Improving Family Life 1924-1939

Following a Jewish community survey, the Hebrew Relief Association name is changed to the Jewish Social Service Bureau reflecting the change from a relief agency to promoting better family life.

Since 1922, the agency constantly increased its ability to provide material aid in the form of monetary allotments of food, clothing and shelter, but also for instructing and guiding families with problems such as unemployment, problem children, sickness, diet, moral standards, and the interrelation between the different individuals in the family unit.

During this period, terms “charity” and “relief” give way to “welfare” and “social service,” reflecting a growing emphasis on prevention and professionalized social work.

Violet Kittner is appointed as the agency’s first executive director.  A native of Defiance, Ohio, she was educated at the School of Applied Social Science at Western Reserve University and the New York School of Social Work.

in 1917 she joined the Cleveland Chapter of the American Red Cross, where she was the first field case worker. During her tenure with the Red Cross, she is credited with establishing the first mental hygiene clinic in Cleveland.

Affiliation with Western Reserve University School of Applied Social Services for field training of caseworkers is established.

Over a two-year period, Jewish students wishing to become social workers receive their practical training at JSSB and at the same time receive their technical training at the School of Applied Social Services.

The first two women to participate in the program are Miss Margery Black and Miss Gertrude Grossman.

Jewish Big Brother and Big Sister Associations affiliate with JSSB.

Big Brothers are volunteers, business men, professional men, who work with boys to help prevent many of the problems of youngsters which result from the lack of adult guidance. The friendship of an older person often helps a young person to grow up better.

Big Sisters are given course instruction by the agency director and are required to complete a period of training in field work before any assignment are made.

One of the benefits of this affiliation is that it provides a “continuous supply of newly trained volunteer workers, who are not only valuable in a supplementary manner in the case work of the agency, but are aides in interpreting accurately the work of the family agency and social work efforts, in general, to the community,” according to the Jewish Federation.

The JSSB, a private agency, begins to disburse the first public public tax funds that were available for general relief as no public agency exists at the time.

A state examiner questioned the practice of giving cash relief.

The agency replied, “Our purpose is to build and maintain good citizenship. To crush a man’s morale by taking away his pride as head of the family is a very dangerous proceeding. It is our hope to permit men to carry their heads held high so they may again take their place in society as self-maintaining individuals.”

The JSSB experiences a 50% increase in the number of families requesting aid. Two factors are noted to cause this significant increase: Hundreds of independent Jewish merchants have been forced out of business due to competition; and according to a Plain Dealer article “racial pride caused Jews to scorn charity for as long as possible.”

At the same time, the JSSB faces a shortage of trained social workers. Currently, each social worker carries an average of 56 cases representing between 280 and 300 individuals. A lack of funds prevents hiring ‘amateur’ workers.

Because of availability of public funds, JSSB discontinues cash relief, which is contrary to the agency’s philosophy and practice.

“The practice of giving relief in kind has definitely undermined our standard…The constantly imposed restrictions of public officials make it increasingly difficult to function with the purpose of maintaining sound family life.”

Most cash relief cases are transferred to the Cuyahoga County Relief Administration and the JSSB returns to its mission of family casework and education.

Executive Director Violet Kittner states “The Jewish Social Services Bureau believes its work to be in the fields of prevention and re-construction: salvaging families from the disaster into which social conditions have plunged them; preventing those on the margin of economic breakdown from entering that realm; and guiding boys and girls so that they will not need to know the sorrows of broken homes.”

JSSB develops the Homemaker Service and is one of five social services nationally to establish this unique service for families needing to plan for the care of small children when the mother is out of the home or too ill to assume their care herself. Working with the professional social workers, the Homemakers help to keep the families together until the mother can resume her own duties.

The homemakers are carefully chosen for individual assignments to replace as closely as possible the personality of the absent mother. A major successful qualification for the “mother” demanded is the ability to give an understanding, efficient service with an intuitive knowledge of how to get along with children and adults, often under trying situations.

“She  must be able to inject herself into the home in a way that she may be a steadying force through a crisis,” says Mrs. Elinore Woldman, director of the service. “As a rule trained nurses who married and raised  families of own are best  suited for the work,” she says.

With the successful demonstration at the JSSB of the need for and the value of vocational guidance and placement service, Jewish Vocational Services  is established and JSSB staff became a part of this newly formed agency. JVS counselors keep in close touch with employers through an extensive field visiting program.

It places 1,220 workers its first year.

(caption: A JVS counselor checks on  an employee’s progress on the job.)

Continue the journey …