Jewish Human Services Agencies Merge to Create Umbrella Group
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(JTA) — Two associations of Jewish human services agencies have merged to create a new umbrella organization.
The Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies unites the Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies, or AJFCA, and the International Association of Jewish Vocational Services, or IAJVS, the new group said Tuesday in a statement. The umbrella group will have 140 North American Jewish human service agencies under its auspices, as well as three in Israel, and serve hundreds of thousands of people, Jewish and non-Jewish.
Reuben Rotman, most recently the executive director of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest New Jersey, will serve as the inaugural chief executive officer.
The merger follows two years of negotiations.
“Our goal is to leverage the best of both organizations and take an expanded Network to the next level, to become a guiding force in Jewish human services, strengthening and supporting vocational, family, healthcare, senior citizen, disability and all other human service agencies and the people they serve,” said Rotman, an AJFCA board member.
Rotman previously held positions with the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the JFS of Metropolitan Detroit.
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