Survey Urges Merger of Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan Charity Agencies

A union of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies serving the charitable needs of Manhattan and the Bronx, with the Brooklyn Federation of Charities, into a city-wide, centralized Federation of Jewish Charities of Greater New York, was the chief recommendation of the Jewish Communal Survey of Greater New York, in a report submitted last night at the Jewish Center. 131 West 86th Street, by Dr. Lee K. Frankel, chairman of the executive committee of the Survey, to a Citizens’ Committee headed by Judge Otto A. Rosalsky.

Following the meeting of the Citizen’s Committee, Judge Rosalsky announced that the Committee had accepted the report and had authorized the creation of a more permanent agency to carry out the recommendations of the survey.

The report was based on a three-year study made on behalf of the executive committee by the Bureau of Jewish Social Research, under the direction of Samuel A. Goldsmith. A supplementary recommendation advocated the establishment of an organization to carry into effect the various suggestions for community reorganization in the field of child welfare, hospitalization, recreation, Jewish education, delinquency and family welfare work.

Pointing out that all the facts of the Survey indicate the need of a centralized and unified agency that will include all the boroughs of the city so that the various problems of Jewish philanthropy and social work can be considered from the community point of view, the Committee reports that at this time it is idle to believe that city-wide problems can be considered from so parochial an angle as the borough method now in vogue.

To adequately solve all of the social problems facing the Jewish community of New York, these problems must be considered from the community viewpoint, says the report, and in the opinion of the Committee the logical way of accomplishing this most desir- (Continued on Page 4)

Although the Committee is well aware that many difficulties will be met in the attempt to unify the city’s Jewish social agencies into one central organization, it is of the opinion that none of the obstacles are insurmountable. The Committee expects the process of merging the two large federations to be a gradual one.

Interesting statistics concerning the Jewish population of New York are also revealed in the Communal Survey. According to these figures there are now 1,835,000 Jews in the five boroughs. It is apparent from the population statistics by boroughs that in the last ten years the Jewish population has spread from Manhattan into Brooklyn and the Bronx. Based on the drift of population as now apparent, the Survey prognosticates that the Jewish population of New York will be distributed in 1930 as follows: Manhattan, 400,000, or a decrease of 100,000 from 1925; Brooklyn, 916,000, an increase of 116,000; Bronx, 500,000, or an increase of 110,000; Queens, 75,000, a gain of 19,000, and Richmond 5,000, a gain of 1,500.

Although the Jewish population of the city has been increasing rapidly, there has been a commensurate rise in the scale of living, too. The Survey points out that the Jews of New York are moving to less crowded and more comfortable homes in the outlying sections of the city. In Manhattan there has been marked falling off in the Jewish population of every section, with the exception of Washington Heights, while a notable increase has been noted everywhere in the Bronx and in all sections but two in Brooklyn.

The picture of Jewish social work in New York, according to the report, “is one for thoughtful consideration and also for a great deal of pride. It has its vague and groping outlines, its unfinished spots, its areas of duplication; but it has as well its highlights of achievement. It is a picture, generally speaking, of an economically poor, but young, vigorous and ambitious group, which has taken advantage of its opportunities in a new country, has struggled up to a considerably higher scale of living than it enjoyed when it first came, and has shown a disposition to bear an increasing share of community responsibility.

“It shows, too, an ever smaller number of families dependent on charitable aid, and an ever larger amount given to those who receive it. It reveals a continually more scientific approach to the problems of the dependent, the delinquent and the physically handicapped, and the gradual development of a specialized technique in dealing with these problems. The survey finally points to a need for greater unification and coordination of all lines of Jewish social work to promote efficiency, prevent overlapping, and plan intelligently for future developments.”