metro >> on the cover

'New Normal'

The recession solidified aid to the Jewish community;
some still struggling for recovery.

Shari S. Cohen I Special to the Jewish News

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

"Widespread eco-
nomic downturns never
discriminate based on
religion," said Scott
Kaufman, CEO of the
Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
"In 2009, it wasn't long
Scott
before Jewish Family
Kaufman
Service [JFS] and JVS
reported an increase
in requests for help, so we knew fairly
quickly that we needed to bring our
agency leaders together, review existing
programs and services, talk about what
needed to be changed or added — and
determine what funding was required."
JFS experienced a large increase in
requests for emergency financial aid.
The agency responded with food vouch-
ers, gas cards and emergency utility pay-
ments in growing numbers.
During a normal year, JFS receives 400
to 500 requests for emergency financial
aid, providing assistance totaling about

Real Lives

Coping with job
loss and financial
challenges.

W

aterford resident Kevin
Mittleman, 53, is grateful
to JFS staff for multifac-
eted assistance. An Oak Park native, he
returned to Metro Detroit from Florida
in 2007. A year later, he was laid off and
became anxious and fearful.
"It took me a year before I could call
JFS," he said. "They helped with gas and
food certificates and medical insurance
through Project Chesed. My therapist,
Andrea Nitzkin, helped me become a
viable person again."
He credits Nitzkin and his case manag-
er, Cheryl Case, with helping him to orga-
nize and focus. "They are the umbrella

$500,000. Beginning in 2008-09, such
requests expanded to 900-1,000, with
expenditures reach-
ing nearly $1 million
annually, according
to Perry Ohren, then
chief programming
officer at JFS, who
became its CEO in
2011. "Federation
raised urgently needed
Perry Ohren
funds and the number
of JFS caseworkers
was doubled to eight,"
Ohren said.
Case workers
focused on "wrap-
around services to
help individuals and
families get back on
their
feet:' said Debra
Debra Marcus
Marcus, JFS chief
development officer.
"The goal was to avoid
homelessness and hunger and to regain
stability and self-reliance."
Hebrew Free Loan Association

that surrounds me:' Mittleman said.
Today he works in sales and merchan-
dising for a grocery wholesaler, and he
is very happy to have reconnected with
many friends from
years ago.
Herb Conroy, 61, of
West Bloomfield was
laid off in 2011 after 20
years at the same orga-
nization. He turned
to JVS, which helped
him with his resume,
Herb Conroy
mock interviews on
camera, group support
and guidelines on using
Linkedin.com for job seeking.
"JVS was wonderful;' he said. "It
brought me into relevancy because so
much had changed. It helped me be able
to present myself'
Conroy ended up buying a franchise,
CarePatrol, which helps families find
senior living situations. He likes being his
own boss and finds it "rewarding to help

received increased requests, includ-
ing more loan applications for basic
needs than in previ-
ous years when loans
often were used for
education, businesses,
a celebration or adop-
tion. Cheryl Berlin,
loan program manager,
holds a position created
during the recession.
Paul Blatt
Individuals who sought
help had more complex
situations and some-
times one loan wasn't going to resolve
the issue, she said. Some people had lost
their jobs, used up their savings and
faced foreclosure.
JVS, the local Jewish agency that
focuses on workforce training and job
counseling, received requests for ser-
vices from a wide range of unemployed
individuals. There were so many high-
level management people seeking assis-
tance that Paul Blatt, JVS executive vice
president and chief operating officer,
said, "We could have started our own

company if we had had the capital."
Some older individuals, regardless
of their profession, needed better com-
puter skills to reenter the job market;
these were provided by the Hermelin
ORT Resource Center at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Because many seeking assistance had
held the same jobs for many years, they
were often unfamiliar with the current
job market and job search tools —
resources that JVS provided.
Many families were having diffi-
culty with their mortgage payments,
and a separate nonprofit organization,
the Jewish Housing Association of
Metropolitan Detroit, was established
to help them. This program was funded
by an anonymous donor who wanted
to prevent Jewish families from losing
their homes through foreclosure, Ohren
explained.
From 2008 through May 2011, the
agency helped 340 families negotiate
loan modifications. With the end of the
housing crisis, this organization was
disbanded and housing services are now

Kevin Mitt4egnan credits his Jewish Family Service therapist
Andrea Nitzkin with making him a "viable person" again.

families in crisis."
A West Bloomfield couple, who prefer
anonymity, are grateful to several Jewish
agencies, as well as friends and others,
who have helped them in recent years.
However, they continue to struggle finan-
cially, due in part to debt accrued from
a failed business prior to the recession
and $7,000 in medical bills. The husband,
60, was out of work for a year and then

had jobs without medical benefits. Their
savings and other assets were spent, and
they borrowed money to get by.
The wife, also 60, says they were
"caught in between:' earning too much
for Medicaid and some other help, but
still unable to make ends meet due partly
to an old home that needs repairs and
medical debts.
– Shari Cohen

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New Normal on page 10

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October 9 • 2014

