Toronto’s Jewish community once again gathered in force last Sunday for our annual Walk with Israel.

It is notable that ours is a community that steps out for Israel and steps up to meet the needs of the vulnerable here at home. This is clearly apparent in the case of Jewish Family and Child Service of Greater Toronto, known today as Jewish Family & Child or JF&CS, a prominent UJA Federation partner agency and a Toronto fixture since its founding in 1868. Today, we keep our community and children safe, we contribute to its mental health and wellness, and we address the effects of poverty.

Indeed Jewish Family & Child is a remarkably progressive and responsive social service agency that reflects the Toronto Jewish community’s commitment to transformational philanthropy and effective partnership with key community organizations. So, as we recently came out in force to declare our support for Israel and our strong presence as a community, we had much to celebrate locally. Jewish Family & Child’s commitment to be there “every step of the way” can only be fulfilled because the requisite vision and resources have been allocated by a community that recognizes the imperatives of safety, security and healthy development. Funding support comes from three primary sources: UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, United Way Toronto and the Ontario provincial government. We are proud, along with UJA Federation, to extend the good works and the reach of the Jewish community so effectively to our government and United Way stakeholders.

Community growth is a positive force but it also implies a host of social challenges. In response to those challenges there are few communities that can boast the assets of ours.  Jewish Family & Child’s capacity to make a difference has grown in recent years. Features of the agency’s increased capacity include a growing and strategic emphasis on client centred service. Service to the community is enabled and enriched by a wonderful synergy with our agency partners and with UJA Federation. A compelling example is the JPAG (Jewish Poverty Action Group) program, designed to help families break the cycle of poverty that casts a shadow on their lives. This program was featured in a recent CJN report.  Jewish Family & Child, along with Jewish Immigrant Aid Services ofToronto, Kehilla Residential Program and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, came together in recent years to exercise visionary leadership in developing the JPAG program. Our goal was to respond more effectively to the circumstances that so often predict and sustain poverty. A powerful feature of JPAG is its financial support for educational opportunities, helping not only with tuition but providing further support to ensure that an adult family member can take the requisite time away from primary employment to pursue educational advancement.  With the right support and opportunities, these individuals can increase their income and improve their quality of life. Through its innovative approach to positive social change, JPAG has created unique and meaningful opportunities for individuals – opportunities that give a hand up rather than a hand out.

Jewish Family & Child’s mission is to support the healthy development of individuals, children, families and communities through prevention, protection, counselling, education and advocacy services, within the context of Jewish values. We honour our mission through best practice, evaluation and research. We strive to be an agency in which impact is effectively measured, felt and communicated, where all stakeholders are treated with respect and dignity, where our work features a consistently high level of staff commitment and skill development, and where services are client centred.  

We endeavour to achieve our strategic goals in a manner that enriches our Jewish community. Jewish Family & Child plays a crucial role as a platform to actualize UJA Federation’s strategic priorities, prominent among which is Jewish affiliation.  Through the support of UJA Federation and its agency partners, we provide funding and opportunities to vulnerable members of the community for participation in Jewish events, services, meals and fellowship. As a children’s aid society we ensure a Jewish response to child abuse and neglect, and guarantee a Jewish upbringing to children brought into our care. It is to say the least, uplifting, to attend a bris or a bar/bat mitzvah for a young person in our care. These are “our” kids, the community’s kids. Jewish women affected by domestic violence know that they can come to us to at a dire time of need. This sense of affiliation and the certainty that we all belong in our Jewish community, are treasures that are made possible and leveraged through a vital, robust Jewish Family & Child.  

Two weeks ago I visited Calgary, Alta. to attend the Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies (AJFCA) annual conference. Agencies with similar mandates from across North America, representing all major cities on the continent, presented an array of material to those attending.  What stood out in bold relief was the strength of the relationship between Toronto’s UJA Federation and Jewish Family & Child. The sense of co-operation and collaboration, the generosity reflected in our annual funding allocation and the shared values that shape our partnership are seen as a model of agency /federation relations. It is with great appreciation and an abiding belief in the power of good partnerships that I share this good news.

Richard L. Cummings, PhD is the executive director of Jewish Family and Child.