Campers at the Roger and Jane Davis JCC Camps at Medford (Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey)
The Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey is fully integrated. That means it operates as a single nonprofit entity, with a family of agencies operating inside of it.
Now, it can add another, and this one is comprehensive: JFed Behavioral Health Services, launched in September, aims to provide support to individuals with disabilities and those with behavioral health needs.
It is, as Adam Roth, the Federation’s regional director of disability services, describes it, “a year-round, wraparound service for our tristate Jewish community.” Though the program has a long-term goal of providing service to families outside of South Jersey, it is focusing on its home community for now, serving Kellman Brown Academy in Voorhees, the Roger and Jane Davis JCC Camps at Medford, and other institutions that are either part of the Federation, in the area or both.
“It was an opportunity to provide a service in continuum,” Roth said.
Through JFed, services will be available “from the time of diagnosis” on. Roth sees this as a better system than handing off care to different organizations at each stage.
“We know how challenging life can be, especially when, at every lifecycle stage, there’s a handoff to a different institution and different person,” he said. “We’ll have more resilient, more adept children that will be strong in their Jewish values at the same time.”
Before joining the Federation four years ago, Roth served in special education roles in public school districts for 15 years, including the School District of Philadelphia. He was connected to the Federation through a leadership institute program that trained future board members. But instead of becoming a board member, he went for a job: director of special needs, where he helped make Jewish education more accessible at local schools.
While doing this work, Roth realized that there was a need for a more integrated approach to behavioral health.
“This came together out of looking at an established need, recognizing we were outsourcing this need from multiple third parties and perhaps not always getting the outcome we were hoping for,” he explained. “There wasn’t the consistency we were looking for. Perhaps some outside agencies are operating under a different set of morals and ethics. We’re looking to establish true care communities. Many of these entities in the behavioral health space are for-profit entities.”
From there, Roth found agreement from other Federation leaders.
“I think everybody recognized that this was a need,” he said.
Together, they spent a year building business plans and lining up financial support from the Federation, the Saltzman Foundation and private donors. In schools, at camps and even in adult apartment settings like Weinberg Commons in Cherry Hill, the Federation now offers therapy, skill-building, social-skills training and emotional management, all with the goal of increasing independence.
JFed also helps families navigate the initial diagnosis, the IEP process and other steps in the journey. Every case is different, so Roth emphasized availability. Recently, Colleen Patrick, the Federation’s director of community behavioral health, visited a family home at night because their 3-year-old was struggling with bedtime.
“These services are meant to meet them where they are, not just from 9-5,” Roth said.
In the South Jersey Jewish community, the need is high. The Sari Isdaner Early Childhood Center at the Katz JCC has about 200 students; the JCC Camps at Medford serves over 800 campers; Kellman Brown also has about 200 students; the large synagogues in the area, Temple Beth Sholom, Congregation Kol Ami and Congregation Beth El, also have early childhood centers and camps.
Before, the Federation would offer grants, grant programs and grant dollars to these institutions for behavioral health, but that was the extent of it.
“It was never anything that we as a system were owning,” Roth said. “We were helping to outsource Band-Aids.”
Six months in, JFed is trying to own this lifecycle in South Jersey, but it also has plans to, as Roth said, expand its services to “our tristate Jewish community.”
“We’re actively looking for new financial partners to grow the service to the larger community,” Roth said.
For Roth, a South Jersey resident who belongs to Kol Ami in Cherry Hill, this work is aligned with the Jewish value of l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation.
“This is really meant to be a multigenerational level of support. We’re providing support for kids as young as 2 to kids in Kellman Brown to residents living in our supportive apartment setting at Weinberg Commons,” he said.