Declaring that the needs of the Jewish poor shall be a principal concern and priority for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and its constituent agencies in the 1970s, the Federation Board of Directors has authorized the launching of Operation Chai, a long-range program for service to economically disadvantaged Jews in the Chicago area.
Hamilton M. Loeb, Jr. Federation president, announced that the initial phase of Operation Chai will be an intensive study and planning effort to develop within four to six months a comprehensive programmatic course of action. He indicated that “service to the Jewish poor has for many years been a priority for Federation and its agencies, but we recognize that we are not reaching all of the poor with all of our services. We must find out more about the poor, what their needs are and how best to meet these needs.”
PLANNING GOALS OUTLINED
The Federation study will include not only those defined as poor by Federation standards (under $3700 in annual earnings for a family of four) but the near poor as well (earnings no greater than $4900 per year for a family of four). Federation agencies currently serve 19,000 of the estimated 26,000 poor and near poor Jews in Cook County. The planning study will seek to:
Develop accurate information about the poor Jewish population and the patterns of usage of available services of Federation affiliates and other voluntary and governmental agencies; examine the effectiveness of existing Federation affiliates’ programs in meeting the needs of this population. Particular emphasis will be placed on identifying gaps in service; identify the unmet needs of this population; develop a specific program, or series of programs, to meet these needs; and to prepare estimates of costs and determine potential funding sources for the proposed program.
“What has been proposed,” said Loeb, “is a concentrated planning effort to develop a meaningful program on a rational basis. The exact direction and mechanism for the actual program must emerge from the planning effort itself. We must look forward to the development of programs which will enable the poor to sustain life at a level acceptable to the Jewish community and offer the Jewish poor hope of becoming independent, or at least, to achieve a level of life with a sense of dignity and self-respect.”
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