Jewish Community Services Set to Move in to JCC

Name a service, and chances are Jewish Community Services offers it.

Offering counseling to clients of all ages, career assistance, help for seniors and caregivers, monetary and food assistance, JCS helps needy community members in a variety of ways.

“We really – from birth through death – offer just about every kind of service to help enhance people’s lives,” said Jacki Post Ashkin, senior manager of marketing and development at JCS.

To better meet the community’s needs, the JCS is moving to a new, 10,000-square foot space at the on April 30. This nearly doubles the space the JCS currently has at its Park Center Court location.

“It really does position us to respond more effectively to the growing needs in the northwest Baltimore County area,” Ashkin said. “A larger space allows us to have really the full array of services available and it’s in a familiar, comfortable location.”

Construction in the two-story addition at the JCC began last summer. The JCS will occupy one floor of the addition, and will be accessible via the main level of the JCC.

The JCS expansion was made possible by private donors and a state bond bill that was supported by District 11 legislators Sen. Bobby Zirkin and Dels. Dan Morhaim, Jon Cardin and Dana Stein.

The JCS, which is an agency of Jewish community organization, The Associated, was launched in 2008 after four groups were consolidated into one. Jewish Family Services, Jewish Vocational Services, Jewish Addiction Services and the Jewish Big Brother Big Sister Program combined to form JCS.

“It was just in the nick of time because that’s when the recession hit and all of a sudden people were knocking down the doors,” Ashkin said.

Previously, if someone needed help with a job search, he or she would go to Jewish Vocational Services. The same person would need to go to Jewish Family Services for housing assistance. Sometimes people wouldn’t follow through or would fall through the cracks--a situation that has been resolved with organizations combining under one umbrella group.

The JCS main office is in Baltimore, and it also has an office in Howard County.

Although the name may confuse some, a majority of the group’s services is non-sectarian. Ashkin said the group affects the lives of 25,000 people each year, which takes into account workshops, consultations and more intensive services like career coaching and monetary and food assistance.

These days, JCS sees unemployment and elderly care as the major issues facing Owings Mills, Reisterstown and Pikesville. With an aging population, many baby boomers are becoming caregivers.

“A lot of the needs are really related to the services and the needs of helping our older adults to live safely and with dignity in their homes and in their communities,” Ashkin said.

While the unemployment rate in Baltimore County is lower than Maryland’s rate, it’s still more than double what it was prior to the economic downturn and hasn’t dropped as quickly as other areas, Ashkin said.

“There’s been a lot of need for career coaching and job search assistance,” she said.

Regardless of the issues the agency faces, the new office at the Owings Mills JCC will prepare the JCS to meet the community’s diverse needs.

“We know how important it is to streamline for both the user and the system to provide the best services we can, the easiest way and the economically responsible way,” said Maayan Jaffe, marketing and communications manager at The Associated.