Page Eight

THE JEWISH NEWS

A Report to. the Jews of De

y the Jewish Welf • re Fed('

p

ROSPERITY, depression and war have
marched across the stage of world events
since that day in 1926 when the Jewish
Welfare Federation was organized in Detroit.
Total war for freedom means all-out aid both
for the helpless victims of oppression who await
their day of liberation and for the forces who
are contributing toward bringing that day of
freedom and peace even closer. The Jews of
America, along with their neighbors of every,
other background, are devoting all their re-
sources and energies to our country's war
effort. As a valid part of this program it is our
special, sacred task to sustain our distressed
brethren who are among the chief sufferers
from tyranny.

The War Chest

As evidence of the interdependence of all
freedom-loving and humanitarian people there
has evolved a War Chest movement, making it
possible for us to participate in a war fund for
victory. The Jews of Detroit, through this
joinder of forces, now offer their financial sup-
port and manpower in one, over-all campaign
for the fifty-five causes formerly included in
the Allied Jewish Campaign, along with the
eighty agencies of the Community Fund, the
USO and the Russian, British, Chinese and
other approved war-relief appeals.
As a result of this new development in total
community organization, we were called upon,
within the last twelve-month period, to wage
two campaigns. "In the spring of 1942, we con-
ducted our usual Allied Jewish Campaign for
the fiscal year 1942-1943, with favorable results.
In the fail of 1942, when we were invited to
become a part of the War Chest, there arose
some special problems of organization involving
adjustments to a new fiscal year and earlier
commitments on our part for the financing of
Jewish causes for the next fiscal year.
The advantages of uniting our forces with the
general community were so pronounced that
.we found little difficulty in adapting ourselves
to the new situation.

Dr. Silver's Leadership

The record of Jewish contributions to the
War Chest showed conclusively that, given a
war problem in community service, our citizens
have a fine sense of values. We took our places
in the new army of workers and givers so
readily and effectively that the results reflected
most creditably our concern for all the causes
in the campaign. The Detroit Service Group
and our Women's Division were faced with
new problems in campaign organization and
our public relations and educational services
had a new message to spread.
Perhaps the finest expression of this new re-
lationship manifested itself at the War Chest
luncheon addressed by Rabbi Abba Hillel Sil-
ver, who thrilled us and our neighbors and
inspired all elements of the community to ad-
vaiice our efforts for the common cause. The
War Cnest set itself a goal of $5,800,000. The
final figure reached, as of recent days, is
$7,0/5,000.
Our part, both insofar as the amount con-
tributed as well as the sums to be received by
our agencies, is an appreciable one. While the
final allocations have not yet been made, it can
be stated that the needs of the United Jewish
Appeal agencies and our other Jewish causes,--,
local, national and overseas, will receive sym-
pathetic and favorable consideration.
The great Jewish organizations in the field
of relief, reconstruction, retraining, refugee
work, education, research and a host of other
fields of activity, have one direct way of reacIh=
ing the individual Jew in Detroit for his
financial help, through the Allied Jewish Cam-
paign and the Jewish Welfare Federation, by
way of the War Chest.

The Place of Federation

There are, to be sure, organizations and
movements which sponsor programs within one
or the other of these various fields of activity,
and propaganda and educational work are done
by these separate groups. When the time comes,
however, for the Jews of Europe, or of Pales-
tine, or for any other group or element to
address us, all together, regardless of religious
grouping, regardless of economic position, the
Federation movement, formerly as a separate
drive and now through the War Chest, stands
ready, a vital instrument,- a well-organized,

human machine, strong and expressive of your
combined wish and will for philanthropy, for
social service, for the coordination of commun-
ity efforts in normal times, and especially so, in
times like these.
Inherent in the War Chest and Community
Fund plan are the very principles of democracy,
so dear to all Americans. It is based upon the
voluntary efforts of thousands to assist our less
fortunate neighbors of the community. It is the
means whereby the entire community every fall
collects and administers funds for the welfare
of all, irrespective of race, color or creed, for
Jew as well as non-Jew. Much of the work
accomplished by the Fund would have to be
shouldered by the Jewish Welfare Federation
independently, if there were no Fund. Several
Jewish agencies continue to receive their sup-
port from the Community Fund.

Budgeting Procedure

Under the terms of our War Chest partner-
ship, the budgeting for the Allied Jewish
Campaign agencies is vested, as before, in the
Jewish community. The War Chest will vote a
lump sum to the Allied Jewish Campaign as a
unit, and we, in turn, will conduct hearings and
make allocations, in accordance with our estab-
lished procedures. The combined boards of the
Jewish Welfare Federation and the Detroit Ser-
vice Group will sit as a Committee on Budget.
While the regular budget of the Jewish Corn-
mtmity Council remains in the War Chest, a de-
parture from past procedure arises from the
fact that, at our own request, the civic-protec-
tive fund, which requires the Jewish commun-
ity's attention in a very special sence, was not
thus included.
Provision for Detroit's appropriation for the
civic-protective work of our local Jewish Com-
munity Council and in behalf of the four nation-
al agencies, will be made outside of the War
Chest. The Jewish Welfare Federation has ad-
vised these agencies that we are prepared to
confer in due course on the method and extent
of financing these operations for the fiscal year
beginning next June 1st.

Centralized Planning

Involved in this decision is the problem of
relationship among the national defense agenc-
ies. At the Cleveland National Assembly of the
Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare
Funds, it was reported that the attempts to
centralize these programs have met with diffi-
culty, but a continuing committee is concerning
itself with this problem. We have recorded our-
selves as favoring the effort to Coordinate and
to unify these services.
The need to provide a special fund may afford
us the opportunity to confer jointly with the
agencies concerned and possibly to make a con-
tribution toward joint action.
The part that the Council of Jewish Federa-
tions and Welfare Funds is playing on the
national scene in giving communities a better
understanding of inter-agency relationships and
of the broad problems underlying community
organization, has been of immeasurable help to
us in Detroit.
The Council was created by the Federations
of the United States and Canada as a com-
munity membership association of, and central
clearing house for, Jewish communal agencies.
Its purpose is to help organize the resources
of each community to meet effectively local,
regional, national and overseas needs. The
Council makes it possible for the Detroit Fed-
eration, at a nominal cost, pro-rated for the
entire country, to have a New York office and
a field staff, who gather facts and interpret
trends in Jewish social work, community organ-
ization and public welfare, thereby keeping De-
troit abreast of current problems in these fields.

Advice on Standards

Through the Council's publications and con-
fidential reports, the Federation is advised on
the best methods of raising and allotting funds
for local and non-local needs, on the work of
national and overseas agencies and relationship
with them, and on all developments in related
fields as they occur.
Throughout the year, therefore, the responsi-
bilities that we have as a community, our rela-
tionship with our agencies and other communi-
ties,—indeed the very structure of local com-
munity organization—all of these are rneagured
for us by the best practices and standards as
determined by this central organization.

Without the Council of Federations our local
budget committees would be hard put to
analyze the expenditures and budgets of the
organizations we help support. Similarly, in
Detroit, new projects and refinements of exist-
ing programs and services can be tested against
the experience in other communities as as-
sembled and interpreted for us.

Our Social Welfare Needs

Locally, many of the war needs on the civil-
ian front are being met by governmental and
quasi-governmental agencies, either already in
existence, or newly-created, to deal with these
problems. But there remain many areas of un-
met need in which private agencies have to con-
tinue to function and provide necessary ser-
vices.
In consultation with Federation, our agencies
have evaluated and streamlined their services
with a view to meeting maximum war needs
in the most economical and efficient manner.
To play their part in helping the American
people meet war needs and problems, our
agencies have been changing and adjusting
their programs and will continue to do so as
new situations demand.
Here are a few examples of what our agenc-
ies and services have been doing in the last
year to fit their program to war needs.

Our Position as Jews

The disappearance, in large measure, of overt
anti-Semitism, which followed our entrance into
the war, should not be allowed to lull us into
complacency. The war did not eliminate the
need for a vigorous and coordinated civic-pro-
tective program, but rather, intensified the need
for the effective relation of the civic-protective
program to the changing conditions and prob-
lems of anti-Semitism during the war period.
While many areas of activity formerly in our
hands have become the direct concern of the
governmental agencies, there are other areas
in which we ourselves must continue to operate,
and, in some instances, intensify our efforts.
In the latter areas, the Jewish Community
Council continues to function on the local scene
and cooperates with the national civic-protec-
tive agencies, attuning itself to the changes in
emphasis which war-time conditions require.
At the same time, the local Council is pro-
ceeding
with its inter-organizational b
program
in behalf of the organizations which make up
its constituency.

Vocational Services

Getting a job is now much easier for the
average individual. War industries are clamor-
ing for help. The Manpower Commission,
through the United States Employment Service,
has taken on the task of placina people. Under
these circumstances, it was to be
b expected that
the placement work of our Vocational Service
would decline. This has happened. But this
development also brought with it other prob-
lems.
With the shrinkage of less essential consumer
production and increased rationing, a relatively
large number of Jewish persons is being shifted
to war plants. These individuals need help in
determining their abilities, finding the right
training for the best utilization of their abilities,
and eventually the right place on the produc-
tion line.
The Vocational Service therefore has shifted
its emphasis from placement to counselling;
counselling for students to prepare them for
present and future opportunities; pre-induction
counselling for boys of draft age, to help them
adjust in the armed services and to be prepared
to contribute their specialized skill to the war
effort; counselling for men and women to find
out in what way they may best fit into the
war scheme.

Care of the Aged

At the last annual meeting announcement
was made of the establishment of the Jewish
Old Age Bureau, to serve the needs of all de-
pendent Jewish aged, whether they can be ad-
mitted to the Home for Aged, or whether they
may continue to remain in their own homes, or
in boarding homes. The care of the aged is be-.
coming an increasing concern of the community.
In the course of the last year, the Old Age
Bureau completed a study of dependent Jewish
aged in Detroit. The study revealed that one out
of every four Jewish persons sixty years of age
and over was assisted by social agencies, public

