At the JFS office:
"Our agency should be
an integral part of the
community?'

36

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1991

in which he offended no
one. An excitement has
built up since he's been
here. People see changes
happening."
Mr. Goodman is working
on the computerization at
JFS, which will reduce the
amount of hours case
workers spend on paper
work. Another change in-
volves finances. About 42
percent of the JFS $2.5
million budget comes from
the Federation, with 38
percent coming from the
United Way of South-
eastern Michigan. The
remaining 20 percent
comes from fees collected
by the agency and other
contributions. Mr. Good-
man is implementing
changes that will require
clients to pay out of pocket
for certain services, such as
transportation to different
programs.
"JFS should be an in-
tegral part of our commun-
ity," Mr. Goodman said.
"Most people look at us in a
funny way. They thank
God that there is a JFS
here in Detroit, but, God
forbid they should ever
have to need us. We are
here for everyone, though.
It shouldn't be a shanda
(shame) to come to see us.

Often, the high stakes of
personal progress result in
divorce, result- in abuses,
result in family pressures
that we can help relieve.
"For us to be successful,"
he continued, "we have to
keep our finger on the
pulse of this community.
And this community is
changing so much, espe-
cially with the new Ameri-
cans coming in. We don't
want to be looked at like
some sort of ivory tower.
Instead, we want to be user-
friendly. People come here
and they get help."
Mr. Goodman pointed to
three areas where he feels
a need to improve the
agency's focus. Those areas
are drug and alcohol abuse,
family violence and the
needs of the developmen-
tally disabled and mentally
ill.
Often, only a crisis draws
the attention of the corn-
munity, he said. Mr.
Goodman prefers to focus
on preventing any such
emergencies. He said that
too many times a plan is
nothing more than words
in a budget proposal. His
idea is to make a plan a liv-
ing thing.
He is realistic, though,
and knows that a 0 percent

increase in the Federation
allocation has tightened
the noose on new pro-
gramming within the
agency.
"These are tough times,"
he said. "Unfortunately,

Mr. Goodman
describes his
seven years in
Albany as pure,
hands-on work. His
office was next to
the JFS waiting
room. If no one was
around to answer
the phone, Mr.
Goodman would. If
a client needed
immediate help in
the waiting room,
he was there.

you have to be much worse
off in your life before we
can help you, because we're
going to ask you to look se-
riously at your own finan-
cial picture, your own life
before we can help you. The
formula is simple: We have
less money, and there are
more people who need us."
Mr. Goodman said that
the JFS must scramble

when it receives a call that
15 newly arrived Soviet
Jews have no place to
sleep. It also scrambles
when a homeless person
needs a room for the night.
In addition to the more
obvious family emergen-
cies the agency deals with
daily, another long-term
crisis faces the Jewish
community, Mr. Goodman
said. Social work is becom-
ing a burn-out profession
where the work is hard and
the compensation small, he
said. "Young people are
turning their backs on the
profession in favor of better
paying careers."
"Sometimes it's difficult
to focus on the positive," he
said. "I don't want to talk
about what we can't do
here at JFS. I want to look
at what we're doing. I have
no trouble leaving here in
the evening knowing that
what we're doing is good
work against a lot of
odds." 111