The Horvitz YouthAbility Program of Jewish Family Service Association (JFSA), a Federation beneficiary agency, places interns at various businesses and organizations in our community. This internship program is made possible by an endowment gift by the Bobby Fund of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

The pandemic left our older adults, Russian-speaking, and Holocaust survivor communities feeling isolated and disengaged. Watch this video to see how our beneficiary agency, Jewish Family Service Association, is reinventing how volunteers can keep seniors safe, healthy, happy, and connected:

“icnext gives students the confidence and push they need to go on and continue to confront antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric when they leave home after high school,” said Tina Keller, Associate Director of @akiva. “These can be difficult and intimidating conversations, so we enable them to begin and practice in a comfortable setting.”

When a shooting had been reported at the Embassy Suites hotel in Beachwood on April 20, many buildings within the city immediately went into lockdown. For parents with children in schools nearby a shooting, this can be an especially stressful time.

Bellefaire JCB, founded over 150 years ago as the Jewish Orphan Asylum in Cleveland, Ohio, continues to innovate to meet the emerging needs of our community.

Testimony Theater Cleveland is a program in which 7th-12th grade students interview Holocaust survivors and their families about their experiences and then act out those stories as a powerful and emotional stage performance.

Twice a week, Katie, a Holocaust survivor, has meals delivered to her by a volunteer through Jewish Family Service Association (JFSA), a Federation beneficiary agency. Katie is one of hundreds of people every week in our community who receive hot meals through JFSA. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, JFSA staffers stepped up to meet the rapidly increasing demand. And once community members could resume delivery duties, a new, younger crop of volunteers emerged. "I can't stand up or walk as much as I used to be able to," Katie said. "So, I really appreciate having the meals come to me. But I enjoy the people who deliver it even more; they're such lovely, wonderful people."

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland was selected to participate in the 2021 LIFE & LEGACY initiative, a national Jewish legacy giving program run by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

Each year, 8th graders from Gross Schechter Day School and Mandel Jewish Day School – two of Federation’s beneficiary agencies, travel to Israel to experience in-person everything they’ve learned in the classroom about Israeli culture and history. They also have a chance to spend time with their peers in Beit Shean, Cleveland’s sister city.

They say a penny saved is a penny earned, but in this case, Mandel JDS students did a lot more than save their pennies - they donated 717 dollars worth to the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Campaign for Jewish Needs.