JSSA history

After joining the Federation of Jewish Charities in 1904, the society dispensed more than $10,000 annually.

He established the rudiments of casework in 1906, interviewing and investigating prospective clients and implementing "friendly visits" by volunteers to recipients.

The two agencies merged and incorporated in 1921 as the United Hebrew Relief Society of D.C.

In 1924 the society changed its name to the Jewish Social Service Bureau and later in the decade affiliated with Western Reserve Univ.'s School of Applied Social Science in the training of social workers.

In 1926 United Jewish Charities formed and affiliation with the Greater Hartford Community Chest , a relationship that still continues today with the United Way.

A new executive director, Morris Klass, arrived in 1934.

JSSA was serving 44 foster children — almost 20 percent of its 245 clients — in 1937.

By 1939, JSSA was making plans for a child welfare program, in anticipation of the July closing of the Jewish Foster Home, a move generated by the growing awareness that the emotional and physical needs of foster children could be best met in individual foster homes.

1940: JSSA moves into its first building on Spring Road, DC

In mid-1941, a Dental Clinic opened in the building with donated equipment and volunteer dentists who cared for 4-5 patients per day.

1942: Jewish Foster Home and JSSA casework staff/services combine

JSSA hosted a 1943 Passover Seder for 950 service men and women In Washington.

The Dental Clinic closed in 1944, with the volunteer dentists who had staffed it continuing to see JSSA clients in their own offices.

In 1947, JSSA faced a new challenge.

In 1948, the Agency launched its first membership drive, raising $5,000.

1950’s: JSSA transitions from a relief to social service agency and grows its adoption program.

JSSA had opted to provide total relief to needy Jewish families because of the insufficient allocations from public welfare agencies; that relief totaled $50,000 in 1951.

In May 1952, the regulation forbidding public relief recipients from accepting funds from other organizations was lifted; JSSA transferred eligible families to public assistance and provided supplements, reducing the Agency’s overall relief expenditures.

Four years later, after an extensive needs and implementation study, major fund raising, and a remodeled JSSA basement, the Child Guidance Clinic opened in January 1957.

An extensive volunteer training program was established in 1958.

In July 1965, JSSA opened a branch office in Wheaton Plaza.

Ground was broken in June 1967; the Spring Road building was transferred to the JCF for sale, and JSSA rented an office in the Woodward Building at 15th and H Streets, N.W., to continue downtown services.

And after the 1968 riots, JSSA not only assisted Jewish business owners whose stores had been damaged or de­stroyed, but tried to facilitate the transfer of some of these businesses to “Negro entrepreneurs.”

JSSA moved into the Rockville campus building in March 1969 and closed the Wheaton office.

In 1978, amid funding cuts and facing increasingly more complex social problems, a new organization was born and a new day had arrived in the world of social services.

In 1981 JFS first received national accreditation from the Council on Accreditation for Family and Children’s Service Agencies.

1984: JSSA Hospice admits its first patients.

1989: JSSA’s Himmelfarb Mobile University for seniors is founded.

1991: Annandale, VA office opens.

1993: JSSA celebrates a century of caring.

1997: JSSA moves its Gaithersburg office to Firstfield Road.

1999: Premier Homecare is launched in Rockville, MD.

2001: JSSA’s Transitions respite program is launched and an early childhood intervention program is introduced.

The Anja Rosenberg Kosher Food Pantry which was started in 2002

In 2004, JFS became licensed by the Department of Children and Families to provide specialized services to children and teens.

2005: Capital campaign is launched to raise funds for a new Rockville headquarters.

In 2006 JFS moved from Bishops Corner to the space it now occupies on the Zachs Campus in the Community Services Building.

2007: Fairfax office space and services are doubled and JSSA and the JCCNV launch “Going Places!” Asperger’s social club.

2008: JSSA receives highest 4 star Charity Navigator rating.

2011: The Silver Spring office renovations are completed.

2012: JSSA launches Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn platforms.

2013: JSSA’s Center for Autism Through The Lifespan is launched and the Fallsgrove Shelley Kay Child and Family Center is dedicated.