12 | MAY 20 • 2021 

care of their mental health. 
• 67% feel they can adequately 
recognize the symptoms of 
mental illness and signs of cri-
sis in themselves and others. 
• 74% report they know tips and 
strategies to take care of their 
mental health, and 63 percent 
of youth report they have the 
skills to support their friends 
with their mental health.
• 69% of respondents reported 
they know where to go for 
mental health support, and 
54% reported they do not feel 
alone in managing their mental 
health. Seven out of 10 young 
people who have needed men-
tal health support report they 
were able to access a social 
worker, therapist or another 
mental health practitioner.

WHO RESPONDED?
The Federation distributed the 
survey to 19,000 members of the 

Detroit Jewish community and 
received 742 respondents com-
prised of 85 Jewish youth, 202 
Jewish parents, 127 professionals 
who work with Jewish youth, and 
others in the Jewish community. 
Most respondents live in the 
suburbs of Detroit, where most of 
the Michigan Jewish community 
is concentrated. 
Schnaar acknowledges the 
survey had its limitations due to 
challenges connecting to more 
respondents because of the pan-
demic. She added the Federation 
also would have liked more 
inclusion. 
“We had hoped to garner a 
bigger representation from the 
Orthodox community as well 
as Jews in Detroit who are less 
engaged in congregations, Jewish 
schools, camps or youth groups,
” 
Scnaar said. “Still, the pandemic 
created a big impetus to conduct 
a survey like this right now. We 

know there is an increased need 
for awareness, outreach and 
education surrounding mental 
health, and we wanted to make 
sure we were understanding it 
so we and our partnering agen-
cies and mental health profes-
sionals had the information so 
they could respond adequately. 
During and after the pandemic, 
we want parents and profession-
als to be able to talk openly with 
young people about their mental 
health.
” 
According to the U.S. Centers 
for Disease Control, one in five 
American children either pres-
ently or at some point in their 
lives will be diagnosed with a 
mental health condition.
The Federation began to delve 
into youth mental health begin-
ning with a needs assessment 
survey in 2016. Since its 2018 
launch of We Need to Talk, the 
Federation made efforts in reduc-

ing the stigma of mental illness 
through education, storytelling 
and outreach. It has provided 
mental health and suicide alert-
ness training for teachers, youth 
group professionals and camp 
staff, and provided salary sup-
port for additional school social 
workers and a child psychiatrist 
through Jewish Family Service of 
Metropolitan Detroit. 
As of April 2021, more than 
5,000 community members have 
attended a We Need to Talk event, 
and nearly 1,000 community 
professionals have been trained 
to better support young people’s 
mental health needs.
Schnaar said the Federation 
also collaborates with other 
youth professionals across the 
country in the B’nai Brith Youth 
Organization as well as the 
Atlanta Jewish Mental Health 
Foundation to share resources 
and findings. 

T

he Orthodox Jewish 
community came out in 
a big way this month, 
supporting a bond to facilitate 
necessary repairs to Oak Park 
school district buildings. 
Oak Park school 
district voters 
overall approved 
a $54.4 million, 
30-year bond issue, 
with 79.6% voting 
yes.
The funding 

will allow the district to fix 
various infrastructure needs 
and updates to existing school 
buildings — plumbing and 
electrical upgrades, replacing 
damaged windows, doors, ceil-
ings, floors and roofing, and 
more. 
Solomon Radner, an 
Orthodox Oak Park city coun-
cil member, explained the 
support of the bond aligns 
with the community’s highest 
priorities. 

“The reason we supported it 
as a community is simply that 
education is — if it’s not the 
single most important thing we 
should jointly and universally 
care about, I’m not sure what 
is,” Radner said. 
“There are children who are 
our neighbors, and they need 
to be able to learn in a safe 
environment and one that’s 
conducive to learning,” Radner 
added. “We’re talking about 
broken windows, wires that 
are hanging, HVAC where it’s 
cold in the winter and hot in 
the summer. These are very 
important things that children 
need to be able to learn. If they 
don’t have these very basic 
needs in their schools, they’re 
at a disadvantage, and it’s just 
unfair to them.”
Radner helped draft a letter 
in support of the bond and got 
20 other community members 
to sign on in support. 
“We sent it around and we 

wanted to get some people to 
sign it who we thought repre-
sented as many people as possi-
ble so that when our neighbors 
and friends would see it, there 
would be somebody on the list 
they could call and ask, ‘Hey, 
why should we care about this,’ 
and then get as much support 
as possible,” Radner said. 
The bond directly affects 
only public schools, which, 
by and large, the Orthodox 
community in Oak Park does 
not attend. Radner believes the 
support, regardless of that fact, 
represents the values of the 
Orthodox community in Oak 
Park and the Jewish people in 
general. 
“I think it says that we rec-
ognize as a greater community, 
what’s good for our neighbors 
is good for us,” Radner said. 
“If our neighbors are getting 
opportunities to succeed, that’s 
good for the entire communi-
ty.” 

Solomon 
Radner

The bond will fund infrastructure needs 
and updates to existing school buildings.

Orthodox Jewish 
Community 
Supports Oak 
Park Millage

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

continued from page 10
OUR COMMUNITY

