News & Impact

The Press Democrat By Meg McConahey FAUX FLAMES MAY BE A GOOD IDEA FOR THE FIRE-TRAUMATIZED THIS YEAR It’s the season of soft light, when candles are flickering and hearth fires roaring. But in the aftermath of October’s firestorms, which destroyed thousands of homes in Sonoma County and shrouded the air with heavy smoke for days, many people may find themselves looking warily at those flames that used to symbolize cozy comfort and peace. “Fire has been one of those things that keeps us warm and has always had positive memories,” said Diana Klein, director of the Sonoma County Regional… Read More

For the past decade JFCS’ Child Training Institute (CTI) has served as an international resource and training center for mental health professionals who treat children who are dealing with emotional, psychological, and developmental challenges, as well as those who have experienced trauma. The institute has trained over a thousand mental health professionals, helping countless children and families heal and thrive. Trauma can result from a variety of experiences: chronic exposure to violence, the loss of a parent, a natural disaster, or a terrorist act. JFCS’ long history of expertise in trauma treatment includes helping Holocaust survivors, refugees, children living in… Read More

Twelve years ago, JFCS Executive Director, Dr. Anita Friedman, visited her father’s ancestral village in the Polish countryside. Since then she has returned to Gniewoszow multiple times and joins thousands of Jews who have traveled to Poland since the fall of communism. Friedman has built relationships with the local community and helped rededicate its Jewish cemetery as she grapples with her family’s lost homeland. She is also teaching teens in the Bay Area about this important history. JFCS is the leader in Holocaust education in Northern California, and thousands of students each year learn about the Holocaust and other genocides… Read More

Nearly 100 Bay Area high school students got their first immersion into the world of work this summer through JFCS’ YouthFirst Summer Internship Program. The opportunity to participate in 20 hours of work per week, plus professional and personal development workshops, gave teens the confidence to begin to tackle bigger more complex life questions such as who am I? What are my values? And, how will I contribute in the world? Career Exploration and Skills Development As teens faced one of the toughest summer job markets on record, those accepted into YouthFirst’s competitive internship program came from 44 high… Read More

J Weekly By Rob Gloster As a child, Iris Bendahan was confused when her grandmother would speak of relatives who were “not here because of Hitler.” It wasn’t until her sixth-grade class in Israel saw an exhibition on the Holocaust that she finally understood. As an adult, the former religious school principal at Congregation Beth David in Saratoga has made it her mission to ensure Bay Area kids have no such confusion. Bendahan, 57, personally created a Holocaust museum that has been on display each spring at Beth David since 2009. This year, it will be available for viewing until… Read More

J Weekly By Carly Nairn While most high school students wouldn’t choose to spend their weekends inside a classroom, Piedmont High School senior Danny DeBare did. The Jewish teen, along with hundreds of his peers, gathered last Sunday at a San Francisco high school to bring Jewish history into focus. “Participation is everything to get the full effect of learning the history,” said DeBare. Now in its 15th year, the Day of Learning, organized by the JFCS Holocaust Center, brought together Holocaust survivors in the Bay Area and 750 students and educators from schools in the region — from… Read More