WHEN RECESSION HITS HOME

Clashing Demands

Social service agencies throughout the
United States have more requests for food
and grants.

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

I

n Atlanta, this year's
Super Sunday fund-
raiser uncovered a
startling number of
Jews who are out of
work. In New York, social
workers for Jewish agencies
are worried about a rising
tide of Jewish homelessness
— and about their growing
inability to respond to the
overwhelming needs gener-
ated by the recession. In
Baltimore, demand at a
kosher food pantry has more
than doubled in the past 18
months, with no end in sight.
After months of recession,
many Jewish social service
agencies have their backs
against the wall.
The signs of this quiet
upheaval are not always
easy to detect. The commun-
ity's priorities show continu-
ing signs of health. Opera-
tion Exodus has generated
an unprecedented outpour-
ing as Jews here seek to help
Israel settle hundreds of
thousands of Soviet Jews.
But down in the trenches,
where Jewish philanthropy
meets the immediate needs
of the community, things are
bleak.
"It's an unprecedented
crisis," said Mark Talisman,
Washington director for the
Council of Jewish Federa-
tions. "It's almost like plan-
ning for a war. We have to
maintain increased services
at a time of downward in-
come, at the same time that
we have to meet huge in-
creases in overseas needs.
The bottom line is that our
doors can't close, and we
have to figure out new ways
to meet these needs."
For hard-pressed Jewish
social service agencies, the
crisis represents the con-
junction of several problems.
"What you find in hard
times is that the social ser-
vice agencies —food pan-
tries, vocational services and
the like — are hit by both a
decline in giving and a huge

38

FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1991

rise - in demand services,"
said Ellen Witman, a Wash-
ington consultant for non-
profit organizations and a
former official with the
Council of Jewish Federa-
tions. "It's the combination
of the two that puts agencies
in such a dilemma; even if
revenues remain stable, de-
mand is such that you can't
keep up with it."
But this isn't just any
recession. In fact, the Reces-
sion of 1991 is taking on a
particularly Jewish flavor.
"The last few recessions in
Michigan were blue-collar
recessions," said Albert
Ascher, executive director of
the Jewish Vocational Ser-
vice of Metropolitan Detroit.
"This is a white-collar one.
As a result, it is affecting the

Jewish community dispropor-
tionately."
In most major American
cities, the economic
downturn is swamping Jew-
ish social service agencies
with new clients seeking

Decisions about
allocation funds
will only grow more
difficult.

vocational counseling, col-
lege placement services,
credit and financial counsel-
ing and even food and rent
assistance.
"We're finding a large
number of upper-and middle-
class Jews being laid off,
people who were earning

$50,000 to $300,000 a year,"
said Al Miller, director of the
Federation Employment and
Guidance Service in New
York City. "And in many
cases, these people who are
now on the unemployment
lines were the financial base
for Jewish fund-raising cam-
paigns."
Middle management,
where a disproportionate
number of Jews have worked
in recent years, has been
particularly hard hit by the
white collar recession of
1991.
"Even before the reces-
sion, there has been a move
for several years to elim-
inate middle management in
corporate America," Mr.
Miller said. "The trend is to
upgrade the lowest levels —

it is an
unprecedented crisis."

Mark Talisman,

Washington Director,
Council of Jewish Federations

"This is a white
collar one. As a
result, it is affecting
the Jewish community
disproportionately."

Albert Ascher,

executive director,
Jewish Vocational Service

wiping out the middle. Un-
fortunately for us, the
downsizing of middle
management is coming just
at a time when many Jews
are getting to those posi-
tions."
Also, Jews are over-
represented in finance, real
estate and insurance, Mr.
Miller said — the areas that
have been Ground Zero for
the current economic
cataclysm.
At the same time, cutbacks
by a large number of federal,
state and local governments
are throwing more and more
severely needy people on the
mercies of the voluntary
community.
"For the first time, there's
a decline in the amount of
unemployment assistance
available through the
states," said CJF's Mark
Talisman. "These folks are
showing up at Jewish agen-
cies in growing numbers, on
a daily basis. They're com-
ing into our family service
organizations, our Federa-
tions, even our synagogues."
Economic hard times touch
off a wide variety of secon-
dary problems, from
substance abuse to domestic
violence, from depression to
homelessness. Many of the
victims of these aftershocks
are showing up on the
doorsteps of Jewish agen-
cies.
"As the economic situation
becomes worse and people
are under more stress, it's
translated into family
troubles — including
substance abuse and do-
mestic violence," said Dr.
Lucy Steinitz, executive di-
rector of the Jewish Family
Service in Baltimore.
"Research has shown that
kind of relationship — and
we're certainly seeing those
kinds of ills. More than 20
percent of our counseling
cases are ones involving do-
mestic violence. We are
prepared to see increases in
family strife, depression,
substance abuse — a lot of it

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