Emerging Family Challenges 1970-1999

Burt Rubin is named executive director and holds that position for 24 years until his retirement in 1994.

Originally from the New England area, he spent 20 years as the head of Jewish Family Service in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the immediate past president of the National Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Services.

He characterizes the overriding problem facing families is the isolation of the individual. “When you talk about the drug situation, you are really talking about a form of isolation…The aged are isolated and so are the mentally ill.” He believes it is the role of the family agency to reach out and try to extend help.

The Parents Drop-In Center is established.

The Parent Drop-In Center is designed for parents looking for a comfortable setting in which to discuss and seek solutions for the problems they encounter in raising their children.

It is the second phase of a two-part project that saw the establishment of the Rap Center three years prior.

“The alienated young person is very much in the public eye, but the parent who is in a quandry is not usually visible. For this reason, much of our efforts will be directed towards promotion and in finding ways to recognize parents who want and need to have contact with the center,” explains Burt Rubin, executive director.

The Home Delivered Meals program is established.

In 1974 Title III of the Older Americans Act provides federal funding to JFSA, Menorah Park and B’nai Brith Women to expand its meals on wheels program to 75 older adults. It is anticipated that 300 older adults will receive meals each year.

Funded by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the RapArt Center is co-sponsored by JFSA and the Jewish Community Center.

It is the only federally funded program to provide a complete counseling and a complete art staff. This unique combination reaches even those who are unable or unwilling to communicate.

Individual, group, and family counselling as well as referral and advocacy services are available. Arts specialists instruct with the help of completely equipped facilities which include a sound studio, photographic lab, fine arts studio, drama and film stu-dio, auto mechanic and metal sculpture shop.

In its first year, the staff worked with 330 young people.

The Irene and Sidney Zehman Library is established in tribute to Sidney and Irene Zehman for their commitment to Judaism and to learning. The Zehmans were devoted workers for Cleveland Jewish community throughout their lives. The model agency library provides professional staff at JFSA and in the community with a wide range of information from journals, books and audio-visual materials about social work in a Jewish communal setting.

In response to the rising rate of divorce, two new support groups are launched.

Divorced Mothers of Adolescents is created with the aim to share concerns with others who are in similar circumstances. As a result, mothers can gain both support from each other as well as a greater understanding of themselves and their relationship with their teenagers.

Fathers in the Process of Divorce is intended to provide men going through separation or divorce an opportunity for companionship and dialogue with other men going through the same experience. According to group facilitator Lester Wyman, “Men even more frequently than women go through the separation experience with little effective support from friends and relatives. This increases the feelings of loneliness and distance from others, just at a period of time in which closeness to others is most needed.”

Noted as a national leader in experimenting with community programs that have become models everywhere in the fields of family counseling, refugee resettlement and meeting welfare needs, JFSA is awarded the Charles Eisenman Award for Exceptional Civic Contributions from the Jewish Community Federation.

It is the highest civic honor bestowed by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, recognizing individuals and organizations for exceptional contributions to the Greater Cleveland community.

JFSA is the second organization in the award’s  history to be named a recipient.

After eight years of planning, Council House opens its doors to a group of men discharged mental hospital patients. The home is sponsored by JFSA and NCJW.

The residents had been victims of an insensitive mental health care system that discharged them from hospitals with inadequate preparation for return to the outside world. They were then placed in overcrowded foster care facilities that were frequently roach infested and located in crime-ridden areas. Many shared a small bedroom with several other tenants subsisting each week on little more than a box of cereal, bread, peanut butter and jelly.

Working with Rabbi William Seligman NCJW volunteers Lois Bruck and Ethel Coppolino had been visiting Jewish patients in the back wards of Cleveland State Hospital since the 1950s. They watched in dismay as the state began to discharge recovering patients in 1971 and relocate them to sub-standard housing with no preparation in survival skills.

In response, they turned to JFSA and the discharged patients became part of JFSA’s Comprehensive Aftercare Program.

“Residents have their own room and possessions, which would have been unthinkable during their years of hospitalization and foster care,” explains Lois Bruck, NCJW volunteer. “For so long, these men were denied the chance to practice Judaism. Now they can walk to shul to pray and sing, observe the Sabbath at home each week, and celebrate the holidays.

In response to the unique experiences of children raised by Holocaust Survivors, a support group is developed.

According to JFSA social worker Rachel Herman, adult children of survivors continue to look for answers in trying to understand their parents and what exactly they survived; to come to terms with what the Holocaust meant to their parents, who in turn, might not have come to term with its meaning, themselves.

Funded by the Cleveland Foundation and the Gries Foundation, a two-year demonstration program opens a new JFSA satellite office in the community of Woodmere. The additional office is established in response to the increasing number of Jewish families moving to the outer ring eastern suburbs. It will provide improved access to Jewish families living in West Geauga, Lake and Southeast Cuyahoga Counties.

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In cooperation with Mt. Sinai Medical Center, JFSA offers a 24 hour personal emergency response system primarily for aging adults and disabled persons. Known at the time as GEMS (Geriatric Emergency and Monitoring Service), the program provides users with with electronic equipment in their homes with a portable HELP button to be worn on clothing or carried in a pocket.

It later is renamed Help-Line (Home Emergency Life Protection) and is available for a monthly leasing fee.

JFSA forms a new support group for spouses, children and other relatives caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s. The purpose of the group is to help families understand the disease-related changes occurring in their relatives and develop effective coping skills.

A program to provide respite to family caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer’s is launched in 1988. The program provides regular in-home trained respite staff companions.

A three-year demonstration project on alcohol/chemical dependency  is launched including development of professional training for staff and aftercare support group for young adults returning from treatment for alcohol/drug addiction.

In addition, the program provides a professional coordinator and counselor, both certified in alcoholism treatment, forums to counteract community-wide denial about alcoholism as an illness which affects Jews, and the development of a network of Jewish organizations, agencies and synagogues responsive to the needs of Jewish alcoholics.

The Divorce Mediation Services is launched for couples who have decided to dissolve their marriage. They meet with a trained divorce mediator to negotiate mutually beneficial terms on which their separation agreement can be based.

According to Burt Rubin, executive director, “This service was established because of JFSA’s long history and tradition of helping Jewish families. The service will be unique in helping couples make decisions about children’s religious life after the divorce, such as holidays, bar/bat mitzvahs, and religious school education.”

The program is underwritten with a grant from the National Council of Jewish Women.

The Center for Independent Living is a special program of JFSA’s services for adults with higher functioning developmental disabilities.

After training individuals in basic daily living skills such as shopping, simple cooking and how to get help in case of an emergency. JFSA assists individuals in locating apartments and continue to monitor them as needed.

The establishment of Lomond House is the first milestone in a process that began in 1984 when JFSA created a new department to provide residential and community services for adults with intellectual disabilities.

The key to the success of the program has been the involvement of over 100 family members in a JFSA advisory board and the commitment of the Jewish community, including the Jewish Community Federation and its agencies.

Lomond House is a kosher home and provides 24 hour supervised living for eight adults as well as learning opportunities. The goal is to assist adults to live in settings which increase their independence and help them participate in community life.

A second home, Lander House, opens in 1988.

It is expected that 700 immigrants from the former Soviet Union are expected to be resettled in Cleveland by JFSA.

With the support of “anchor families” in Cleveland, the resettlement process includes English classes through the JCC, assistance with employment through JVS, medical care through Mt. Sinai Medical Center, and support from local synagogues and others as needed.

In response to the influx of cases, JFSA increases its resettlement staff from one part-time case worker to two full-time and one part-time case worker.

With the continued growth of JFSA, a new larger office is opened in Beachwood on Commerce Park Road. The location is selected to provide easier access for families living in the eastern Cuyahoga and Lake/Geauga Counties.

JFSA achieves its $1.1 million capital campaign goal to complete the purchase of the Commerce Park Road building, now named the Drost Family Center in honor of a 1991 $1 million gift from the Aron and Dorothy Drost Memorial Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland.

It is the agency’s first capital campaign in its 100+ year history.

The campaign is co-chaired by Marv Lader and Seth Harris, along with Mildred Becker, AB Glickman, Herbert Goulder, Anne Miller and James Spira.

Dr. Weidman previously served as the executive director of the Jewish Family Service Association of Colorado in Denver for six years.

Kaye Chavinson is named executive director having served 17 years with JFSA in a variety of roles.

The Conference on Material Claims Against Germany awards a $190,000 grant to JFSA to fund essential social services elderly Jewish victims of Nazi persecution/occupation.

The three-year grant allow JFSA to offer case management, counseling and homecare services, as well as transportation, shopping assistance, home-delivered meals, and “Help-Line”.

The goal of the Holocaust Survivor Support Program is to enable survivors to age with dignity and remain in their home as long as possible.

Continue the journey…