradition, Young Jews Worship on Their Own Terms. The New York Times, November 28.
12. Fishkoff, S. (2007). Minyan study: Jews pray on own terms. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 30.
13. Leland, John (2014-03-14). "Synagogue, Rebooted". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
14. Cohen, S. M., Landres, J. S., Kaunfer, E., & Shain, M. (2007). Emergent Jewish communities and their participants: Preliminary findings from the 2007 National Spiritual Communities Study. New York: S3K Synagogue Studies Institute and Mechon Hadar.
15. Turned off by Traditional Services, Young Jews Form New Prayer Groups." Jewish Telegraphic Agency, September 12, 2006.
16. Tu, J. I. (2007). Queen Anne Jewish community goes its own way 2014-08-12 at the Wayback Machine. Seattle Times, September 12.
17. Winston, D. (2006). Religious Progressives: The Next Generation. Los Angeles Times, February 5.
18. Flaccus, Gillian. (2006.) Disillusioned Jews, Christians share ideas on 'emergent' faith. (Associated Press.) Orange County Register, January 21.
19. Jones, Tony. (2008). The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier". Jossey-Bass. See also Chia, L. (2010). Emerging faith boundaries: bridge-building, inclusion, and the emerging church movement in America (Doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri--Columbia). See also Haji, R., & Lalonde, R. N. (2012). Interreligious Communication. In Giles, H. (Ed.). The Handbook of Intergroup Communication. London: Routledge, p. 285.
20. url=http://www.jewishemergentnetwork.org/ |title=Jewish Emergent Network, footnote
21. Harris, J. (2009). My Trip to the White House. Jewcy.com, May 21 (blog post).
22. White House party to celebrate Jewish culture. The Baltimore Sun, May 27, 2010.
23. Hoffman, A. (2010). Obama Fetes the Jews. Tablet, May 28.
24. rabbiyonah. (2010). Jewlicious Heritage Month at White House. Jewlicious (blog), May 28.
25. Anderson, R. (2012). Spiritually Speaking: Faith-based is non-partisan. Eden Prairie News, August 5.
26. Kampeas, Ron. (2012). Repair the World, Jewish Jumpstart join White House faith-based forum. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 12.
27. Vandeventer, P. (2012). Of Wedges and Willing Allies. Community Partners blog, July.
28. Jumpstart Co-founder Shawn Landres at the White House - July 11, 2012 on Vimeo
29. "Shawn Landres - Week 5: 30-in-30 honoree - Southern California Leadership Network". Southern California Leadership Network. 2017-05-11. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
30. "About Connected to Give". Connected to Give. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
31. "Religious Americans Give More, New Study Finds". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
32. url=https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/files/research/womengive14_final.pdf |title=Women Give 2014, page 9
33. url=https://www.privatebank.citibank.com/newcpb-media/media/documents/insights/Philanthropy-and-global-economy.pdf |title=PHILANTHROPY AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: Opportunities in a World of Transition, pages 69 and 78
34. "The Generosity Gap - California Community Foundation's Centennial Celebration Website". California Community Foundation's Centennial Celebration Website. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
35. Walton, Alice (3 June 2016). "L.A. residents giving significantly less to charity, study finds". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
36. Radio, Southern California Public (2016-06-03). "The Generosity Gap: Charitable giving is down in LA county". Southern California Public Radio. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
37. "Charitable Giving in Los Angeles Declines Considerably as Big Dollars Go Elsewhere - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly". nonprofitquarterly.org. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
38. "LA County Chair of Quality and Productivity Commission - Santa Monica Mirror". Santa Monica Mirror. 2017-01-20. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
39. Torok, Ryan (2017-02-02). "Moving & Shaking: Pico Shul goes skiing, BJE and AFOBIS celebrate — Jewish Journal". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
40. Marom, Tor (2018-12-21). "Cracking Down On Corporate Housing?". Santa Monica Mirror. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
41. Pauker, Madeleine (2019-10-24). "City Council limits "mansionization" of single-family neighborhoods". Santa Monica Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
42. Pauker, Madeleine (2019-11-11). "State may require Santa Monica to build 9,000 units". Santa Monica Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
43. Dixson, Brennan (2020-11-23). "Planning Commission hears Housing Element Update". Santa Monica Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
44. Dixson, Brennon (2021-06-08). "Commissioners discuss densifying R1 neighborhoods". Santa Monica Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
45. Creel, Toi (2021-07-06). "Santa Monica Commissioners Consider Rezoning Neighborhoods". Santa Monica Mirror. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
46. "Santa Monica Backs County Sales Tax for Homeless Services". www.santamonicalookout.com. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
47. "Locals can provide free money". smdp.com. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
48. Torok, Ryan (2017-09-14). "Moving & Shaking: Mike Burstyn's directorial debut, Rabbi Jon Hanish honored and more". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
49. "Social Services are part of planning". smdp.com. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
50. "SMMUSD :: Fiscal & Business Services :: Financial DAC Members". www.smmusd.org. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
51. Crane, Tricia (2018-10-09). ""Less than the cost of a latte"? Really?". Santa Monica Lookout. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
52. "Local Bonds for School Improvements". Retrieved 2021-12-23.
53. Newsroom, UCLA. "Shawn Landres serving as Luskin School Civil Society Fellow". UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
54. "Innovation Technology Task Force". www.santamonicapubliclibrary.org. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
55. Newsroom, UCLA. "Shawn Landres serving as Luskin School Civil Society Fellow". UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
56. Luskin, UCLA (2017-07-31), A Salute to the 2016-17 Luskin Senior Fellows, retrieved 2018-02-02
57. "HRC Board of Directors". hrcsantamonica.org. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
58. Arom, Eitan (2017-02-28). "Broad-based L.A. Jewish coalition forms to respond to Trump actions — Jewish Journal". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
59. "Lippman Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom". Retrieved 2021-12-23.
60. "Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah and Democracy Fund announce Winners of Lippman Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom — eJewishPhilanthropy". eJewishPhilanthropy. 2019-03-19. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
61. Kustanowitz, Esther D. (2019-03-27). "Two Civic Engagement Initiatives Awarded Lippman Kanfer Prize — Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
62. Nussbaum Cohen, Debra (2019-03-18). "A Unique Prize Taps Jewish Wisdom to Defend Democracy. Who Are the Winners? — Inside Philanthropy". Inside Phlanthropyl. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
63. Torok, Ryan (2020-02-26). "Rivlin Honored at UCLA, Armenian Genocide Talk". Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
64. "Prosper LA About us". County of Los Angeles. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
65. "PROSPER LA". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
66. "Economic Recovery Task Force - About the Task Force". City of Santa Monica. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
67. Shawn Landres (2020-11-04), "Reform the Brown Act to enhance transparency and public access", CalMatters, retrieved 23 December 2021
68. Brown, Donal (2020-11-17). "California Open Government Roundup: Los Angeles City Attorney Spotlights Alleged Violation Of Brown Act". First Amendment Coalition. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
69. Shawn Landres (2021-04-27), "Here are priorities to reform the Brown Act for government transparency", CalMatters, retrieved 23 December 2021
70. Dixson, Brennan (2021-05-10). "Public officials call for continued virtual comment options". Santa Monica Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
71. Pauker, Madeleine (2020-05-14). "Planning Commission to consider doing away with downtown development agreements". Santa Monica Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
72. Quality and Productivity Commission
73. Landres, J. Shawn (May 2005). "Renewing American Judaism at the Root". Columbia College Today. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
74. Landres, JS; Spickard, JV; McGuire, MB (2002). Personal Knowledge and Beyond. New York University Press.
75. Spickard, J. V. (2007). Micro qualitative approaches to the sociology of religion: phenomenologies, interviews, narratives, and ethnographies. The Sage handbook of the sociology of religion. London: Sage, 121-143.
76. Roof, W. C. (2011). Research design. In Stausberg, M., & Engler, S. (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of research methods in the study of religion (pp. 68-80).London, UK: Routledge.
77. Landres, JS; Berenbaum, M (2004). After The Passion is Gone: American Religious Consequences. Rowman Altamira.
78. Landres, J.S. (2004). "Passion" Response Dos and Don'ts. Jewish Journal, February 12.
79. "Who Really Killed Jesus?" (2004). Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, February 20.
80. Gruber, R. E. (2004). Nun who inspired Gibson's 'Passion' may become a saint. Jewish Telegraphic Agency / JWeekly.com, October 8.
81. Landres, J.S., & Berenbaum, M. (2004). Diskuse o Gibsonove 'Utrpneni krista' [in Czech]. Dingir 2/2004.
82. Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. p. 368. ISBN 978-1400030033.
83. "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow". Clinton '92 Campaign Reunion. C-SPAN. Sep 30, 2011.
84. Reviews of Personal Knowledge and Beyond:
    • Carroll, Michael P. (March 2003). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 42 (1): 160–161. JSTOR 1387994.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Glazier, Stephen D. (July 2004). Religion. 34 (3): 244–246. doi:10.1016/j.religion.2004.04.008.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Griffin, Wendy (Winter 2003). Sociology of Religion. 64 (4): 532–534. doi:10.2307/3712345. JSTOR 3712345.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Johnson, Paul Christopher (January 2004). The Journal of Religion. 84 (1): 160–162. doi:10.1086/382336.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • McMullen, Mike (January 2003). Contemporary Sociology. 32 (1): 125–126. doi:10.2307/3089896. JSTOR 3089896.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Ratcliff, Donald E. (December 2002). Review of Religious Research. 44 (2): 206–207. doi:10.2307/3512521. JSTOR 3512521.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
85. Reviews of After the Passion is Gone:
    • Axelson, Tomas (March 2007). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 46 (1): 140–141. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2007.00345_6.x. JSTOR 4621962.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Deacy, Chris (January 2006). Journal of Contemporary Religion (PDF). 21 (1): 122–124. doi:10.1080/13537900500382375. hdl:20.500.12424/3019450. S2CID 216140814 https://kar.kent.ac.uk/6426/3/Review_of_After_the_Passion_is_Gone.pdf. {{cite journal}}: |url= missing title (help)CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Plate, S. Brent (Spring 2007). Christianity and Literature. 56 (3): 535–539. doi:10.1177/014833310705600323. JSTOR 44314095.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
86. Reviews of Religion, Violence, Memory and Place:
    • Miller, Richard B. (September 2009). "The Moral and Political Burdens of Memory". The Journal of Religious Ethics. 37 (3): 531, 533–564. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9795.2009.00399.x. JSTOR 40378119.
    • Porter, Jack Nusan (November 2008). Contemporary Sociology. 37 (6): 561–562. doi:10.1177/009430610803700622. JSTOR 20444347. S2CID 144659450.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Rock, Stella (March 2011). Religion, State and Society. 39 (1): 127–129. doi:10.1080/09637494.2011.546510. S2CID 143780909.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Snyder, Justin (September 2007). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 46 (3): 429–430. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2007.00368_4.x. JSTOR 4621993.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)

External links

• Jumpstart website