February has been designated Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month by the Jewish Special Education International Consortium; and the Jewish Federations of North America is encouraging communities to observe this occasion.
That makes this month a good opportunity to list and describe some of the many excellent local programs that serve not only Jewish youth and adults, but non-Jewish as well. (With apologies in advance to those that were not included for lack of space and time.)
Marybeth Murphy is manager of the Exceptional Needs Department, (begun in 1983) of Jewish Family Services, a partner agency with the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
“We provide services and programming to clients who have developmental disabilities and chronic mental illness,” Murphy said. Its offerings include:
• The Young Adults Independence program for people ages 21 and up. This provides “life-skills training” to participants, in collaboration with the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
• The Breakfast Club, “which is our longest running program,” Murphy said. It meets once-a-week; also offers monthly outings to places such as the zoo, movies, and sports events; and includes Jewish holiday celebrations. In warm weather, Breakfast Club members do gardening.
• Other programs include case management services; the Lifetime Services Program, to care for clients when their families are no longer able to care for them; and Journeys Together, a peer support group for clients with mental illnesses.
Housing and training
JFS is also involved in two housing complexes that also offer living quarters for the developmentally disabled.
According to Sylvan Leabman, president and CEO of JFS, in 2008 JFS Housing Inc. was created to develop housing for seniors and persons with disabilities.
He said that in 2012 Bradley Crossing — a supportive housing building — was built in Brown Deer to accommodate individuals and families.
The complex has 60 units, and, Leabman said, “50 percent are reserved for those who are disabled, either developmentally or physically. It’s unique in that it’s fully integrated, housing both the disabled and non-disabled. There are 40 to 50 programs a month for all the residents.”
Leabman added that JFS operates an outpatient mental health clinic in the building, and has social worker offices in the building as part of support for independent living.
The JFS also oversees programs in the Habush House, which only houses adults, ages 20 through the 60s, with developmental disabilities. The group of apartments is owned by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
At the Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC, Lenny Kass is director of the Albert & Ann Deshur JCC Rainbow Day Camp, and Jody Margolis is special needs coordinator.
Margolis said the JCC’s programs serve “the spectrum of all ages, providing a multitude of services.”
“All but one of our programs are integrated programs which include children of all different developmental disabilities as well as those with no disabilities,” Margolis continued. “The philosophy is that special needs children can integrate and feel that they are part of a group.”
The Young Athletes Program is for ages two through seven and includes children of all abilities. The JCC partners with Special Olympics on this program, which meets once a week.
Margolis personally runs the STARS (Students That Are Really Special) programs. “We vary the activities; we do things like yoga, drumming on balls, kick boxing and scooter hockey,” she said.
One of the newer STARS programs is Upstream Arts, run by a Minneapolis company, which uses the arts “as a tool for positive expression,” Margolis said.
The JCC also has an adult Chavarim (Hebrew for friends) program specially for adults with developmental disabilities. And more offerings are coming: “Every year we keep expanding our programs,” Margolis said.
Kass said the JCC’s Rainbow Day Camp has a Shiluv (Hebrew for integration) program for special needs campers through high school age.
“Each child has an individualized program and they are integrated by their ability to handle the mainstream environment,” Kass said. “The camp will even offer one-on-one assistance to the child.”
The Conservative movement’s Camp Ramah in Conover offers a Tikvah (Hebrew for hope) program for adolescents with learning, emotional and developmental disabilities. It has four- and eight week sessions.
The camp also offers a vocational program for high school graduates 18-21 called Atzmayim (Hebrew for independent). It integrates the campers into jobs for part of the day in the Eagle River area.
Lubavitch of Wisconsin has a distinctive program in Milwaukee, the “Friendship Circle.” This project recruits volunteers from fourth grade through adults to help Jews in the special needs population.
It is headquartered at The Shul in Bayside, with Rabbi Shmaya Shmotkin as director. According to Shmotkin, it has “almost a thousand participants.”
Shmotkin said the group seeks “to engage children, teens and adults with special needs in a full range of social, recreational, educational and therapeutic experiences, as well as giving support to the families of these individuals.”
“Those in the circle who have special needs feel that they are accepted; and the volunteers, who include children and teenagers, discover their inner kindness and the satisfaction which comes from helping others,” said Shmotkin. “Thus everyone in the circle benefits.”
The group offers about two dozen programs. “There’s something almost every day,” Shmotkin said. “For example we have play night in our Mitzvahs Program where elementary school children volunteer to play with special needs children. We also have outings year round as well.”
In another program, teen volunteers go to the homes of children with special needs and read to them, cook with them, take them to shopping malls and generally do what the child would like to do. “Those getting this directed attention feel special and the parents get a respite as well,” Shmotkin said.
Shmotkin said the program seeks to create “a world in which people with special needs are accepted, included and appreciated as important contributors to society. We foresee a future where they never again have to suffer isolation and exclusion.”
Arlene Becker Zarmi is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than 40 publications nationwide. She was also the producer and host of a travel TV show for Viacom, and is a Jewish genre and portrait artist.
Loading ...