At-Risk Teen Girls Thriving in New JWI-Funded Program in Israel

More than 30,000 teen girls have been designated “at-risk” in Israel. A growing number of young girls experience physical and sexual abuse, living in dysfunctional family settings rife with addiction and parental illness and neglect.

Studies show that gender-sensitive programs must be established to effectively respond to the unique needs of adolescent girls. Currently there are approximately 375 Israeli at-risk girls between the ages of 12 and 14 who are waiting for therapeutic placements outside their homes.

The JWI-supported Teen Girls’ Unit at the Jerusalem Hills Children’s Home addresses the unique needs of troubled teenage girls and helps them overcome a lifetime of struggle, isolation and despair, so they can improve their quality of life, stand on their own feet and become engaged and successful members of Israeli society.

The treatment for these girls is based on creating a healthy and stable physical and emotional environment while fostering confidence, independence, and self- esteem. Each girl is enveloped by a clear structure of professional guidance and support, through a coordinated program that combines intensive on-site schooling, integrated psychological, social, and recreational therapies, supervised therapeutic contact with the girl’s family, gradual interaction with the greater community and daily household responsibilities.

Nine girls are part of this year’s inaugural group; that number will grow to 1 this coming September.  The program seems to be enjoying enormous success in its inaugural year. The girls have adjusted well to the beautiful campus, to the educational and therapeutic environment, and to each other. For JWI and its seven-decade history of philanthropic investment into the Jerusalem Hills Children’s Home, the new girls’ program enables us to target resources to a populations that is key to our mission and work to empower women and girls – here at home, in Israel and around the world.

JWI Programs for Young Women Flourish Across the Country

Financial literacy continues to be a priority for JWI, empowering women of all ages with skills and resources to help make them economically secure.  About 40 students at the College of Charleston in South Carolina learned about the dangers of credit card debt and of carrying a balance on their credit card. Budgeting is an important skill for all women, especially as they transition out from parental support into lives of greater independence. Realizing how much money it takes to rent an apartment, pay for a car, gas and insurance, food, clothing and a cell phone, as well as the other necessities of modern life, increases students’ determination to land a job that will allow them to maintain their lifestyle.

Negotiation skills were the centerpiece of a workshop for 25 young women working in nonprofits as part of the Avodah Fellowship program. Many of these Fellows are committed to working in the field of social justice and have no expectations of large salaries. Successfully negotiating for even a small salary increase will have an impact on their ability to support themselves and the group walked away with the tools they needed.

Young professionals learned critical communication and salary negotiation skills at a Young Women’s Leadership Network event led by executive coach Rae Ringel. Clear and responsive communication and listening are at the heart of any negotiation and the 40 participants took part in activities to hone these skills.

In October JWI will be leading financial literacy workshops for students at University of Michigan, Michigan State and Emory University in Atlanta, as part of our partnership with Sigma Delta Tau sorority.

A Change in Leadership and Updated Resources for the Clergy Task Force on Domestic Abuse

JWI’s Clergy Task Force on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community is a diverse and interdenominational group of rabbis and cantors who are committed to ending violence against women and girls and to support families experiencing abuse.  Rabbi Richard Hirsh, executive director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, recently stepped down as co-chair, but continues to be actively involved. Rabbi Ari Lorge, recently ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish institute of Religion, will be serving Central Synagogue, NYC, and joins Rabbi Marla Hornsten (Temple Israel, West Bloomfield, Mich.) as co-chair.

The Clergy Task Force (CTF) develops resources to promote healthy relationships and trainings to build skills for rabbis and cantors to support families experiencing abuse.  To celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, the CTF re-issued Rethinking Shavuot: Women, Relationships & Jewish Texts, a short guide filled with commentary focused on the Book of Ruth, which is read on the holiday, and prompts lively conversations about relationships. The “Rethinking” series also includes a guide for Purim and Sukkot; a Rethinking Shabbat guide will be released in the fall.

The CTF recognizes the critical importance of being trained on all aspects of domestic violence and this year received training on both elder abuse and on domestic violence generally. While these workshops were limited to members of the CTF, webinar-based trainings for all rabbis and cantors will be launched in the fall. If you would like your rabbi and/or cantor to receive information about these opportunities, please contact Deborah Rosenbloom.

JWI’s Continued Leadership on Capitol Hill

JWI continues to pursue a robust advocacy agenda on Capitol Hill that promotes the safety and economic well-being of women and girls. One issue that remains a high-level priority is advocating for the passage of comprehensive gun safety legislation, with a focus on expanding the background check system. Current laws have too many loopholes that allow abusers to access firearms. We know that just the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500 percent- and we are committed to expanding the background check system so that dangerous individuals can no longer access firearms.

JWI strongly the supported the Manchin/Toomey proposal that would have expanded the background check system to private sales, including over the internet and at gun shows, but unfortunately this bipartisan compromise measure failed to pass the Senate in a 55- 46 vote. JWI continues to mount pressure on key Senators to reconsider and support this critical measure, and urges members of the House of Representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 1565, sponsored by Congressmen Peter King (R-NY) and Mike Thompson (D-CA).

With women continuing to earn 77 cents to the dollar earned by a man, JWI continues to champion legislation that ensures women’s economic security and closes the stubborn gender wage gap. We support the Paycheck Fairness Act (S.84/H.R.377), which would fight wage discrimination by updating the nearly 50-year-old Equal Pay Act. This bill, which currently has 46 co-sponsors in the Senate and 206 in the House, would improve remedies for pay discrimination, bar retaliation against employees who share wage information with coworkers, and facilitate class action suits in equal pay claims. JWI is advocating on Capitol Hill to gather more support for this critical legislation and urges all Members of Congress to co-sponsor and vote for the Paycheck Fairness Act.

In the coming weeks, JWI expects and will welcome the reintroduction of critical legislation that would elevate the issue of gender-based violence on a global scale: the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). One in three women worldwide will be physically, sexually or otherwise abused during her lifetime—with rates reaching 70 percent in some countries – and IVAWA is a necessary response to these staggering levels of violence. IVAWA would make ending violence against women and girls a top diplomatic priority by permanently authorizing the Office of Global Women’s Issues in the State Department and codifying the Administration’s government-wide strategy to address gender-based violence in our existing international programs.

Financial Abuse Webinar Resources

By Dana Fleitman, Program Coordinator

Yesterday, expert speakers Sarah Gonzalez Bocinski (Wider Opportunities for Women) and Tiloma Jayasinghe (SAKHI for South Asian Women) delivered a fantastic and informative presentation entitled “Financial Abuse: Prevalence, Impacts and Strategies for Serving Survivors” to JWI’s National Alliance to End Domestic Abuse. We were very interested in the diverse types of financial abuse and in all the ways that financial abuse can deeply impact a survivor’s safety in the short and long term. 100% of participants surveyed were satisfied with the webinar, and participants wrote in that “this presentation was stellar. I was not expecting it to be so comprehensive and well-thought out” and thanked JWI for providing “really powerful information.”

For continued learning on the topic of financial abuse, the presenters recommend the following resources:

• Center for Survivor Agency and Justice
• Economic Abuse: The Untold Cost of Domestic Violence Report
• National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards
• National Consumer Law Center
• Survivors with Criminal Records
• Wider Opportunities for Women: Economic Security for Survivors Project
• Workplaces Respond

Meet Stephanie Weinfeld

By Dana Fleitman, Program Coordinator

“My grandma was a Holocaust survivor…None of my family would even be here without the strangers who helped her. We have to be those strangers now. We have to help other people.”

Stephanie Weinfeld, 18, represents Jewish World Watch on her campus of California State University, Fullerton. She is currently building a team for the Walk to End Genocide in Orange County and works with her campus Hillel to spread the word on modern genocide. “A lot of people don’t know that it’s happening… it’s an eye opener for people to know what’s going on in the rest of the world and realize that this is still happening right now,” reflects Stephanie.

Stephanie became involved in JWW’s Solar Cooker Project for her Bat Mitzvah project and has been committed to anti-genocide activism ever since. She feels a specific Jewish obligation to be involved in anti-genocide advocacy, explaining “we’ve gone through the Holocaust, and every Jew knows someone, or knows someone who knows someone, who was affected by the Holocaust…it touches people very closely. We always say ‘never again,’ but there are these genocides still happening. As Jews, it is our duty to help make that stop.”

Of course, the issue of genocide is not just relevant to Jewish people. “You don’t need be Jewish to know that genocide is wrong and that killing innocent people is not okay…it’s hard to get some people to get their minds past the idea of, ‘I’m not Jewish, so this isn’t my thing’…but when I really explain it to people, they often want to be involved.”

She notes that there are many ways to get involved in addressing genocide. “I want people to do whatever they can to help…you can donate,  you can be an activist and spread the word about it, you can go on trips to Africa to help the women and children there…I don’t think that hands-on helping is for everyone, but everyone can do something to help.”

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Genocidal violence impacts women and girls worldwide. Genocide is defined as the intent to destroy a certain group, and systematic rape has become a deliberate weapon strategically used in places like Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) helps the United States lead a global response to gender-based violence. Learn more and urge your representatives to support IVAWA today.

Meet Shelby Layne

By Dana Fleitman, Program Coordinator

Over 2500 solar cookers are helping secure safety and economic self-sufficiency for women in Chad thanks to Shelby Layne.  At 22 years old, Shelby is a student at Barnard College with an innovative non-profit jewelry business that has raised 100 thousand dollars for the Jewish World Watch (JWW) Solar Cooker Project.

“I heard about the Solar Cooker Project when I was 15,” recalls Shelby. “I heard that 40 dollars would provide two solar power cookers, and thought that maybe I could save my babysitting money and help a family.”

The Project helps refugee women who fled genocide in Darfur and live in dangerous camps in neighboring Chad. Women are particularly vulnerable to rape and violence when they leave the camps to collect firewood, and the solar cookers eliminate the need to leave camps, reduce dangerous ashes breathed in from wood-burning stoves, and help economically empower the women who manufacture the stoves. “I’ve seen women’s lives change because of this project,” reflects Shelby.

Shelby realized that she could have a larger impact than just babysitting money. “I had learned to make jewelry, so I started to make jewelry, sell it and donate the proceeds. As I was making my own jewelry, I looked through my old jewelry that I no longer wear… my mom did the same. I started sending some information about Darfur and the project out to people, and people sent in all sorts of beautiful jewelry pieces as well as checks. Those who donated were excited to come to the sale and see what else was there, and people were excited to check their own drawers…this business model has brought a lot of people in and raised about 100 thousand dollars for the cause.”

Shelby feels that her desire to give back and help others is a natural outgrowth of her Jewish upbringing. “Some of the values I was brought up with…tikkun olam, tzedakah and giving back…these were values I heard about my entire life. It felt very natural to me that I would give back, especially when people lack fundamental human rights.”

Shelby explains the thinking behind her project. “The Project is about learning about a cause as well as financially supporting a cause. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, there’s a lot of remembrance, recognition and quiet thought, and that is crucial. But there also needs to be a step two where we think about what we can do to avoid future genocides. It’s not just saying, ‘oh Rwanda, what a shame!’…If I feel this distraught over a genocide that my people have faced, I need to ensure that I help other people so that they don’t have to feel this way.”

Learn more about Shelby’s jewelry at www.sbljewelry.com.

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Genocidal violence impacts women and girls worldwide. Genocide is defined as the intent to destroy a certain group, and systematic rape has become a deliberate weapon strategically used in places like Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) helps the United States lead a global response to gender-based violence. Learn more and urge your representatives to support IVAWA today.