Aug 1, 2011

In Environment of Economic Hardship, Federation Support Stays Constant

During these challenging economic times, when more people in our Jewish community have been forced to seek assistance from social-service agencies, many of those very agencies are struggling to maintain services as they face cutbacks from the government and other funding organizations.

Such is the case for many of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s local partner agencies – including the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center on The Jay Morton-Levinthal Campus, the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center on the Sanford L. Ziff Campus and Jewish Community Services of South Florida – which have seen a 17 percent decrease in funding from outside sources over the past three years, and still face tremendous uncertainty regarding governmental funding for the current year.

Understanding Federation’s critical role in ensuring that a safety net of vital social services remains available to those who depend on it, Federation leadership has worked tirelessly to ensure that the organization’s financial support of key partner agencies remains stable, despite decreased revenue. In fact, earlier this summer, the Board of Directors approved funding to local partner agencies at the same level for the 2011-2012 fiscal year as it did the previous year. These allocations were the result of funding from the Annual Federation/UJA Campaign, as well as special grants from The Foundation of nearly $673,000.

“In this age of cutbacks and shrinking budgets, this is truly a remarkable feat,” said Federation General Campaign Chair Brian L. Bilzin. “We are so grateful to our dedicated donors and to those who entrusted Federation with their legacy gifts through The Foundation. The extra support provided during these challenging times has enabled us to remain steadfast in our commitment to helping the most vulnerable. We look forward to that continued support.”