JEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND

4b. Direct services include programs that help meet the social welfare, religious, and educational needs of people in cleveland, israel, and around the world. These include:1. Growing jewish cleveland's employment related support program provides one-on-one assistance for the networking job-ready candidates who are new to northeast ohio or planning a move to northeast ohio.2. The jewish volunteer network (jvn) connects volunteers to a wide range of opportunities in both the jewish and general community. In the past year, jvn volunteer efforts have included feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, helping the needy, beautifying community cemeteries and neighborhoods, and many others. Volunteer experiences through jvn are offered daily, weekly, bi-monthly, or can be tailored to individual schedules. Federation's community options and jewish community housing programs help 900 seniors in the community live longer independently through provision of activities, on-site health and wellness programs, volunteer opportunities, and service referrals.3. The overseas connections committee oversees and recommends funding to jewish federations of north america and other national and international organizations for a myriad of specialized programs that help disadvantaged children, young adults, and families in israel, ukraine, and around the world to foster the revival of jewish life. Clevelanders actively participate in these initiatives. 4. The federation's pj library program for jewish families with young children (birth to 12 years), has distributed over 133,000 books to over 4,300 children (since january 2009) and organized a large range of events to build community around the program.5. Access jewish cleveland, formerly known as the information & referral service, is a comprehensive resource that community members can access either through personalized, confidential phone assistance or a website. The program is a single point of contact and collaboration between the federation, its beneficiary agencies, synagogues, and organizations in the cleveland jewish community and provides access to a host of information about programs, services, and special events. Federation's roundtable on financial distress convenes all community organizations that work with clients facing financial hardship so they can network and collaborate on important issues facing their clients. As a result of this roundtable, the front-line staff from every organization have unprecedented levels of collaboration to serve the clients. This collaboration leverages the specialties and expertise of each organization and maximizes the effectiveness of services delivered to clients by each and every organization. This would not be possible without the coordinating efforts of access jewish cleveland.6. The cleveland israel arts connection is a program of the jewish federation of cleveland, connecting our community with the most dynamic 21st century cultural experiences that israel has to offer. Working in partnership with northeast ohio's leading arts organizations, we strive to identify, enhance, promote, and create unique and engaging israeli cultural opportunities. Thousands of clevelanders enjoy attending israeli cultural events presented by our fine arts partners. The roe green gallery, located at the federation, hosted art exhibitions designed to appeal to both the jewish and general community audiences.