Jewish Poverty Numbers More than DOUBLE in NYC

The UJA-Federation of New York recently released the findings of the highly anticipated Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011. This comprehensive study shows that the New York Jewish community is large, growing, and incredibly diverse. This study also confirms what Met Council has witnessed for witnessed for the past few years—there are many more poor Jewish families than ever before living in New York City.


“The poverty among Jews in New York City may be shocking to many, but it confirms what we at the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty witness every day: there are more poor and near-poor Jewish families living in the city than at any time in recent memory, “said Met Council CEO William E. Rapfogel. “With the help of UJA-Federation and all who collaborate with us, we urge all those who can help to join us as we redouble our efforts to aid, sustain, and empower all New Yorkers who seek our help.”


The data released in the study ten years ago showed that 226,000 New York City Jews lived in poverty; today that number is up to 333,000. A decade ago 104,000 were near-poor; today it’s up to 174,000.  These numbers collectively show that today, 507,000 New York City Jews are now living in or near poverty.


On June 18, 2012, the New York Times published a letter by Met Council CEO William E. Rapfogel highlighting the latest trends in Jewish poverty throughout the city. The letter was in response to the recent article “With Orthodox Growth, City’s Jewish Population Is Climbing Again.” 

Click to read the full letter and learn more about the issues surrounding Jewish Poverty.

New Yorker's Do Volunteer

They say that New York has some of the lowest volunteer rates in the country. In fact in 2010 New York state did have the lowest volunteer rates in the country. New York City has been ranked anywhere from 49th-51^st out of 51 major cities in various volunteer categories including numbers of residents volunteering and volunteer hours per residents. While I’m sure these studies were done scientifically and with legitimate surveys there is one thing they left out. They forgot to ask me. Stefanie Greening volunteer department manager at Met Council. I have been with Met Council for 6 years. Watching the growth of our volunteers and their efforts. While studies may show New Yorkers are not into volunteering, my own calculations say that Met council defies all of that. We had 200 volunteers more than last year, totaling over 1,700 volunteers for this year alone. Now if we could only get our volunteers in front of other New Yorkers we would be the number one volunteer city in the world. 

So why is the Met Council community so giving of its time and talents? What makes us different?

My theory: community and impact. In a city of 8 million it is hard to do either, but Met Council volunteers do both. 

Last year we had two new volunteers with us, Alana and Emily. They are both Jewish girls from Jersey, were the same year at Syracuse and were active in their sororities and at Hillel, and are in the same women’s group in New York City. They even both have twin siblings. Its not surprising that they both decided to volunteer for Met Council’s senior lunch program, but it is surprising that the two of them had never met before, that is until they started volunteering for our Sunday senior lunch program. Once they began volunteering they met and become great friends. Not only are they co-volunteer leaders, but they now bring together their groups of friends not only to explore NYC but also to do more acts of kindness including working together on an item’s drive for families in our family violence department. This is not the only place that friendship has grown, we now have a few volunteers that go out together after our job readiness workshops, our MVP group hangs out together and there are many more examples. So far I don’t think we have created any shidachs but we’ll keep working on it. Our volunteers aspire to create a community in and of themselves and in a city of 8 million people finding a community of like minded individuals is not always easy.

We are a community based on action and impact. Recently while sitting at my desk I got that little e-mail pop up in the bottom of my screen that said “I have never been so excited that a client is not showing up to a workshop”. This peaked my interest and I opened it. It was a very excited e-mail from Jessica, our AmeriCorps volunteer coordinator focused on job readiness opportunities. When I opened it I shared in her excitement. One of our job readiness clients had just landed a job, not just any job but a job with an $80,000 a year salary. Not to bad. Our volunteers know that they can share in our clients pride because they directly helped to get this client back on his feet. Its true for all of our programming. When you hear a senior say “ I am so glad you have this exercise class, my physical therapy ran out and this helps to keep my arms strong.” Or when you hear one of our students from homework helpers say “I wish homework helpers was every night” Our volunteers feel the connection with our clients, they know they are helping. They know their time and efforts are worth it. 

What ever the reason you volunteer, its not important, we love having your help, time, talents and commitment.Hope to see you out there volunteering soon.

Gardening with Simon & Schuster

 June brought us many new volunteers and interns to take care of our projects and departments at Met Council. June also brought us lots of sun! 

This week, seven volunteers came from Simon & Schuster provided their time, hands, enthusiasm and laughs to our housing site in Fort Green.

They removed all the weeds, planted new annuals such as daisies, cosmos, straw-flowers, vinca and zinnias. Some of the volunteers were participants at last year's gardening and herb planting day, and they were delighted to see how well those plants, roses and strawberries had flourished!

The residents were really into it and couldn't wait to make their own herb planters of chives, oregano and basil. Look closely and you can see the tall basil on the table below that was donated by one of the residents. The day ended successfully with several rounds of bingo and decorating sun-catchers!

Recap from our Volunteer Recognition Event 2012

Thank you to all who attended our 7th Annual Volunteer Recognition where we celebrated and recognized the outstanding work of our volunteers this past year. We are sorry if you missed it and hope you can join us next year- here's a recap of all the events and awardees to catch you up!

First up, lets revel at the amazing space which was generously donated for the event:

And the wonderful and DELICIOUS kosher food that guests enjoyed to the last bite:

We had an amazing list of speakers and presenters to dole out the awards. Stefanie Greenberg, Volunteer Department Manager Extraordinaire emceed the event:

Stefanie Greenberg

Willie Rapfogel, the Executive Director and CEO of Met Council presented Ramaz with the Marvin Cohen Volunteer of the Year Award for their outstanding contributions to our fight against poverty and hunger:

Willie Rapfogel, Stefanie Greenberg, and Ramaz students and directors accept their award and gifts.

We had over 12 Leadership awards to present this year, for volunteers who go above and beyond and continue to engage and lead others in volunteer service:

Rhonda Barad and Linda Scalletar, Chief Advancement Officer

Jessica Cheng, AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator and her Job Readiness Volunteer Leaders

Simone Carvalho, AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator and Alana Tendler, Senior Lunch program Leader

We also made time to recognize our most dedicated volunteers who have been there for our clients for years and continue to exceed expectations:

Irijah Stennett, AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator and Marlene Nadel on behalf of Temple Shaaray Tefila.

We made sure to prize our exemplary creative volunteers:

Eric Conley, Volunteer Coordinator and Creative Award Winner Nicole Nowbahar 

Last but not least, we presented the 8 President's Volunteer Service Award, which recipients receive a certificate of achievement, a congratulatory letter from President Obama, and a lapel pin:

Simone and Gold Presidential award winner, Lisa Yma

We hope you join us next year for the festivities and awards!

June Volunteer Opportunities with Met Council

The Met Council Volunteer Department is looking for volunteers for programs that will be taking place off-site in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Read all about them below and contact the AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator for the programs that satisfy your interest.

Wii Fitness Class Instructor
Flexible dates and times
Canarsie or Coney Island, Brooklyn

Like playing Wii? Want to have fun with some wonderful seniors while helping them stay fit? The Wii Fitness Program consists of clients exercising along to a Wii Fit game with the help of a volunteer who they can follow as an example, or who can help them learn to use the controllers.
If you are interested, please contact Irijah at istenn@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9526.

Community Needs Assessment Volunteer
Now until July 15, 2012 (at least 6 hours per week)
Borough Park, Brooklyn

Met Council is seeking volunteers to work on an exciting project which will determine community service needs of the Boro Park community. Are you interested in interviewing key community leaders to solicit their opinions? It is an exciting project whose results will help structure how service needs will be met in one of the key areas of NYC. The volunteers will have an opportunity to work with top professionals and learn interview techniques.
If you are interested, please contact Jessica at JCheng@metcouncil.org or 212.453.9668

Job Readiness Volunteer

Time: TBA

Hillside, Queens

Brief Description: Job Readiness for Homeless Women (in Hillside, Queens). Hillside House is Met Council’s homeless shelter for women and their children. We are looking to develop a 5 week series of one hour classes to gear women toward job readiness and financial independence. The classes will be based on the already existing job readiness workshops (mock interview, networking, resume review) but tailored to fit the needs of the shelter. You do NOT need to be female, but should be comfortable with this population.

If you are interested, please contact Jessica at JCheng@metcouncil.org or 212.453.9668

CSA Volunteer Coordinators
Wednesdays from 3pm to 7pm

Upper West Side, Manhattan

Do you want to support your community and sustainable agriculture at the same time? Volunteer to help Jewish Home Lifecare manage their new Community Supported Agriculture program! Their new CSA initiative needs reliable and committed volunteers to aid their distribution in Manhattan every Wednesday for the Summer season.
If you are interested, please contact Simone at scarva@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9648.

Nutrition Instructor Volunteers

Flexible dates and times

Multiple locations available in all boroughs

Share your knowledge and passion for health and food with our low-income seniors! We need experienced and friendly volunteers to lead nutrition and healthy living workshops for our seniors at various housing sites throughout the five boroughs.

If you are interested, please contact Simone at scarva@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9648.

If you are interested, please contact Irijah at istenn@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9526. (Brooklyn)

Fitness Instructor Volunteers

Flexible dates and times

Multiple locations available in all boroughs

Share your positive energy and passion by leading a fitness class for low-income seniors! We need experienced and friendly volunteers to guide seniors through work out videos or low intensity work outs.
If you are interested, please contact Simone at scarva@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9648.

If you are interested, please contact Irijah at istenn@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9526. (Brooklyn)