Jewish Family and Children's Services history

The Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum moves to a new campus on Ocean Avenue in 1921 and is renamed Homewood Terrace.

In 1931 EBS opened new offices at 1600 Scott St

Soon after he arrived in San Francisco, on the Fourth of July 1937, Hirsch was placed at Homewood Terrace.

In 1939, the Eureka Benevolent Society changed its name to the Jewish Family Service Agency, signifying an expansion of its activities.

In 1943, JFSA establishes its first social enterprise, Utility Workshop, a job-creation program for refugees and elderly immigrants.

Yvonne z’l and Ernest Schneider wed in Homewood Terrace’s synagogue in 1951, surrounded by friends they made in the children’s home.

After only two years, the scope and focus of the organization expanded, and with the support of the City of Lakewood, JFS began to offer its services to all Lakewood residents. It was they who spearheaded the development of Jewish Family Service of Long Beach, and in January of 1957, the JFS was born.

In 1961 the agency created its first support groups, which consisted of a group for women having marital problems, and one for adolescent girls aged 14 to 16.

In 1966, JFSA opens its first branch office on the Peninsula.

Iin 1972, it opens another branch office in Marin County.

The agency launches a volunteer corps in 1973.

In 1974, its Child Guidance Program expands to include child therapy, consultation to teachers, and group counseling for parents.

In 1977, the two organizations merged to form the present-day JFCS.

Also in 1978, current executive director Doctor Anita Friedman is named the new coordinator of émigré services for the San Francisco Jewish community and director of the resettlement program, overseeing all Jewish Welfare Federation agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In June 1982, the agency opens one of the first family resource centers in the nation, Parents Place, and purchases its first property, a Victorian building on California Street in San Francisco, to house it.

In 1985, JFCS opens Adoption Connection, a fully licensed, nonprofit adoption agency, which handles open, infant adoptions and matches birth mothers with adoptive parents.

Also in 1986, the second wave of refuges from the Soviet Union to the United States begins.

In 1987, JFCS collaborates with Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles to introduce the Personal Affairs Management Bill in the state legislature to provide funding for multi-service centers to offer services to the frail elderly.

In 1988, the agency implements the fee-for-service program, Help at Home, to provide home care, nursing care, meal delivery, laundry, personal affairs management, and emergency response service to the growing numbers of Bay Area older adults.

In 1989, JFCS acts as a first responder to the October 17 Loma Prieta earthquake, providing emergency loans, grant assistance, temporary housing, relocation services, crisis counseling, consultation to schools and day care centers, on-site mental health services, and community workshops.

The 1990’s brought expansive growth due to a successful effort to obtain grants from foundations to fund additional services.

In 1994, JFCS establishes Dream House, a domestic violence prevention and transitional housing program for women and their children.

In 1998, JFCS’ émigré department expands its youth development program in collaboration with Parents Place.

In 1999, JFCS’ L’Chaim Center for frail Russian elderly is licensed as an adult day health care facility.

PART VI: JFCS Enters a Third Century in the Year 2000

In 2001, JFCS purchases a Scott Street building for Parents Place and a building in San Rafael for its Marin County branch office.

In 2006, the agency purchases a building in San Mateo for the North Peninsula office (Eleanor Haas Koshland Center).

Also in 2007, JFCS establishes the Center for Special Needs to help children with learning, behavioral, physical, developmental, neurological, and emotional disabilities, as well as their families.

In 2009 JFCS receives a donation of the Gary Shupin House – Independent Living Community for developmentally disabled adults, in San Francisco.

JFCS published the “Centuries of Pioneering” book in 2010.

In 2014 the JFCS Holocaust Center, in partnership with Lehrhaus Judaica, publishes The Diary of Rywka Lipszyc, a newly discovered diary of a Polish teenager.

In 2017 following the North Bay Wildfires, JFCS provided desperately needed services in Sonoma County, including case management, insurance workshops, assistance with living expenses, help to locate temporary housing, and counseling to 1,200 individuals.

In 2019, JFCS launches our largest initiative yet, The Center for Children and Youth, bringing together expert clinical care and support, research-based training, and impactful public policy advocacy to transform the lives of young people and their families.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hits the Bay Area and JFCS launches a wide-scale emergency response, providing food, no-interest loans and grants, urgent home health care, critical mental health services, parenting guidance, and more to over 120,000 people.