34 | AUGUST 3 • 2023 

Federation of 
Metropolitan 
Detroit, moved 
into the Jewish 
nonprofit 
space when he 
relocated home 
to Detroit from 
San Francisco some 12 
years ago. He’d worked in 
advertising for an agency that 
had some nonprofits clients, 
as well. 
 “I always really enjoyed 
that work and being able to 
connect to the mission of an 
organization and understand 
the impact it was having,” he 
says. Today, he’s working with 
professionals and volunteer 
leaders committed, as he 
is, to making a difference 
and helping others in the 
community.
“
At Federation, we have a 
very broad range of things 
we do, and so every day, 
every week we get to work on 
different areas of Jewish life 
and Jewish community that 
are making a difference, and 
it’s great to see people being 
helped, to see lives being 
improved,” he says. “There 
are challenges, certainly, 
but it’s very different than 
working for a company that’s 
putting out a product and is 

really focused on the product. 
We’re focused on our mission, 
and that feels good.”
Like other organizations in 
the space, they’re faced with 
the challenge of trying to 
do the most possible within 
the limits of the time and 
resources they have, he says. 
“You’re always trying to 
make the best use of your 
resources and, at the same 
time, you are really always 
wanting to do more and more 
and more, in our case for the 
community, for those who we 
support,” he says. 
“You have to make choices 
because you can only do 
so much, and I think, 
fortunately, we have a really 
generous community. We do 
have resources, so we’re able 
to do a lot. Even so, I wish 
I had more time — I wish 
I could do twice as much, 
simply because there’s so 
much opportunity to make a 
difference.” 
As part of Michigan’s 
program, JCLP’s 
Goldman taught 
Jake Ehrlich, 
who lives in 
Detroit, about 
the Jewish 
landscape of 
Michigan and 

Jake 
Ehrlich 

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 32

Jason Charnas helps a client at Gesher Human Services.

Ted Cohen

continued on page 36

Doing good things 
for the community 
makes for a good 
day at work. 

Join our team at Federation and 
help make Jewish life more vibrant, 
safe and strong in Detroit, Israel 
and around the world. 

jewishdetroit.org

Scan the QR code to find out about employment opportunities at 
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit 

