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 iN July 24 2008 A13