Metro
Holding
The Line
Federation adopts allocations
to help troubled Jewish
community.
Alan Hitsky
Associate Editor
T
he Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's Board of
Governors last month approved
an allocations report for 2008-09 whose
premise is "no family stands alone!'
Working with $34 million from the
2008 Annual Campaign and nearly $10
million from challenge funds and endow-
ment revenues, the Federation is trying to
soften the effects of Michigan's troubled
economy on the Jewish community.
The 48-page 2008-09 Budget &
Allocations Report's opening paragraph
states,"... our social service agencies are
seeing more families in need of emer-
gency financial assistance to help them
meet their everyday expenses. Many com-
munity members are experiencing unem-
ployment and facing foreclosures, utility
shut offs, etc.
"Often these people are our neighbors,
our friends, and sometimes, even our
family. As family incomes have been
reduced, our religious schools and Jewish
camps are seeing increased requests for
scholarships!"
The introduction cited the following:
• Jewish Family Service (JFS) provided
emergency financial assistance in fiscal
year 2006-07 to 595 households. In 2007-
08, that figure rose to 760 households.
• JVS provided employment services to
900 Jewish community members in 2006-
07. That rose to 1,200 in 2007-08. It served
4,000 Jewish clients out of a total of 9,842
clients in the tri-county area.
• The Detroit area's six Jewish day
schools provided $7.3 million in scholar-
ship assistance last year, an 8 percent
increase. They are projecting declining
enrollments and the Jewish Community
Center sees declining membership as fam-
ilies move out of town seeking employ-
ment.
• JFS' Project Chessed, which provides
free health care and prescriptions to the
uninsured, saw an increase in clients from
98 in 2005, to 393 in 2006-07, to more
than 600 this year.
Local Needs
The local and national allocations total
$20.3 million. They include additional
funding for refugee employment ser-
vices, Kids All Together, Families in
Crisis, Guardianship Program, Mentor
Connection and Women to Work; in-
home support for older adults and local
emergency financial assistance; additional
funds for older adults, individuals and
families in crisis, scholarships at Fresh Air
Society and the JCC, and extra funds for
Jewish education and Birthright Israel.
According to the report, "many of the
agencies are facing financial difficulties
due to rising costs and decreasing revenue
sources such as United Way, government
cutbacks and the deaths of major donors.
This has reached a crisis point for some of
the day schools and other agencies.
"Additional support continues to be
needed beyond what can be projected
from the Annual Campaign. While focus-
ing on increasing the Campaign, the
Federation needs to continue its efforts
to develop new sources of support and to
help the agencies seek additional funds
from public and private sources!"
Some snippets from the report:
• Hebrew Free Loan has 990 clients,
744 loans worth $1.3 million and loan
receivables of $3.7 million. This does not
include the Neighborhood Project home
improvement loans or Jewish Educational
Loan Service programs. In 2007-08,
Hebrew Free Loan denied loans to 12
percent of interviewed borrowers, a 20
percent increase over 2006-07.
• Jewish Apartments & Services has
raised $150,000 to date to cover an
expected $200,000 in uninsured costs
Jewish Federation Allocations
2007-08
2008-09
32,942,500
15,272,000*
34,000,000
8,219,500
24,605,000*
25,376,839
14,742,500
25,874,775
Alliance for Jewish Ed.
Akiva
Hillel Day School
Frankel Jewish Acad.
Beth Yehudah
Darchei Torah
Yeshiva Gedolah
Special Needs (P'tach)
Supplemental Schools
1,488,491
871,224
832,760
759,333
1,323,430
290,357
160,912
10,000
507,313
1,503,388
716,090
1,195,346
544,134
1,498,116
383,341
172,340
10,000
782,664
BBYO
Fresh Air Society
EMU Hillel
Hillel Metro Detroit
MSU Hillel
U-M Hillel
Jewish Center
JCC senior coord.
78,356
950,742
110,211
199,736
220,711
317,156
2,317,903
0
78,356
929,031
110,211
201,736
224,015
335,874
2,465,558
20,000
135,000
205,322
135,000
235,322
175,000
214,004
18,365
488,810
2,162,007
257,500
0
0
0
1,081,137
510,081
1,750,072
0
18,750
75,600
221,202
129,578
18,895
496,113
3,617,096
567,500
95,000
260,000
1,500
1,214,055
549,263
1,926,779
30,000
37,500
77,000
21,750
21,750
20,750
8,375
7,775
15,000
21,750
21,750
20,750
8,375
7,775
10,000
415,955
420,955
Annual Campaign
Other Funds
includes post-Lebanon War Israel Emergency Fund
Israel And Overseas
Local Programs
Local Programs
Mission subsidies
Birthright Israel
ElderLink
Hebrew Free Loan
Jewish Educ. Loan Serv.
JCRC
Jewish Family Service
JFS assistance fund
Small congregations
Jewish Housing Assn.
Meals On Wheels
Jewish Apts./Services
Jewish Home/Aging
JVS
Elderly in-home support
YAD Above/Beyond
Mich. Jewish Conf.
National Programs
AJCommittee
ADL
BBYO, Inc.
CAJE
Mich. Hillel Consortium
JCPA Israel Advocacy
AJFCA, Hillel, JCCA,
JESNA, NCSJ, NFJC, JCPA,
HIAS, JTA
Holding The Line on page A14
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July 24 2008
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