New York City OK’s $1.5M for Poor Holocaust Survivors

By JTA June 24, 2015

New York City’s 2016 budget includes $1.5 million to assist Holocaust survivors living in poverty.

The $78.5 billion budget finalized Monday night includes more than $25 million for senior services, JP Updates reported. The Survivor Initiative, a 3-year-old group that, according to its website, “seeks to raise awareness and funds to assure survivors live their remaining years in dignity,” pushed for the city to allocate the $1.5 million.

In New York, the group helps fund UJA-Federation of New York’s services for survivors, which include legal services, cash assistance, mental health support, end-of-life care and home care.

According to the Survivor Initiative, approximately half of New York City’s 64,000 Holocaust survivors have an annual income of less than $11,000, and the average age of New York survivors is 83.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO