Here’s a story about a family facing a life-altering challenge, an agency with a smart solution, and UJA’s work behind the scenes to help make it possible.
First, the family: Peter is a fierce advocate for his son, who has learning challenges. Starting in nursery school, Peter worked with the Department of Education to get his son speech and occupational therapy, but by fourth grade, it still wasn’t enough, and his son was falling far behind.
The challenge: When a child's needs can't be met in a public school setting, New York City reimburses parents for the cost of private school — with a significant caveat. Parents are expected to lay out upwards of $50,000 annually per child and wait (sometimes, for lengthy periods) to be reimbursed.
After one year of fronting the costs, Peter found the debt unmanageable.
The solution: Hebrew Free Loan Society (HFLS), a long-time UJA grantee, runs a Special Education Bridge Loan Program that provides the funds to families while they await government reimbursement. After learning about the program, Peter applied for a loan and has been able to stabilize the family’s finances.
UJA’s role: There are many other families facing the choice of crushing debt or not being able to access the care their child needs — which is hardly a choice. So when HFLS needed a line of credit to expand this program (a loan for loans), they asked UJA if we'd be willing to provide the $2.2 million in required collateral. And we did, creatively using our own balance sheet to support HFLS's vital work.
This is but one of the many lesser known — but enormously beneficial — "value adds” that UJA brings to the nonprofits in our network, well beyond the over $150 million in grants we make annually to hundreds of agencies, locally and globally.
Some other examples:
UJA has long had a highly effective government relations department that oversees advocacy efforts on the city, state, and federal levels. We regularly work with other like-minded organizations to amplify our voices. Some “wins” we helped secure this year:
- $500 million (state) for cost-of-living increases to human services workers;
- $275 million (federal and state) for nonprofit security grants;
- $7 million (state and city) for the care of Holocaust survivors.
And — truly priceless — when an agency gets caught up in bureaucratic red tape, we frequently have the relationships to cut through it.
In addition, we've invested almost $90 million over the last few years in capital projects to buy and/or improve properties used by our nonprofit partners. And we rent out UJA-owned properties to our agencies at a nominal cost, which in the aggregate saves them over $26 million annually.
The list goes on... We regularly provide professional development. Technical support. Savings on insurance. Help with investment management. Fundraising assistance that brings in millions of dollars to agencies for capital projects.
Much of this doesn’t show up on our financial statements, but dramatically benefits the ability of UJA's network partners to serve our community.
Why the special Wednesday message?
I generally send my weekly messages on Friday, but tomorrow, June 30, marks the end of UJA's 2022 fiscal year. If you haven’t yet given to UJA's annual campaign, please consider doing so now. And if you’ve given, we're incredibly grateful for your support.
Our community-wide annual campaign, launched in 1917, is rooted in the core Jewish value of collective responsibility. We are each obligated to care for one another to the best of our ability. And UJA-Federation's annual campaign — there to support the vast and myriad needs of our community, near and far, in times of crisis and every day — represents the purest expression of this value.
As for Peter’s son, he’s now 12 years old and getting close to straight A’s. And there are millions of others whose stories we'll never know, but whose lives have been forever changed because of your support.
For all of them, I extend our collective gratitude.
Early Shabbat shalom and enjoy the holiday weekend