AGENCY HIGHLIGHTS
JFS San Diego Has a New Home & Updated Brand
Since 1918, Jewish Family Service of San Diego has empowered San Diegans to build better lives. While their purpose has remained constant, the way they work and communicate evolves along with their community. Today, they are proud to introduce you to the inspiring space where they will pursue their mission, and new branding that reflects their agency's energy and commitment to partnering with the community.
The Joan & Irwin Jacobs Campus is the special place where their vision and values come alive. Learn more here.
Member Agency Executives attending the 2016 AJFCA Annual Conference will have an opportunity to tour this new building.
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Refugee Resettlement Is a Jewish Value
by Beth Huppin, Director, Project Kavid, JFS Seattle
I grew up in Spokane, down the street from my grandparents. They were early 20th century immigrants from Eastern Europe who arrived at a time before the term "refugee resettlement" had been coined. My grandfather, who fled the Ukraine because of pogroms, arrived in America as a teenager with his mother, joining his father who came earlier. My great-grandfather had established a small store but died of a burst appendix within a few months of the family's reunification. My 17-year-old grandfather was left to run the store and support his mother and an infant brother.
Even though the store was quickly bankrupt, the local non-Jewish Russian-speaking lumberjacks found a way to buy the inventory and then gift it back to my grandfather so he could keep the business going. Why did those non-Jewish lumberjacks help my grandfather? Read the entire article posted on January 7th here.
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Visit Senior Resource Connect's Trends in Aging Services to learn about how the federal government can support older adults in 2016, including a new plan for funding long term care from the Bipartisan Policy Center, NCOA's 5 ways Congress can Support Seniors and the upcoming Seniors Decide 2016 forum.
Senior Resource Connect aims to leverage the expertise of Jewish family services agencies assisting older adults in the community, increase referrals to member agency programs, streamline referrals between agencies, and act as an information hub on all matters of senior services.
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Share this great news with your community.
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The Voice and Vision for Stronger Communities
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D'Var Torah
Lee I. Sherman
President/CEO
Like most countries in the Western Hemisphere, we are a nation of laws. There are federal, state, and local laws. We have criminal codes, civil codes, and tax codes. Laws address global issues like environmental concerns or terrorist activity, and local matters like requiring the clearing of snow from the public sidewalk in front of your home within a few hours of the end of a snowfall (this one we have had too much familiarity with recently).
Last week, we read the Torah portion containing the Ten Commandments, several of which form the core of many of today's nations' criminal justice systems. This week, in parashah Mishpatim, we begin the recitation of laws that will encompass much of the rest of Exodus and into Leviticus. Torah sets out Judaism as a religion of laws. As we read through Mishpatim, many of the laws have immediate relevance to us today, but others appear remote and from a culture that is no longer familiar to us. Any laws about the conduct of slavery are abhorrent to us in the 21st century. And who cares that the penalty for the theft of an ox is to repay five oxen, but the penalty for the theft of a sheep is only four sheep?
We care. The laws that we read in Torah, just like the laws that guide our nations' today, set the ground rules for a just and moral society, a society in which humans can live with one another. The reason I have to shovel my sidewalk is that I have a responsibility to the other members of my community who have a need to use that sidewalk. Although rules governing slavery seem antithetical to our notion of the emerging Israelite nation as a just and civil society, those laws prove precisely that point. For the laws of Mishpatim are the most humane treatment of slavery in a world in which slavery was the norm.
The work that we do for and on behalf of vulnerable populations is grounded in the laws that govern our religions and our nations. It is our responsibility to make certain that we do our part to protect and include all of society's members, each of whom has an equal share in the rules and rewards of the society we build for one another.
Shabbat Shalom.
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International Women's Day 
International Women's Day, March 8th is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. International Women's Day (IWD) has been observed since in the early 1900's - a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.
Is your agency plan programming surrounding this day? Are you holding an event? Please share it with the network by emailing Megan.
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Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month
AJFCA and IAJVS worked together to create a Disabilities & Inclusion Newsletter highlighting news and resources related to disabilities services both inside and outside of our networks. Access the newsletter here and share your agency news and programs taking place during Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month in our closed Facebook group or post on the JDAIM page.
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NEWS & TRENDS in AGENCY PROGRAMMING
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Good Management Habits are the Foundation of Great Leadership 
Good management habits are the foundation of great leadership. They grow at the intersection of knowledge, skills and desire. Leaders are passionate about acquiring the knowledge available and marshaling the skills needed to get the job done right. Read the entire article here.
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AJFCA MEMBER NEWS & BENEFITS
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2016 AJFCA Annual Conference
REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
Join AJFCA for a dynamic and informative conference full of networking opportunities and engaging speakers in sunny San Diego.
 ______________________________________ Awards
AJFCA's 2016 Awards' Guidelines are now available. All award submissions are due on Friday, February 12th.
- KOVOD Award
- Agency Video
- Replicable Programming in the area of:
- Disabilities Services
- Behavioral Health Services
- Holocaust Survivor Support Services
- Leadership Award
- Distinguished Service Award
- Joseph S. Kaplan Memorial Scholarship
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Click here to learn more about the 2016 Annual Conference. Contact Megan
with questions.
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Domestic Violence Professionals Call: The Impact of Feminine Norms on Young Jewish Girls
Domestic violence professionals are invited to join a webinar about the impact of feminine norms on young Jewish girls. Decades of research has shown that when girls buy into rigid gender ideals, they have markedly lower life outcomes in areas like leadership, health, body image, and economic security. Learn more here. (Note: All welcome. This maybe of particular interest to counseling staff.)The Impact of Feminine Norms on Young Jewish GirlsTuesday, February 9th - 2pm ET - REGISTER HERE
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Online Giving Trends 
Follow important developments in online fundraising with our new data dashboard. See which causes have raised the most, which parts of the country have contributed the most, how the frequency of giving correlates with amount given, and more. The data will be updated monthly, so check back often. |
Newsletters, Social Media and other ways of Engaging 
It seems that most Jewish organizations adapt to technology without ever changing their way of developing programs and their structures. Learn more here. |
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