Federation is Doing Great Things!

Our Annual Meeting was held August 15, at which time we elected three directors to Youngstown Area Jewish Community Board, Lee Burdman, Neil Schor, and Sam Shapiro. In addition, we honored a number of superb individuals for their volunteer service to the Federation and community. The write-ups of these individuals receiving awards are in included in this High Holiday issue of The Jewish Journal Monthly Magazine.

At the Annual Meeting, we distributed the Federation’s Annual Report, which details all the activities of our Agencies over the past year. I encourage you to review the individual messages from the Chairs of our Agencies to learn more about why we are known as the best small Jewish community in North America.  Here are some highlights:

• The Heritage Manor Renovation continues to progress, with Phase 3 construction to be completed sometime in October. This will ensure that each of our residents reside in a private room with a private bathroom. In addition, we are thrilled that a new Therapy Gym and Rehab Solarium are now being utilized with a focus on those individuals needing short-time rehabilitation. And, if there isn’t already enough good news, Heritage Manor recently celebrated a perfect health inspection survey with an outside party that included music and gifts for our staff.
  
  
• At Levy Gardens, we are close to capacity in our 24-unit facility. Activities are plentiful for the tenants including a Fair Day with animals, a visit to Molnar’s Farms, and more. The tenants continue to enjoy new forms of technology, including the IN2L (senior engagement technology) program, along with VR Rendever headsets providing travel scenery. This past summer the family of Florence Mirkin honored her memory by donating patio furniture for the porch to be enjoyed by all tenants.
  
  
• Your JCRC beefed up its social action and social justice work. It continues to serve as a community leader in the ongoing conversations on racial justice. JCRC served as the Jewish community’s representative at numerous interfaith and intergroup organizations and coalitions that work for the betterment of the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys. One of the highlights of the JCRC program was co-sponsoring a well-received “Chalk Over Hate” program with the JCC, and other community partners.
  
  
• Jewish Family & Community Services continues to multiply the number of organizations it has partnered with while continuing to build stronger collaborations with sister agencies on the Federation campus. One of the collaborations is the preparation and delivery of home delivered meals with the Jewish Community Center staff. To-date over 225,000 meals were served to over 800 individuals in need in our region. The JFCS Aging Well programs have increased significantly over the past year at the JCC, and include a Lunch Bunch, Caregiver Café, Tech Tuesday, grief groups, and a Parkinson’s Support Group (in partnership with Mercy Health). All this in addition to increased mental health counseling and its Guardianship program which maintains 22 clients.
  
  
• The Jewish Community Center is doing phenomenal things for its members and the community. The Early Learning Center was recently awarded 5 stars, which is the highest rating the State of Ohio gives for the “Step Up to Qualify” program. The ELC serves children from 6 weeks to pre-kindergarten in 9-10 classes, with academics and daily enrichment activities including art, dance, swim lessons, and more. Camp JCC recently completed its best year EVER, and is the only American Camping Association (ACA) accredited day camp in Youngstown. Record enrollment was 19% higher than 2021, with an average of 200 campers per week. And membership continues to soar with 20% more members than last year, with a significant jump in June due to our Logan Campus. Most noteworthy, the JCC retained 70% of the new members from 2021 that joined during the summer, and the JCC is looking to maintain or better the retention rate this year.
  
  
• Security remains a top priority and a car was purchased through a grant from the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation. Our security team, led by Rob Elston, continue to diligently monitor and protect our entire campus.
  
  
• Grants/Endowments totaling over $2.1 million were received in 2021, excluding the Annual Campaign, to support the numerous operations of the Federation and its Agencies. Through the first 9 months of 2022, we have already surpassed what was raised in 2021.
  
  
• Communications and Marketing, led by Elise Skolnick, are so important, as shown by the Federation’s reputation being widely recognized and rapidly growing in Mahoning and Shenango Valleys.
  
  
• Federation continues its life-saving work by raising close to $1.2 million in the Annual Campaign, one of the highest per capita in the country for a community our size. This past June, following a trip to Poland by Nancy Burnett, JCRC Chair, and Lisa Long, FRD Director, to meet refugees fleeing Ukraine, our Jewish community brought three members of the Isakov family to Youngstown from Ukraine, who are now residing with their relative Zinaida Lerman, a Federation employee.

There’s so much more than can be written about the great work that Federation does in the community, and this could not have been accomplished without the enduring support of our volunteers and lay leadership, led by our President Suzyn Schwebel Epstein.

Best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Andy
Andrew Lipkin, Federation CEO