The 27th General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds concluded here last night with the adoption of a series of decisions to strengthen fund-raising in 1959.
The consensus of the Assembly was that most of the loss in 1958 campaigns was due to economic conditions rather than a retreat from the campaign by workers and givers. Henry L. Zucker, executive director of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, summarizing the discussions which have taken place at the Assembly in campaign workshops, outlined a number of measures to secure greater income in the 1959 campaigns.
The major problems which the communities in various parts of the country face with regard to Jewish education–particularly in terms of responsibility for improving the quality of Jewish education–were discussed at a special session of the Assembly. In addressing the session, Dr. Judah Pilch, executive director of the American Association for Jewish Education, reported that the gathering phase of a national study sponsored by the Association has been completed.
The study, it was established at the session, has revealed strengths and weaknesses in the standards and effectiveness of Jewish educational programs throughout the country. On the one hand, enrollment has been going up steadily and there seems to be evidence of heightened interest in Jewish education, a stronger sense of Jewish identification on the part of the Jewish population, generally, and increased acceptance of the responsibility of federations in planning and financing Jewish educational programs.
On the other hand, major weaknesses were summarized as follows: l. Inadequacies of teaching staff–not enough teachers and the shortcomings of poorly qualified and poorly trained teachers; 2, While more children are in school at any given time, the length of stay continues to be minimal. Between 70 and 80 percent of all children attending Jewish schools are in the first two elementary classes.
It was emphasized at the session that available statistical material does not give an adequate picture of the length of time children spend in Jewish schools. It appears that the length of stay of the child entering school has been increasing, but the increase has not been substantial. Only eight to nine percent of the total number of children in school attendance are in the upper grades, according to figures released by the AAJE.
JEWISH COMMUNAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR HEALTH AND WELFARE DISCUSSED
A series of sessions in social planning dealt with the use of public funds by Jewish agencies, Jewish communal responsibility for mental health, planning for the chronically ill and the aged, and communal responsibility for health and welfare legislation. In addition, there were Assembly addresses by Mildred McAfee Horton, former president of the National Social Welfare Assembly; Louis Stern of Newark, chairman of the Social Planning and Health Planning Committees of the Council; and Charles I. Schott-land of Washington, U. S, Commissioner of Social Security.
The role of the community was highlighted in the report on the CJFWF three-year study in community coordination of health resources. This study is financed by a grant from the U.S. Pubic Health Service. Dr. Franz Goldmann, study director, reported that a survey of patients in Jewish hospitals in Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia and St. Louis who stayed longer than 30 days, showed that fully a third did not require continued hospitalization but could be better served by a good nursing home, or could remain in their own homes provided they received visiting nurse or housekeeping services.
Mr. Stern, stressed the need for making better use of the facilities already available and to utilize volunteers more effectively. “The greatest challenge to social planning,” he said, “lies in the recruitment, training and channeling of a large new body of volunteers into our program while we, at the same time, strengthen the professional standards of service we have so laboriously built.”
The William J. Shroder Memorial Awards, granted for “superior initiative and achievement in the advancement of social welfare, “were presented to two community organizations: The Los Angeles Jewish Committee for Personal Service and the Capitol District and Daughters of Sarah Jewish Home for the Aged of Troy, New York.
The CJFWF 1958 Edwin Rosenberg Awards were given to Abe Kasle, president of the United Hebrew Schools of Detroit, Morris Garvett, chairman of the Education Division of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit, and to Marx J. Borod of Memphis, Tenn., for “outstanding leadership in advancing the ideals of Jewish communal service.” The awards were established by the Ben and Bertha Touster Foundation to honor Edwin Rosenberg of New York for his outstanding communal service. Mr. Kasle and Mr. Garvett were given the national awards for their contribution in developing Detroit’s community-wide system of Jewish education which currently includes 2,700 pupils.
Eighteen awards were also presented for the best in campaign and year-round community interpretation materials, and for the best community newspapers. Communities receiving the awards were: Camden, N. J.; Canton, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Corpus Christi, Texas, Dallas, Texas; and Detroit, Mich. Also, Elizabeth, N. J.; San Diego, Calif.; Newark, N. J.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Miami, Fla.; Minneapolis Minn.; New York. N. Y.; South Bend, Ind., and Vancouver, B. C.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
