18 | JULY 29 • 2021 

S

he was just married and 
new to Detroit when 
Wisconsin native Debra 
Silver got a job at JVS Human 
Services back in 1982. She 
thought it would be for a couple 
of years.
Instead, the social worker 
turned career counselor — who 
admits she knew nothing about 
career counseling when she 
first started — forged a 38-year 
career with the agency.
During that time, she has 
guided the working lives of 
more than 1,000 local people 

and inspired close to 400 Jewish 
college students to consider a 
career working in the Jewish 
community through a paid 
summer internship program 
called JOIN.
Silver, who lives in Beverly 
Hills and is a member of 
Temple Emanu-El, is set to 
retire in August and reflects that 
her career has been incredibly 
rewarding. “Being given the 
chance to impact people, to 
empower them to make changes 
in their lives, was my calling, I 
think,” she says. 

Silver’s journey across the 
Midwest began in Milwaukee, 
at a singles event where she 
met her future husband, Scott. 
Debra had just finished her 
postgraduate social work 
degree at the George Warren 
Brown School of Social Work 
at Washington University in 
Missouri and had secured a job 
at a crisis intervention center in 
Milwaukee. Meanwhile Scott, 
originally from Detroit, was 
thinking of returning home to 
open a business offering voca-
tional rehabilitation case man-

agement closer to his family.
Love and marriage swiftly fol-
lowed, and with the couple now 
living in Michigan, Silver need-
ed to find a job. Luckily one of 
her husband’s aunts knew some-
one who worked at JVS Human 
Services, and this contact gave 
Silver the names of some staff 
for her to network. That net-
working led to a job offer.
“My initial job was to be a 
full-time career counselor, but I 
honestly didn’t know anything 
about the career part. What I 
did know was that I had really 
good counseling skills from my 
work in clinical social work, 
and JVS felt that I could train 
to become a career counselor,” 
Silver says. “
As it was, I fell in 
love with career counseling 
because of the difference I could 
make in people’s lives.”
When three children came 
along — Randall now 36, Eric, 
34, and Sarah, 30 — Silver made 
her career at JVS work, some-
times job sharing, and then, 
as the children got older, she 
increased her hours. Ten years 
ago, she became supervisor of 
career development services.

INSPIRING STUDENTS
One important aspect of 
Silver’s job was supervising the 

OUR COMMUNITY

JVS’ 38-year job counselor retires — 
after launching hundreds of careers.
JVS’ 38-year job counselor retires — 
All in a Day’s Work

ALISON SCHWARTZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Three People 
Whose Lives 
JVS’ Silver Has 
Infl
 uenced 

Natalie DuBois, 32, director 
of family support services at 
Jewish Family Service, says 
the JOIN program shaped her 
career. “I wanted to be a social 
worker, but I wasn’t sure what 
direction to go in,” says DuBois 
of Oak Park. “JOIN supported 
my passion for Jewish commu-
nal service, gave me a taste of 
possible options, and I have 
worked in the Jewish commu-

nity all my career. Debbie has 
been a constant support and 
mentor to me throughout my 
career.”
Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny of 
Temple Israel was studying 
Judaic studies at the University 
of Michigan when she took part 
in the JOIN program. “I always 
knew I wanted to be a rabbi, 
but I also knew it was import-
ant to understand not just how 
to serve a congregation, but 
how to serve a community. I 
wanted to understand how the 
Jewish community worked in 
terms of the agencies involved 
in servicing the needs of differ-

ent people,” she explains.
Rabbi Kaluzny was placed 
at the Jewish Community 
Relations Council 
and had the oppor-
tunity to visit many 
agencies in the 
area. “JOIN was 
a great program 
— political action, 
social action and a 
meaningful way for 
students to get up close and 
personal with the community.”
Moshe Newman, 32, of 
Southfield, benefitted from 
career counseling with Silver. 
He came from an Orthodox 

Rabbi 
Jennifer 
Kaluzny

Vintage photo of 
JOIN participants. 
Debra Silver is on 
the far right.

Natalie DuBois with her 
baby, Judah

continued on page 18

continued on page 18

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