Greater coordination of the activities of voluntary relief organizations in the United States which are raising funds for aid abroad is urged by the House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committed on Displaced Persons in a report issued today.
The report recommends that the State Department “give consideration to systematizing and improving the gathering of information upon which the decisions are to be made concerning the allocation of resources among the various countries and she various programs.” It urges that U.S. diplomats abroad should be charged with studying the activities of American voluntary agencies in each country, as well as the extent of the ability of each country to meet its social needs through the facilities of its own welfare agencies.
Citing Jewish relief agencies as an example, the report points out that the three major Jewish agencies for overseas relief — the Joint Distribution Committee, the United Palestine Appeal and the United Service for Hew Americans–have integrated their efforts “through central planning and allocation” even after the relaxing of centralized governmental direction and are now joined in the United Jewish Appeal.
ATTENTION DEVOTED TO J.D.C. ACTIVITIES AND TO FUNDS SENT TO PALESTINE
The report devotes considerable attention to the activities of the J.D.C. It lists the countries whore the J.D.C. operates and cites examples of its programs. It emphasizes that the J.D.C. maintains a staff of approximately 110 American welfare workers in Germany, Austria and northern Italy, and that it has provided thousands of tens of supplementary high energey foods for Jews in DP camps and other centers. It also points out that the J.D.C. provides for the mental and spiritual welfare of the needy Jaws and has arranged vocational training programs for them.
Special attention is also paid in the report to the activities of the Hadassah, HIAS, the American. Federation of Polish Jews and the American Biro-Bidjan Committee. It analyzes the operations of these voluntary groups.
In dealing with the assistance given by voluntary contributions from American Jews for Jewish work in Palestine, the report says that the United Palestine Appeal contributed $43,000,000 in 1947 for Palestine activities. It adds that supplementary voluntary contributions by American Jewry for Palestine are being made through various organizations other than the United Palestine Appeal. Among these organizations, the report lists the Mizrachi, the National Committee for Labor Palestine, the Hadassah, the Federated Council for Palestine Institutions and the American Friends of the Hebrew University.
The report emphasizes that the United Jewish Appeal maintains a relationship with the Council of Jewish Federations, and Welfare Funds. “In principle, the most significant agencies of Jewish charity have maintained the same type of inter-relationship between overseas and domestic charities and welfare programs as was attained during the war years for charitable and welfare programs in general in the United States through the National War Fund,” the report points out.
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