The Jewish Vocational Service of Chicago has been named to receive the 1962 William J. Shroder Memorial Award—American Jewry’s highest social welfare honor–it was announced today by Irving Kane, president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds which sponsors the award.
The JVS was cited for its development during the past five years of an off-hospital therapeutic work program for long-term psychiatric patients, In addition, the Jewish Family Service of New York was Selected for honorable mention for its project in family diagnosis and therapy.
Last week, Mr. Kane announced that the Standing Conference on European Jewish Community Services, together with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, had also won a 1962 Shroder Award. That award was given for an outstanding achievement in International welfare–the creation of a new overseas service organization.
This year’s Shroder awards will be presented by the late Mr. Shroder’s daughter, Mrs. Stanley Mayersohn of Albany, at the CJFWF’s 31st general assembly in Philadelphia, November 15-18, The awards, established in 1953 to honor the memory of William J. Shroder, a prominent Cincinnati civic and business leader who was a founder of the CJFWF and its first president, are intended as a “continuing living tribute to his ideals, with the goal of giving renewed force, year after year, to the humanitarian purposes which he personified. ” They are presented annually to Jewish community organizations or national and international agencies for “superior initiative and achievement in the advancement of social welfare.”
PROGRAMS DEEMED CITATIONS OUTLINED; EACH IS FEDERATION AGENCY
Chicago’s JVS program was developed with the cooperation and aid of the Illinois Department of Mental Health and the Illinois Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. It was put into operation in 1957 as a ten-week pilot project for ex-patients, and in 1960 as a one-year test program for in-hospital patients. At present, the JVS operates two workshops located in the community which provide industrial sub-contract work on a paid basis. The workers receive up to one year of workshop experience, integrated with psychotherapy, casework and vocational counseling, including job placement. The success of the project, according to the CJFWF, has made it the prototype for at least a dozen others throughout the country.
Alvin Zimmerman is president of the Jewish Vocational Service of Chicago, and Dr. William Gellman, executive director. The agency is a member of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
The Jewish Family Service of New York City will receive honorable mention for its contribution to “the practice, literature and theory of family therapy, ” Its Family Mental Health Clinic, started in 1957, grew from the agency’s recognition that the prevailing community approach to emotional disturbance and behavior problems was “a fragmented one, too individual-centered and too little appreciative of social and cultural factors.”
The project is designed to bring together the best representatives of all the relevant disciplines and to develop “a theoretic base and practical approach to the family. ” The family is seen as “the link between the inner mind of the individual, his social and interpersonal relations, and the large social and cultural factors.”
Mrs. Richard W. Dammann is president of the Jewish Family Service, and Mrs, Frances L. Beatmen, is executive director. The agency is a member of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York.
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.
