Valley Jewish Group Discusses Changes

About 350 members of the local group of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles crowded into the Eretz Cultural Center in Reseda Wednesday to discuss the changing face of the Jewish community in the San Fernando Valley.

“We’ve seen a change in social service needs,” said Meredith Rodman, president of the group’s women’s division for the Valley region of the federation, which provides nutritional, educational and housing programs throughout Los Angeles.

Wednesday’s meeting, the annual meeting of the women’s division, was opened with comments by City Councilwoman Laura Chick and stretched into the afternoon. Its purpose was to promote cooperation among groups and to honor several members who have made significant contributions in the last year, Rodman said. But the group also met to discuss new programs and directions for Jewish charities.

Besides assistance for the poor and aid to Jewish immigrants who have settled in the area, the dozens of social service agencies that belong to the Jewish Federation are also reaching out to groups once considered beyond need for help, she said.

For example, within the last year, Jewish Vocational Services, which has an office in West Hills, has begun a new program called “career transitions” that serves a large number of out-of-work, white-collar professionals in the Valley.