JFCS’ Youth Programs Help Pave a Positive Path
  • Education
  • Stories & Testimonials
  • Financial Assistance
  • YouthFirst
Shana was 14 when her parents divorced. Angered by their break-up, and deeply hurt when her dad left California, she felt her life spiraling out of control. “I started acting out—small things at first, like smoking,” Shana recounts. Fortunately, her mother encouraged her to get involved with JFCS’ YouthFirst program, which grounded her through service learning and leadership activities. “When I started going out into the community and helping others in need, like senior citizens and people with developmental disabilities, I began feeling better about myself,” says Shana. “It seemed like I had a purpose, and it was great being… Read More

Posted by Admin on October 31, 2013
JFCS’ Summer Interns Get Experience and Pay!
  • Education
  • Volunteers
Sarah Goldwasser is one of 43 Bay Area high school students gaining professional experience this summer through Youth First’s internship program. An incoming high school senior at Larkpsur’s Redwood High School, Sarah is working this summer for the Marin Independent Journal (IJ), where she is writing news briefs and articles. This is a great opportunity for Sarah, who loves to write and serves as Review Editor of her school newspaper. It is also her first real job, and she is thrilled to be getting paid. “My parents are very proud of me,” says Sarah, and “I’m learning what it’s… Read More

Posted by Admin on June 28, 2013
William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau Advances Holocaust Education
  • Education
  • Named Endowment Funds
  • Holocaust Center
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Philanthropist Bill Lowenberg, who survived Auschwitz, spent much of his life educating children, grandchildren, and countless others about the lessons of the Holocaust. Now, two years after his death, his legacy lives on at the newly named William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau of the JFCS Holocaust Center. A significant gift from the philanthropic fund of his daughter, Susan Lowenberg, and her spouse, Joyce Newstat, ensures that young people throughout the Bay Area will hear survivors’ stories of moral courage for years to come. “The two Holocaust-related institutions that my father felt closest to were the JFCS Holocaust Center, locally,… Read More

Posted by Admin on May 3, 2013
How Do You Quiet the Buzz of Cyberbullying?
  • Education
  • Parenting
“He is such a faxxx like i can’t belief his dum stupid shirt. what a xxxx fairy.” Has your child ever received a text like this? If so, he has experienced cyberbullying. “When one child targets another through an electronic device like an iPhone to threaten, humiliate, or torment, he or she has engaged in cyberbullying,” says bullying expert Holly Pedersen, MFT, PhD, Director of the Community Education Center of Parents Place on the Peninsula. “What makes this form of bullying so lethal is that it usually falls under the radar until it’s too late—when the message goes viral. In… Read More

Posted by Admin on May 3, 2013
Meaningful Lessons for Future Generations
  • Education
  • Holocaust Center
“My students don’t know about Adolf Hitler,” says Brian Jamieson, a San Francisco teacher who works with high-risk youth . That’s why Jamieson and his students have attended the JFCS Holocaust Center’s annual Day of Learning, which brings together hundreds of students, teachers, and survivors for intensive study and discussion of the Holocaust. This year, it takes place on Sun., Mar. 17, at San Francisco’s Mercy High School. “I want my students to not only understand why Hitler was bad,” he says, “but why the Holocaust is relevant today.” JFCS Holocaust Center is Northern California’s primary resource for Holocaust… Read More

Posted by Admin on March 6, 2013
Helping a Bright Student Emerge from His Shell
  • Education
  • Volunteers
Seventy-three-year-old retired businessman Paul Sonnenblick volunteered with students in San Francisco’s public schools for a couple of years, so when he learned about JFCS’ mentoring program during a tour of the agency, he jumped at the opportunity to be of service. “I like working with kids,” says Paul, “and the 10-year-old JFCS assigned me to is such a delight and smart as a whip.” Paul reviews homework and school assignments with Steven, a 5th grade student, and he uses computer games as a springboard to discuss a wide array of issues and to boost his student’s writing and speaking abilities.… Read More

Posted by Admin on February 4, 2013
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