Jews in the D

20 | NOVEMBER 7 • 2019 

Headed to the Hall of Fame

Gilda Jacobs’
 career has seen landmark wins for 
Michigan youth, families and more.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY | SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
I

t was an accident that she entered the 
field of politics.
Gilda Jacobs, who has now had an 
honorable, 30-year career in public service, 
had her eyes set on helping children who 
have special needs.
A graduate of the University of Michigan 
with a master’
s degree in behavioral sci-
ences in education, she worked as a special 
education teacher in the Madison School 
District until 1976, teaching one of the first 
classes for children who have emotional 
disabilities.
Fast-forward four decades and Jacobs’
 
career has included time served on the 
Michigan House of Representatives, Senate 
and on leadership for policy change orga-
nizations.
Born in Northwest Detroit, Jacobs, 
70, will be inducted into the HERStory 
Women’
s Hall of Fame (formerly the 
Michigan Women’
s Hall of Fame) on Nov. 
7 for the work she has done to benefit chil-
dren, economically vulnerable families and 
more, all because of an unexpected chance 
to become involved in campaigns.

A SURPRISE OPPORTUNITY
Her job as a special education teacher was 
tough. It was a time when special edu-
cation services were changing for both 
students and teachers. Jacobs was involved 
in activism through a teachers’
 union and 
found an interest in issues and identifying 
solutions.
“
After four years, I was feeling kind of 
burned out,” Jacobs recalls.
While on maternity leave, she began to 
volunteer for a citizens group launched 
by education advocate Doug Ross. When 
Ross ran for state Senate in the late 1970s 
and asked Jacobs to help run his campaign, 
she immediately said yes and left behind a 
teaching job with benefits to earn $100 a 
week managing its day-to-day operations.
Ross won his seat, and Jacobs stayed on 
to co-manage his district office.
“It was through that job I started see-
ing how government could help people,” 
Jacobs says. “It was a great opportunity 

for me to see what was going on in other 
communities. I looked at folks who were 
elected officials and [realized] they were 
like me; they were people who wanted 
to improve the lives of their kids and the 
community.
“I said, ‘
Boy, I could probably run for 
office, too.’
”

FROM SPECIAL EDUCATION
TO POLITICS
A resident of Huntington Woods for 
more than 45 years, Jacobs was the first 
woman elected to Huntington Woods City 
Commission in 1981. But it wasn’
t easy.
At a time where very few women were 
running for office, some public offices 
didn’
t even have bathrooms for women. 
The year prior, in 1980, she ran as a 
Democrat in a Republican district. It was 
a Reagan landslide year, and Jacobs lost by 
a couple hundred votes. She was elected a 
year later.
Jacobs’
 career continued to grow. She was 
elected to Oakland County Commission in 
1995, then served two terms in the House 
of Representatives from 1999-2002, fol-
lowed by two terms in the Michigan Senate 
from 2003-2010, where she was elected as 

chair of the Democratic Senate Caucus.
She made history as the first woman 
floor leader in either chamber of the legis-
lature. “I would say to other women, ‘
You 
know, we’
re a great force,
’
” Jacobs recalls. 
“We can do great things.
”
Following her terms, Jacobs joined the 
Michigan League for Public Policy in 2011 
as president and CEO. She calls it her 
dream job. “It is an amazing organization 
with an amazing reputation,
” she says. 
The league promotes racial equity, eco-
nomic security, health and well-being for 
Michigan residents and has operated since 
1912. “I was able to build on that [history] 
and create an even more expansive organi-
zation,” she says.

BIG WINS FOR MICHIGAN
Jacobs had two recent major policy wins: 
a policy that raises the age when juveniles 
are tried as adults in the criminal justice 
system, and a policy that changes the asset 
test on food and cash assistance in the state, 
allowing more residents to be eligible for 
help.
“These are huge wins for us,
” Jacobs says.
In addition to politics and public policy, 
Jacobs never forgot her passion for helping 
individuals with special needs. She also 
served as development director for JARC, 
an organization providing residential care 
for people with developmental disabilities.
She belongs to Temple Emanu-El in 
Oak Park and was a board member of the 
Women’
s Division of Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit. Her husband, John 
Jacobs, was formerly president of Jewish 
Family Service. She enjoys attending 
synagogue with her grandchildren and her 
involvement in the Jewish community.
Jacobs has won numerous awards for 
her work, including the Michigan Food 
Bank Council’
s Hunger-Free Award in 
2015 and being named one of the 100 Most 
Influential Women in Michigan by Crain’
s 
Detroit Business in 2016. 
“It was news to me,” she says of her hall 
of fame nomination. “I am very humbled 
by this honor.” 

MICHIGAN LEAGUE FOR PUBLIC POLICY

Gilda Jacobs

