Jewish Federation of Cleveland

Causes: Federated Giving Programs, Judaism, Philanthropy, Religion

Mission: Producing the human and financial resources, ideas and commitment necessary to preserve and fortify Jewish life in Cleveland, to contribute to the creative survival in the US, in Israel, and throughout the world, and to fulfill their role as American citizens to strengthen and advance the American democratic ideal.

Programs: Allocations and grants for charitable, educational and religious purposes. Annual allocations from the campaign for jewish needs are made to 13 local beneficiary agencies, as well as to a number of u. S. Organizations conducting programs to meet the social welfare, religious and educational needs of the jewish community in the united states and around the world. Endowment fund grants are described further on schedule d, part v, line 4 and part xiii. Grants from donor advised funds support jewish and non-jewish organizations whose missions are consistent with the federation's mission.

direct services include programs that help meet the social welfare, religious and educational needs of people in cleveland, israel, and around the world. These include:1. Growing jewish cleveland's employment-related support program provides one-on-one assistance for networking job-ready candidates living outside northeast ohio. 2. The public education initiative (pei) trains and coordinates nearly 200 volunteer tutors who provide literacy enrichment to 300+ children in the cleveland metropolitan school district. The program has been in existence for over 15 years, has grown from one site to eight and 52% have improved one or more reading levels. In june 2014 one school reported 100% of students who participated in the program improved by at least one reading level. In addition, the students and tutors form strong relationships which enhance the children's self-esteem and self-confidence. Pei is well-established as one of the premier, if not the premier, literacy tutoring programs in the cleveland area. 3. The jewish volunteer network (jvn) connects volunteers to a wide range of opportunities in both the jewish and general community. In the past year, over 2,000 people have been helped through jvn volunteer efforts such as serving meals to at-risk children and the elderly and beautification of community cemeteries. This year, over 1,500 volunteers participated in programs related to hunger, poverty, and literacy through jvn. 4. Federation's community options and jewish community housing programs help 900 seniors in the community live independently longer, through provision of activities, on-site health and wellness programs, volunteer opportunities and service referrals. 5. The overseas connections committee oversees and recommends funding to jewish federations of north america for a myriad of specialized programs. These programs are designed to help disadvantaged children, young adults and families in israel, hungary and the former soviet union and to foster the revival of jewish life. Clevelanders actively participate in these initiatives. The collaborative for healthy women, a new partnership between the federation's campaign-funded isha (israel health advancement for women) program and healing across the divides, emphasizes health care and health promotion for women in israel and has touched more than 300,000 women of various ethnic and religious backgrounds over the past 10 years. 6. The federation's pj library program, targeting jewish families with young children (ages 6 months to 7 years), has connected over 4,200 children (since january 2009) and distributed over 100,000 books and provided dozens of events to build community around the program. 7. Access jewish cleveland, formerly known as the information & referral service, is a comprehensive resource that community members can access either through personalized, confidential phone assistance or a website. The program is a single point of contact and collaboration between the federation, its partner agencies, synagogues and organizations in the cleveland jewish community and provides access to a host of information about programs, services and special events. 8) as part of the federation's ongoing commitment to the growth and prosperity of cleveland and the region, the federation launched the cleveland israel arts connection, bringing israeli art and culture to cleveland to benefit the community as a whole. In just one year, approximately 9,000 people from diverse backgrounds explored israel and jewish culture through our arts initiatives.

indirect services provided by the federation through its staff and volunteers include:1) human resource development, which cultivates and develops leadership from within the community. 2) the planning and allocations department, which works with a network of 13 local partner agencies to meet community needs, engage in long-term and strategic planning, and allocate funds to priority programs. 3) the community relations committee (crc) serves as the central coordinating and resource body for the jewish community in the community relations field and is an active force in cleveland's civic and communal life. The crc: promotes equality of opportunity and full civil rights and civil liberties for jewish and all other racial, religious and ethnic groups in cleveland; encourages amicable relationships, mutual understanding and respect among the various groups in cleveland; helps create and maintain conditions that are conducive to encouraging the continuity and vitality of jewish living in a pluralistic society; protects and strengthens the rights and interests of the jewish community in cleveland; combats anti-semitism and every other form of racism or group prejudice; develops an intelligent and effective public opinion within and outside the jewish community on jewish community relations issues, problems, concerns and commitments; and provides forums for jewish communal leadership to exchange views with key local, national and global public officials and opinion molders. 4) central services provide benefit programs, security advice, risk management services, investment management services, capital repairs and replacements, training and information on topics such as security, retirement plans and professional development to the federation's 13 local beneficiary agencies. 5) the government relations committee advocates on issues such as medicaid, medicare, transportation and children's health and nutrition, helping cleveland citizens receive needed services and support. 6) the endowments and foundations program offers donors opportunities to fund innovative and priority programs and promotes collaboration between the federation and other funders in greater cleveland.