Metro
Belt Tightening
Federation and three Jewish agencies reacting to United Way cuts.
Alan Hitsky
Associate Editor
T
he Board of Governors of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit will vote tonight (June 26)
on allocations from the Annual Campaign
and the Sakwa Challenge Fund. Local needs
this year have been under the microscope
because of the poor economy and reduced
funding from United Way For Southeastern
Michigan to three Federation agencies:
• The Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit (JCC) was recently cut
by United Way from $360,000 this year to
$160,000 for the fiscal year which begins
next week, on July 1.
• Jewish Family Service (JFS) was cut
from $550,000 to $370,000 by United Way,
but also received $100,000 for a specific
new program in conjunction with Common
Ground sanctuary.
• JVS (Jewish Vocational Service) was
cut from $300,000 to $250,000 but also
received $100,000 for a specific program for
homeless individuals in Detroit.
Representatives of the three affected
agencies were expecting cuts, but did not
know how much until United Way letters
were mailed two weeks ago. United Way
has been planning changes for three years
in order to focus its funding in three areas:
educational preparedness, financial stabil-
ity for the poor, and basic needs.
JVS and JFS officials said a major prob-
lem with the cuts are they were undesig-
nated funds, but the additional United Way
grants are designated for
specific tasks.
As for the JCC, "This
[United Way cut] is very
impactful when our
scholarships [for camps
and programs fees] are
higher than ever:' said
JCC Executive Director
Mark Lit
Mark Lit. "We are shuf-
fling and rearranging
things in ways that, hopefully, JCC members
won't notice. You won't see cuts in the fit-
ness rooms or in the arts!'
Lit said the JCC had been funded in the
United Way basic needs category, which
included the JCC's early childhood pro-
gram. "But now they are using a whole dif-
ferent system and they [United Way] have
less to work with."
The JCC's annual budget is $12 million.
Lit said that years ago, two-thirds of the
JCC budget was provided by United Way
and Federation."Now," he said, "it will be
under 15 percent, and most of that will be
Federation."
Norman Keane, execu-
tive director of Jewish
Family Service, said his
agency is a reflection
of United Way in some
ways. "When the needs
are greatest, the dollars
are less:' he said. United
Norman Keane Way allocations have
been decreasing for sev-
eral years "and the United Way campaign
had less this year."
The $100,000 grant from United Way
to JFS/Common Ground will allow JFS to
recruit and train mentors for children liv-
ing in Common Ground facilities.
But the reduction by nearly one-third in
other United Way funding to JFS will hurt
people with nowhere else to turn:' Keane
said. "They'll wind up on longer waiting
lists."
While the cuts were not a surprise, he
said, "This is tough stuff because you are
talking about people's lives. But Federation
is very sensitive to this issue because this
money serves people who would not quali-
fy otherwise" for other help programs.
The JFS annual budget is $7.5 million,
Keane said, and United Way represented 8
percent of it.
Leah Rosenbaum,
executive vice president
and chief executive
officer at JVS, said the
Southfield-based agency
was actually pleasantly
surprised by United Way.
"Given their limited
Leah
resources, I thought they
Rosenbaum
were very generous" with
JVS.
The challenge, she said, was the United
Way money was flexible in the past; and
JVS used it for unemployment, poverty,
disabilities and elder care needs. The new
allocation is designated by United Way pri-
marily for people with disabilities.
Rosenbaum said the United Way alloca-
((
tion "puts more pressure on our fundrais-
ing" and JVS has requested Federation
approval to do additional fundraising.
"Dollar for dollar, we fared better than we
feared:' Rosenbaum said, "but now we have
to come up with other dollars to meet com-
munity needs."
Federation's Linda
Blumberg, direc-
tor of planning, said
Federation's allocation
process was delayed to
absorb the United Way
cuts. "This has been
in the works for three
Linda
years:' Blumberg said,
Blumberg
"so it's not a surprise. We
just did not know the amounts." She said,
however, that the deep cut at the JCC was
not anticipated.
"Federation will be helping to fill some of
these gaps. We are very concerned and will
be helping to address these issues."
Blumberg said recommendations for
allocations from the Sakwa Challenge
Fund were postponed two weeks ago until
tonight's meeting of the Federation Board
of Governors. She said allocations from the
fund were made in March, they'll be made
again now, "and we'll probably meet again
in September to look at the summer."
The Kadima agency, which helps families
with mental health issues, and JARC, which
helps families with disabilities, do not receive
United Way or Federation funding.
❑
Granted!
$209,000 in allocations to benefit Jewish women and girls.
T
he Jewish Women's Foundation
of Metropolitan Detroit's (JWF)
Board of Trustees allocated
$209,976 in its 2008 grant cycle for proj-
ects to enhance the lives
of Jewish women and
girls.
On June 5, JWF trust-
ees awarded 12 local
grants and one special
allocation totaling
$185,276, which aug-
ments $24,700 previ-
ously awarded to three
Israeli organizations.
JWF Board Chair Lisa Lis said this was
the first time that JWF has awarded more
than $200,000 in one grant cycle. "We are
well on our way to our goal of awarding $1
million in total grants by our 10th anni-
versary next year:' she said.
"More importantly:' she added, "the dol-
lars awarded by the JWF over the years
have drawn attention to the unique con-
cerns of Jewish women and girls and have
helped strengthen our community's ability
to deliver innovative services to improve
their lives."
The 2008 grant awards:
• Central Station Detroit, $5,000, to
provide classes in and other exposure to
art, dance, music and culinary arts for
Orthodox girls at CSD, an after-school
drop-in center.
• Friendship Circle, $5,000, to provide
a ballet program for girls with autism.
This program builds upon the current
ballet program for girls with cerebral
palsy initiated by West Bloomfield-based
Friendship Circle last year.
• Hebrew Free Loan, Bloomfield
Township, $20,000, a second-year grant
to supplement the capital fund created
in 2007 with JWF funding for loans to
women leaving abusive relationships. This
year's grant would be open to female bor-
rowers who are not necessarily victims of
abuse and provide an ongoing stream of
loan capital to Jewish women experiencing
financial difficulty.
• JARC, Farmington Hills, $9,900,
for workshops to improve the safety and
assertiveness skills of women with devel-
opmental disabilities by teaching them
how to identify and avoid fiscal, physical,
sexual and other forms of exploitation.
Granted on page A17
A16
June 26 • 2008