Looking for new community (Milwaukee? Baltimore?

SingALong

Tue, Nov 24 2015, 10:51 pm

Milwaukee
There's the neighborhood near the yeshiva and a different neighborhood near the Twerski shul. You can actually Google online you'll get the Twerski shul website with info. Housing there is pretty cheap, especially compared to larger Jewish communities. I'm not sure of exact numbers but try googling real estate prices in the area to get an exact range. I think in Wisconsin you can get vouchers for tuition so that helps with finances. It's an overall small community, everyone lives in pretty much same neighborhood. 1 shul, 1 school, everyone knows each other, maybe 2-300 families last I heard.

Baltimore:
Large community, prob a few thousand families. 2 girls schools and 2 boys schools at least. Quite a few shuls. Everyone lives spread out into different neighborhoods. Tuition isn't crazy expensive but definitely not cheap. Housing depends on size of house, you can find for 350- 600, can definitely find cheap if look hard enough. Lots of carpooling, I don't think the schools have bussing and everything is super spread out so the driving can take awhile.

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Nov 24 2015, 10:56 pm

SingALong wrote:

Baltimore:
Large community, prob a few thousand families. 2 girls schools and 2 boys schools at least. Quite a few shuls. Everyone lives spread out into different neighborhoods. Tuition isn't crazy expensive but definitely not cheap. Housing depends on size of house, you can find for 350- 600, can definitely find cheap if look hard enough. Lots of carpooling, I don't think the schools have bussing and everything is super spread out so the driving can take awhile.

I live in Baltimore. You can find nice houses for much less than that e.g for 220,000 and upwards, not necessarily huge and not in all of the jewish neighborhoods. my house was recently valued at 225,000, it is about 1500sq ft and has 5 bedrooms. So you can get much cheaper.

I agree with singalong's thoughts about baltimore size and schooling for what you are looking for. Great community, lots of achdus between the shuls and rabbonim across the orthodox spectrum. ask specific questions, I might be able to answer.

shaimac1

Tue, Dec 01 2015, 10:56 am

If you are looking for an affordable frum community then South Bend may be your answer. We have not only affordable homes (3 bedrooms for under 200k with low property taxes like $2,000 a year or less depending on sale price) we have not only State Tuition Vouchers but SGO Scholarships also through the state, and you can make a decent amount too and still qualify! We also have great job opportunities for young families we were actually named the " NUMBER 1 FOR TOP TEN PLACES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE TO GET RICH" in America!! South Bend even has a non-profit organization called CDI South Bend whose director Michall Goldman is working with families to get them jobs! Feel free to e-mail her at michallgoldman@gmail.com or check out their website at www.cdisouthbend.com for job postings and more general information. Good luck with your research!

ShoshLay

Tue, Dec 01 2015, 11:26 am

Hi. I am working with Harrisburg, PA, in attracting newcomers to our community. Our shul is Kesher Israel Congregation. anyone can pm me with an email address, and I can add you to our e-newsletter distrib. list so you can learn about our community. We email periodically-don't worry; it's not our shul email. We have one congregation, + Chabad, and a day school (& eruv, kosher meats at Giant Foods; kosher in-store bakery, mikvah, learning). It's not frum-frum here. But our Rabbi is from Chofetz Chaim, as is our Judaics director at Silver Academy day school, And he has raised 8 frum kids here. In fact, many frum kids have come out of this community, plus kids who went on to become YU, OU employees, many who have made aliyah. Basically, the community and the schooling will reflect what is desired by the families here at the time. Homes here are generally under $200K. My own home-purchased a year ago for $160K--is a 3BR, 2000 sq ft ranch with the best kitchen I've had yet. And I'm surrounded my many Orthodox neighbors.Tuition is underwritten down to about $13K--before income is considered! For those who "aren't yet" looking for out-of-town situations, I have to say that the children raised in such communities really learn to take a stand for who they are--their ethics, religion, observance, identity. I raised my kids in Rochester, and I see the same positive influence on the kids raised here. (BTW, Rochester is also great!) Because we are small the entire community comes together in support of each and every one of us. That leaves a truly priceless impact on the kids. You can't buy that with $$!! I am originally from Detroit, so have much good to say about that community (including that the congregation doing outreach thru OU has a rabbi who was raised in Rochester! And whose family originated in Harrisburg!!). I've lived in Minneapolis when the kids were young-that is also a great place. If I can share anything with you about Harrisburg, please pm me. And good luck to all of us who are working to build our communities. There is no reason for all of us to be glued to financially untenable, east coast communities, when there are billions of dollars of Jewish and Orthodox infrastructure (not to mention wonderful people) in so many other US communities.