Jewish Family Service of MetroWest and JCC Parents Place are pleased to announce the First STEPS Group for New Moms and Babies (birth to 6 months)

Gather with new mothers and babies to share experiences of this remarkable and sometimes overwhelming phase of life - birth, meeting your new baby & transition to motherhood.

Topics will include: establishing eating and sleeping patterns, crying, temperament, attachment and changing relationships with friends, family and partners.

Starting Wednesday, March 21 and continuing through May 30 (no session on April 11) this small ongoing weekly group meets on Wednesdays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at JCC MetroWest, 760 Northfield Avenue in West Orange

Come connect with others, share questions and experiences as we explore the wisdom of Judaism, early childhood research and our resident parenting experts - YOU!

Enrollment is limited. $12 per session. Please contact facilitator, Tricia Stern, JFS Coordinator of Child and Adolescent Services at 973-637-1773 or email.
Click here to learn more about the Group.

First Steps is funded in part by a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest NJ with additional support from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

An article in e Jewish Philanthropy recently reported that as many as 16,000 additional Holocaust survivors may now be eligible for pension benefits through a Claims Conference negotiation with the German government. Click here to read more or contact JFS at 973-765-9050 if you think you may be eligible.

From the New Jersey Jewish News on January 5, 2012

"Three years after receiving a significant portion of a $478,492 federal grant and extensive assistance from MetroWest Jewish agencies, an aging-in-place program in Caldwell — like its counterpart in Parsippany — is now officially independent.

By design, the wide-ranging activities of Caldwell LIVE — from health seminars and exercise programs to Lifelong Learning classes for seniors — will be run by organizations inside Caldwell, without federal dollars or the day-to-day assistance of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ or its partner agencies, including the Jewish Vocational Service and Jewish Family Service of MetroWest.

“Now the community really holds the future of the program in its hands,” said Karen Alexander, director of eldercare services at UJC MetroWest."
To Continue Reading, click here.

From the Caldwell Patch on December 8, 2011

"Caldwell LIVE was designed to make a great place to live a better place to grow older.

With that goal in mind, Caldwell LIVE (Lifelong Involvement for Vital Elders) launched in the fall of 2008 to serve the borough’s nearly 1,000 residents over the age of 65.

During the past three years, the program has worked to provide a wide range of community services for older adults, including health and wellness classes and talks, social work support, transportation assistance, home safety assessments, volunteer opportunities and spiritual caring programs.

On Wednesday, the Grover Cleveland Senior Center, which has been the hub of Caldwell LIVE activity, was filled with organizers, partners and supporters who came to celebrate the program’s many accomplishments. By year’s end, Roberta Schoenberg, the LIVE site coordinator for Caldwell, will hand off her responsibilities to various organizations and partners in the community." 
To Continue Reading, click here.

Discover how you can achieve career success with Project Connect!

Project Connect offers skills assessment, career coaching, job skills training, referrals and job placement opportunities for GWOT (Global War on Terrorism) Veterans, Guard and Reservists with permanent disabilities.
Click here for a detailed flyer with information about eligibility, services provided and partner organizations.

To apply, contact Project Connect at 973-265-8790 or by email.

Jewish Family Service is pleased to launch the First Steps Preschool Parenting Series

Facilitated by Tricia Stern, LCSW, MPH, JFS Coordinator of Child and Adolescent Services, these workshops for parents and children age 2 to 5 will focus on common issues that arise during the preschool years - a time of both great development and exploration as well as challenges and difficulties.

The group meets one Friday each month from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the JFS office in Livingston, 570 W. Mount Pleasant Avenue, Suite 106.

For a complete list of dates and topics click here.

UPCOMING DATES & TOPICS
February 3: You're The Expert!
How Parents Know Their Child Best

March 2: Eating, Sleeping and Temper Tantrums
Common Issues & Struggles

THIS GROUP IS FREE & OPEN TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY - PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
For more information or to register, contact Tricia Stern at 973-637-1773 or email.

First Steps is supported by a generous grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. The Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life and JCC MetroWest are First Steps collaborating organizations.

The New Jersey Department of Human Resources and the Hunger Prevention Advisory Committee present End Hunger NJ, a new website with information about emergency food providers, food stamp screening tools, how to donate/help, information on nutrition and much more.

Visit www.endhungernj.com or click here for a detailed flier.

To access the Food Assistance database, visit: http://endhungernj.com/Forms/ProvidersSearch.aspx

For additional resources, visit: http://endhungernj.com/needhelp.htm

Foundation funds innovative community programs; MetroWest agencies to offer mentoring, education, support
From the New Jersey Jewish News, July 13, 2011 by Johanna Ginsberg

Teens will learn how to use journalism to advocate for Israel. Seniors will gain confidence managing their transportation options. New parents will find guidance in the Jewish community to help them raise their children.

The Jewish Community Foundation announced the first cohort of grant recipients from the MetroWest Innovations Funding Initiative on June 23. MWI, launched this spring, was established by JCF to encourage MetroWest agencies to find inventive ways to engage diverse populations in Jewish life across our community.

Eight grants, including those mentioned above, were awarded this year, totaling approximately $108,000, to be distributed over two years.
• Jewish Family Service of MetroWest was awarded $15,000 for First Steps, in partnership with PJ Library and the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, MetroWest’s Jewish education and identity-building agency. Aimed at helping first-time parents find support for the challenges of child-rearing, JFS will sponsor new support groups, hold individual consultations, create a new parenting blog, and promote the use of PJ library, which sends free Jewish-themed books to families with young children. This program is modeled after one in San Francisco that combines parenting resources with Jewish learning in a supportive environment.

Click here to read the complete article and for a listing of other agencies receiving funding.

Founded to address the needs of battered women, the Rachel Coalition has received a $100,000 endowment to enhance the quality of life of their children.

The Audrey Gaelen Rachel Coalition Children’s Services Fund will underwrite a range of activities and services for children exposed to domestic violence, from after-school activities to summer programs, meant to augment the therapy and other services already provided by the coalition.

The gift, received in July and named in honor of its donor, is part of an expansion of services offered by Jewish Family Service of MetroWest and its affiliated Rachel Coalition, both beneficiary agencies of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.

“For years we saw only the victims of domestic violence, not children,” said JFS executive director Reuben Rotman in a meeting at the new office space in Livingston that will be used primarily for children’s and adolescent services.

To continue reading, click here.

From the Wall Street Journal, "For people suffering from depression, the advice is usually the same: Seek help. That simple-sounding directive, however, is often difficult for those with depression to follow because one common symptom of the disease is denial or lack of awareness. This can be frustrating for well-meaning family and friends—and is one of the key ways that treating mental illness is different from treating other illnesses."

To read more of this article, click here.

Verona LIVE, an innovative community-based program staffed by a site coordinator from JFS, was recently featured in a national news story on aging in place.

VERONA, N.J. (AP) -- Retirement communities may have their perks, but Beryl O'Connor says it would be tough to match the birthday surprise she got in her own backyard when she turned 80 this year.

She was tending her garden when two little girls from next door -- "my buddies," she calls them -- brought her a strawberry shortcake. It underscored why she wants to stay put in the house that she and her husband, who died 18 years ago, purchased in the late 1970s.

"I couldn't just be around old people -- that's not my lifestyle," she said. "I'd go out of my mind."

To continue reading, click here.