AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE INC

Helping the Worlds Neediest Jews\r\nJDC delivers life-saving relief and social services to tens of thousands of needy -- mainly elderly and poor families-- living in dire conditions in places where nearly no other social services exist. JDC mainly does this through a network of JDC founded and funded Hesed social welfare centers across the former Soviet Union and in partnership with local Jewish communities across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. \r\n\r\nBuilding Jewish Life and Leaders\r\nThrough Jewish Community Centers, summer camps, family retreats, cultural and educational programming, and leadership training, JDC works to build rising generations of Jewish leadership who can contribute to their own communities' self sufficiency, their neighbor's welfare, and global needs. As Jewish communities across the globe confront rising anti-Semitism, far-right political extremism, heightened terrorism, and economic tumult, JDC deploys a program of resilience activities to mitigate these challenges, prepare for future crises or issues, and also ensure continued investment in building Jewish life in post-Communist societies, Western Europe, and in historic Jewish communities in Africa and Asia with more traditional constructs. \r\n\r\nEmpowering All Israelis\r\nJDC works to improve the lives of Israel's most vulnerable populations through innovative programs that increase access to social services, education, employment, and opportunities to more fully integrate into Israeli society. JDC partners with the Israeli government, local NGOs, civil and society leaders, and the populations themselves to research, pilot, and scale-up solutions to the challenges these groups face. \r\n\r\nResponding to Global Emergencies\r\nThe lives of millions annually are irrevocably altered in an instant when natural disasters or other calamities strike. JDC leverages more than a century of experience helping Jewish communities to provide expert, immediate humanitarian aid and long-term rebuilding efforts for communities in crisis around the world. In addition, we often partner with local Jewish communities to deploy this response or with Israel to bring first in class Israeli capacity to global emergencies.

JDC supports local Jewish communities to enhance their capacity to independently serve their neediest and ensure their own community longevity and interconnectedness. We build Jewish experiences that inspire Jewish identity and values among children, teens, and families and also invest programs to train Jewish young leaders and professionals from nearly every continent. \r\nAmong our flagship programs for achieving this are: Jewish Community Centers serving as central hubs of Jewish engagement, energizing young and old; Jewish street festivals and cultural programming in spaces outside the Jewish community to engage people where they are; camping programs engaging young Jews and their families around the world, including the Szarvas international camp that for nearly 30 years has fostered Jewish identity and shaped Jewish leaders in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond; and leadership training programs in the former Soviet Union and Europe which have contributed to the strengthening of Jewish community life and proliferation of innovative programming to respond to community needs. \r\nAdditionally, JDC's Entwine platform annually engages hundreds of young Jewish adults, mainly from the U.S., in volunteerism/service, educational programing, and leadership development all with the aim of building Jewish community life abroad and at home when the Entwine participants return inspired. \r\nEmpowering All Israelis\r\nWe partner with the Israeli government to develop innovative solutions to social challenges, tapping into Israel's famous entrepreneurial spirit to help close the achievement gap. Partnering with more than 20 Israeli government ministries, our programs touch hundreds of thousands of Israelis. The JDC model is: We effectively pilot research-backed social experiments in key locations, testing and optimizing our initiatives, and then hand them over to the government, which scales them up to run nationwide. Our Leadership and Governance Institute trains the next generation of passionate, impactful Israeli mayors and community advocates.\r\nResponding to Global Emergencies \r\nFrom Haiti to Nepal and from Ecuador to the Philippines, JDC is rapidly on the ground after a disaster strikes, working with communities to not just rebuild but truly recover — crafting innovative, sustainable solutions to help ensure that the towns and cities hit hardest bounce back stronger than ever before. \r\nJDC has a long history of disaster response, in a wide variety of contexts — so when new calamities strike, we can share proven solutions in real time. Moreover, JDC focuses on sustainable rebuilding efforts, ensuring that there's a real path forward for communities in crisis. JDC is also particularly focused on empowering the most vulnerable – women and children, seniors, and people with disabilities,– in times of disaster through work in areas of health and livelihood as part of our robust relief and recovery effort.

JDC has been operating in extremely challenging environments continuously since 1914, from war zones to famine-hit regions, to areas where genocide was perpetrated. JDC has more than a century of experience helping distressed Jewish communities worldwide and has honed expertise, built and refined models of intervention, and spent countless hours working with local, international, North American and Israeli partners to ensure maximized impact. JDC's worldwide reach, and partnership model, enables it to ensure deep engagement with local communities, and by embedding itself in these communities and drawing staff and ideas from local community members, JDC understands and can respond to local needs in customized, highly relevant ways. \r\n\r\nJDC programs touch people — communities in crisis and Jews around the world — on six continents. JDC's long institutional history, expert professional staff, and creativity in solution-oriented programming ensures that we are continually learning and innovating to meet the ever evolving needs of those we serve. In fact, many JDC staff were once in need themselves, participated in JDC's community based programs or had family members that were, in some way, served by JDC over the organization's long history. This creates a cadre of professionals who are second to none in their dedication to, and understanding of, their work.

Beyond JDC's historic record of life-saving care and investments in building Jewish life and communities, JDC touches over 1 million lives across the world annually.\r\n\r\nThrough our service and direct care work, JDC aids elderly Jews and Jewish families in need in societies lacking a social safety net and successful economies. JDC continually refines our models or creates new tools to ensure service provision that is effective and efficient and aims to continue to serve the largest number of needy Jews. As an example, JDC is currently testing the use of volunteer cohorts to engage in the provision of basic goods and socialization programs for elderly Jews. \r\n\r\nIn our community development work, JDC has seen great success in contributing to strong vibrant Jewish communities. We continue to strengthen that work and engage with communities to identify what comes next and how they want to implement it. In communities that are in flux, whether due to history or current socioeconomic environmental realities, we work to address emergent needs, while at the same time supporting community infrastructure to grow and develop. For example, JDC is currently running a grassroots innovation hub in Budapest that is mentoring rising Jewish leaders and providing seed funds for new programs. \r\n\r\nIn Israel, we continue to innovate; turning successful programs over to the government for scale up and designing new solutions to emerging social issues. As innovation is part of the very nature of JDC's work in Israel, JDC's new Social Impact Accelerator harnesses the can-do spirit of Israel's best and brightest, to develop their own solutions. \r\n \r\nIn the last year, JDC has responded to dozens of disasters and development challenges, deploying a wide-range of aid and support; developing new local partnerships to ensure the most effective provision of aid; and staying active in the global professional community of disaster response and development provision. JDC is currently working on pilot efforts in the impact investment space to address poverty among small holder farmers in the developing world by combining philanthropic dollars, private capital, and Israeli and local AgTech.