Opinion
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Editorial
Where To Turn
I is dedicated to helping individuals
and families cope, survive and thrive
in an ever-changing world. And it
does so with aplomb.
Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan
Detroit, one of the Jewish Federation's
largest constituent agencies, focuses on
Jewish communal needs. Its scope is broad
and inclusive for all local Jews. But as a
recipient of United Way funding, it also
provides services to all Metro Detroiters. It
exemplifies the Jewish ideal of tikkun olam
— repair of the world.
Board President Sandy Muskovitz Danto
describes JFS as the community safety net.
It's "the first place to turn, the last place
to turn and frankly, the place to turn for
so many people who turn elsewhere first
and ultimately discover upon entering our
doors that they should have come to JFS
first!'
Offices in West Bloomfield and Oak
Park as well as in-home outreach make
JFS readily accessible. It assists the insured
and uninsured, the rich and the poor and
everyone in between. Its array of services
include health care referral, youth men-
tors, mental health counseling, addiction
recovery, divorce counseling, bereavement
and loss counseling, geriatric care man-
agement, emergency financial assistance,
housing assistance, escorted transpor-
tation, immigration and citizenship
classes, home care and special services for
Holocaust survivors. That's a staggeringly
diverse list that touches multiple layers of
the community simultaneously.
Care Connection is one example of a
program that both directly serves and
lends support. It serves seniors who can
afford market-competitive pricing for
geriatric care. Earned income from this
service subsidizes JFS care management
services for low-income elderly people.
The need for Care Connection has become
more acute in the wake of our aging corn-
munity.
Project Chessed is an amazing refer-
ral network that coordinates access to
health care for medically uninsured Jewish
adults. It has extended care with dignity
and professionalism to 1,100 clients via
an organized system of pro bono doctors,
dentists, hospitals, clinics and labs.
As JFS celebrates 80 years of service, we
applaud the continuous support system it
has provided while adapting to changing
needs of both its clientele and the larger
community. How fortunate that the agency
bears the flexibility to grow and change
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while maintaining
Jewish core values.
"This cornerstone
offers clients and staff
sustenance for safe
growth and change
Danto says. "It makes
the agency strong and
in a better position to
thoughtfully and stra-
tegically serve com-
munity needs?'
The pressure cer-
tainly is on. The client
case load continues
to swell as Michigan's
economy continues to
reel. The demanding
workload requires
expertise, efficiency
and kindness while remaining upbeat,
whatever the client challenges.
Jewish Family Service exists to help —
you, a relative, a friend, a neighbor, anyone
in real need. Its slogan, "No Family Stands
Alone is perfect.
JFS has a need as well: volunteer and
financial support, both of which go a
long way toward helping people who are
less fortunate or who have fallen on hard
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times. Grants and Federation supply
more than half of JFS' $7.6 million annual
budget, although the agency's $551,000
United Way supplement was scaled back
to $370,000. A JFS endowment campaign
already has raised $1.2 million, even
though the public kickoff won't be till fall.
That's a tribute to JFS' reputation as a pil-
lar of Jewish Detroit.
❑
Reality Check
Show Him The Door
I is becoming apparent that the situa-
tion involving Detroit's mayor has to
be resolved soon.
It's all very well to say the process
should be allowed to play out. In the
meantime, though, the man has no cred-
ibility. Anything he says relating to the
city's governance must be taken with a
poisonous dose of skepticism.
When Sen. Barack Obama came to
town to campaign, Kwame had to hide
in the basement like the loony uncle in a
Victorian melodrama. All he could have
done by appearing on a platform with
Obama was to tarnish the candidate.
His legal team is playing for every pos-
sible delay, stringing out the proceedings
and trying to tag the city with the bill,
while the machinery of government hic-
cups to a halt. The City Council cannot be
trusted to order lunch properly, let alone
handle this. Members of that august body
are under investigation by the FBI.
It's time for Gov. Jennifer Granholm to
throw him out on his ear or any
other portion of his anatomy
that she deems appropriate. She
is, of course, reluctant to do that.
In her two terms in office, she
has been reluctant to do almost
anything. As a result, she is
being blamed by a majority of
Michigan voters for the state's
economic muddle.
That is unfair, but no more
unfair than blaming President
Bush for high gas prices.
Whoever sits in the high office gets the
blame. That's just a fact of political life.
The economy will be the major issue
in Michigan this fall, and it is a state the
Democrats almost have to win to regain
the presidency. Granholm's seven years of
inertia don't help on that score. But she
has it in her power to turn perceptions
around with one dramatic gesture.
The conventional wisdom is that state
officials intrude on Detroit's turf at their
political peril. But this is
not a conventional year. Is
it logical to suppose that
Detroit voters will seek to
punish Granholm and the
Democratic Party by sitting
at home on election day and
not turning out in massive
numbers to vote for Obama?
To pass up the chance to cast
a ballot for the first African-
American presidential nomi-
nee in American history?
Logic rarely governs events in Detroit,
but that would truly be a stretch. Besides,
almost half of Detroit voters want Kwame
out of there, too. There would be resent-
ment, of course. But there would also be
relief.
Granholm is term-limited out of office.
If Hillary Clinton had been elected presi-
dent, chances are good she would have
ended up with a nice job in Washington.
Who knows? If Michigan goes into the
blue column she still could wind up there.
I seriously doubt that she can win another
statewide election, but a degree from
Harvard Law and eight years as governor
should carry some weight in the job mar-
ket, legal division.
So the political fallout from doing the
right thing with Kwame will be unusually
small. It may even allow her to go out with
a flourish.
This story is great political theater,
but at its core is a city being twisted into
knots. Kilpatrick's arrogance and moral
blindness feed into the worst sort of racial
stereotypes. He is an embarrassment to all
those Detroiters who earnestly are work-
ing to change their city.
The legal grounds for removal are there.
All that is needed is the will. ❑
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aoLcom.
July 10 • 2008
A27