JVS: Returning to our Roots After 70 Years of Service
by Dr. Leonard C. Schneider


Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest was founded in 1939 as the “Community Employment Service” in order to provide job placement assistance to the unemployed of our community following the Great Depression. Today, as the agency celebrates its 70th anniversary, JVS continues to find itself at the very center of the community’s response to helping unemployed residents of MetroWest cope with the harsh realities of the current economic crisis.

Despite signs that the economy may have hit bottom and has begun to improve, the unemployment rate continues to climb, reaching 9.7% in August. Economists forecast double-digit unemployment for the second half of 2009, with no new job growth for the foreseeable future. Moreover, while the country is facing an unemployment rate of 10% or more, the actual number of people out of work is much larger. For example, official labor statistics don’t count the untold number of people who have dropped out of the labor market, whose unemployment benefits have expired, or who haven’t sought work within the last four weeks; they don’t include 2009 college graduates who have been unable to find employment and have moved back home with their parents; nor do they include those graduates who thought they had a job offer only to have it rescinded. While employment prospects are uncertain for many of those who find themselves on our caseload, the road ahead may be hardest for those over the age of 50, whose expertise and experience is often overlooked by employers who assume mature individuals are more costly to employ.

Clearly, signs of increasing national prosperity, however welcome, don’t tell the story on the ground — a story the Career Placement staff at JVS hear every day from the people they serve. With the support of UJC’s MetroWest HELPS, JVS was able to provide job placement assistance to 2,639 individuals in Fiscal 2008-2009 — almost double the number of individuals served in the previous year. Many of our clients are “older workers” — adults over the age of 50, who have been among the hardest hit in these trying times. In additional to individual counseling, JVS staff have offered weekly support groups for job seekers and community-wide workshops throughout the year, at which attendance soared to over 100 individuals per event. In cooperation with our network of 45 MetroWest area synagogues, JVS continues to identify hundreds of openings in the “hidden job market” — openings identified by community members — and posts these positions on our dedicated website: MWjobs.org.

While media and community attention has been focused on the “middle income unemployed” in our community, JVS has continued to provide job placement assistance and other services to many other populations that face significant barriers to employment — for example, people with disabilities. According to the census bureau, 64% of people with disabilities are unemployed — and, that is in a stable economy. Through JVS’s Vocational Rehabilitation Department, people with disabilities receive comprehensive vocational assessment services, career counseling, skills training, job coaching, and community based work experience, culminating in job placement. JVS is the only agency in New Jersey whose vocational counselors are trained to administer the TTAP, a specialized vocational assessment tool designed specifically for individuals with Autism spectrum disorders, and our staff provides vocational evaluations for high school students with special needs to help determine career paths and post-secondary school training and college options. These evaluation results are used by school districts throughout the state as part of a student’s School to Work Transition Plan.

Even as we — and the nation — face unprecedented economic challenges, JVS staff have redoubled their efforts to seek new sources of support and are implementing creative solutions to be able to continue to provide a wide array of services to all those in need of our help. We continue to serve the needs of immigrants and refugees by providing career services, case management, and English as a Second Language and citizenship classes; we help mature adults “age in place” through the provision of companionship and non-medical home care and home repair services; we educate and engage Baby Boomers who look forward to our annual Creative Maturity Expo, which attracted over 500 attendees last year; and we assist students seeking financial aid to pursue postsecondary education through the JVS Scholarship Loan Program — a program that has provided nearly $2 million in critically needed, interest-free loans to nearly 600 students through the generosity of its donors. The program is now in its 31st year.

As an agency that takes pride in “Helping People Help Themselves,” our work remains unfinished; and, as we enter our 71st year of service, we look forward to continuing to fulfill our mission of extending Maimonides’ highest degree of charity to those most in need, in partnership with our most generous community.

Dr. Leonard C. Schneider is Executive Director of Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest, a UJC beneficiary agency.

>>back to top