By Meryl Feld / Editor
She is the first new leader since the organization’s conception. Jessica Rockhold has been the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education’s executive director for just over four months now.
“The core values that have guided MCHE for 26 years remain. We are fundamentally committed to the mission that we have had, but we are looking at ways to be dynamic and fresh and offer new opportunities for how to engage with the public,” Rockhold told The Chronicle.
“MCHE is still the institution that Kansas City has come to know in terms of the reliable place to get quality information and good teaching techniques for the Holocaust.”
Rockhold is taking on new responsibilities: fundraising, donor relations and making sure that finances remain stable and strong. “MCHE is a place that’s very dear to me; I’ve been there for 17 years. It is a different set of daily tasks, but still the same mission,” she said.
MCHE’s mission will always be education based and focused on local stories, Rockhold said. “We stay grounded in the stories of our local survivors. Honoring their legacy, their testimony, their messages — to make sure that our local survivors are made primary in our programming. No matter what format that’s delivered in, no matter who is giving that message. That’s fundamental to who MCHE is and what we do.”
“There are other Holocaust centers that deviate more into broader human rights or tolerance issues and MCHE has always maintained a focus on a very centered Holocaust message. We can apply that message to any situation, but all of our programming is fundamentally grounded in Holocaust education in a very direct way.”
The pandemic hit at MCHE’s busiest time of year. MCHE reaches their broadest audience in March, April and May. The reason is twofold — this is the time of year when schools learn about the Holocaust and the media is covering Yom HaShoah events.
Before the pandemic, Rockhold was focused on expanding MCHE’s rural outreach by increasing their digital outreach, distance learning and support for teachers in “far-flung places.” Rockhold said, “Our top priority was distance learning — providing a robust online presence that people could not just access, look at, think about, but really be engaged by. Something that is truly, fundamentally about learning and teaching.”
“The interesting part of what has happened is that it has become even more pressing and more important in light of what we’re going through now,” Rockhold said, “The good news is that a lot of the changes that we’re being forced to make, we wanted to make.”
Their digital emphasis is no longer only focused on rural communities or those who haven’t had access to MCHE’s programming in the past. MCHE is shifting as much as possible to Zoom or video platforms. “We realize that everything that we’re creating now, is foundationally beneficial for later.”
MCHE saw finding a way to make the community Yom HaShoah commemoration happen imperative. Most of their March events had to be cancelled; there was not enough time to re-work every plan. Some programming has been rescheduled, though. MCHE had an exhibit that was set to open in April. They had partnered with the Kansas City Public Library for it. “That is still going to happen, we just don’t know quite when,” Rockhold said. Parts of that exhibit are already in Kansas City, waiting to be installed and made ready for the public.
Rockhold has hopes of expansion. “I think that our first expansion will be in terms of fund development, to then allow us to do more and more education,” she said. Timing is uncertain due to the pandemic.
Why does Rockhold love her work? “I am a person that believes in mission-driven work. I have chosen not-for-profit work very specifically… You don’t do this work because of what you make in your paycheck. You do this work because of what it means.”
“MCHE is committed to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust to ensure that events like this are understood and can be confronted, mitigated or hopefully even stopped before they reach extreme levels,” Rockhold said, “The way we react in a situation and the choices we make around a situation are fundamentally the message I want to empower people to walk away with.”