Facing The Downturn

ON THE OVER

Silver Linings

Agencies step up to help individuals hurt by the economy.

Alan Hitsky

Associate Editor

T

he Jewish community in
Metropolitan Detroit has had
agencies in place for a century
to help individuals in time of need. Some
observers believe this might be the most
difficult economic times for this area since
the Great Depression in the 1930s.
These are just a few of the local Jewish
agencies helping people through diffi-
cult times as part of Federation's Jewish
Assistance Project:

Ms people try to fix things, other things happen.
They give up vehicles to save money,
but then its harder to get to places."

— Rachel Yoskowitz, JFS

skills to mesh with
the jobs in this area!'
"And they need
to keep actively
involved and moti-
EMPLOYMENT:
vated," Rosenbaum
JVS
added. "If you spent
(248) 559-5000
40 hours per week
working, you need
JVS was expecting to see a 33 percent
to spend 40 hours
increase in the number of Jewish people
per week in your
seeking employment assistance from the
job search!'
agency in 2008-09, a jump from an esti-
JVS is tweaking
mated 1,200 the previous year to 1,600.
its services for older
According to Barbara Nurenberg, JVS
clients and seeking
president and CEO, "We've already sur-
innovative ways to handle
passed that figure!' This includes a huge
jump in December compared to the previ- its growing caseload with a
tightening budget.
ous 3-4 months.
"Many people won't come in [to
Fifty-five percent of those seeking
JVS] until they're desperate
employment help at JVS are
Rosenbaum said. "They're
age 50 and older and, accord-
unemployed;
they've raided
ing to the agency's Leah
their kids' educations funds;
Rosenbaum, "we are also
they're facing foreclosure!'
seeing people who can no
The agency has cre-
longer [afford to] stay retired!'
ated the Web site
Rosenbaum is JVS executive
ParnossahWorksDetroit.org
vice president and chief oper-
so that clients can access ser-
ating officer.
vices from the privacy of their
The two said experienced
home. (Parnossah is Hebrew
employees — not entry-level
for "livelihood!') A job appli-
— are lucky if they find a new
cation created on Parnossah is
position within six months.
screened by JVS before being
Searching for six months to a
sent to employers. JVS staff
year is becoming the norm.
can call the client to discuss
"There are jobs out there
their resume and guide them
Nurenberg said, "but the new
to JVS services that will help
jobs that are appearing are
in their job search.
different from the jobs that are
"Searching for a job,"
disappearing. Auto-related?
Nurenberg said, "is very dif-
The likelihood of that is like a Leah Rosenbaum
ferent than it was 20 years
needle in a haystack!'
ago." Just going to a Web site or looking
JVS works to identify a client's skills,
and then "the resume has to pull out those at newspaper ads doesn't work anymore.
The key is the resume, emphasizing
skills," she said. "Most clients have trans-
transferable skills, and how the resume
ferable skills, but some need to gain new

A14

February 5 • 2009

is written.
To help teach older
clients, JVS is estab-
lishing a new jobs
center. It is also
holding a free "Prime
Time! Expo — Life
After 50" from 10
a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday,
April 19, at the
Jewish Community
Center in West
Bloomfield. Topics
will focus on workplace,
financial, wellness and
lifestyle questions for older
workers and retirees.

Working To Meet Needs
JVS also is seeing an increase in finan-
cial aid requests from Jewish students.
It usually sees 300-400 students, but
has experienced a 38 percent increase
over the last two years and a 68 percent
increase in the number of dollars given
out.
The agency tries to steer students to
general community funds first, with
about half the clients getting assis-
tance from its Jewish Educational Loan
Service. Nurenberg said JELS provided
$443,000 last year, mostly interest-free
loans, and is guessing the amount will be
more than $500,000 in 2009, as students
see less support from their families.
With the growing list of clients, JVS
has a waiting list to see staffers one-on-
one. It now holds group sessions two
nights per week, networking groups
supervised by JVS staff, and employment
skills seminars 2-3 times per month.
Elderly clients who use the Brown
Center day program at JVS in Southfield
are having increased difficulty paying
for the program. "Families have been

wonderful" in increasing their sup-
port, Rosenbaum said, but JVS also has
increased the number of partial scholar-
ships.
JVS's sheltered workshop for persons
with disabilities has lost employment
opportunities. As companies struggle
for new business, packaging and letter-
stuffing jobs for workshop clients have
declined. Nurenberg said JVS is hiring a
salesman to secure business, something
it hasn't had to do in 25 years.
In 2007-08, JVS served 10,291 people
through programs in Detroit, Roseville,
Southfield and West Bloomfield. An
estimated 4,000 of those clients were
Jewish. State, federal and tri-county con-
tracts make up more than $13 million
of the agency's $19 million budget. "We
will be lucky if we just remain flat:' said
Rosenbaum. Some of the contracts have
been reduced or just stopped.
Seventy percent of JVS funding would
be impacted by any state budget cuts,
Nurenberg said.
The Jewish Federation and United
Jewish Foundation of Metropolitan
Detroit provide $1.1 million, or 7 per-
cent. That money, Nurenberg said, pays
for services to the Jewish community
that no one else will support.
Some foundations that have supported
JVS lost money in the Ponzi scheme run
by Bernard Madoff in New York, she
said. In this economy, fewer grants are
available and are more competitive. And
some foundations, she said, are looking
only for the innovative, not the "tried,
true and necessary"
To help make ends meet, JVS is plan-
ning a private fundraiser for its Women
to Work program. The 8- to 10-week ses-
sions ideally have 12 women in a group.
"We now have 16-20 in a group and four
groups per year:' Rosenbaum said, "and
as soon as a group starts, the next wait-
ing list forms immediately."
With husbands' jobs being downsized,
women are being forced back into the
workforce, Rosenbaum said. "We're also
seeing more elderly and single women."
Another private fundraiser, Trade
Secrets, will be held Feb. 25.

Silver Linings on page A16