Community Briefs

Jews Support Farm Unions

What do Jews have to do with farm workers?

A lot, recently, as a handful of Jewish leaders have organized to make sure Gov. Gray Davis supports a new bill.

The controversial bill, authored by State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco), already passed by the state assembly and senate, would force farm owners in California to submit to binding arbitration if farm workers vote to unionize. Davis has until Sept. 30 to sign the bill, SB 1736, into law.

"Labor issues, social justice have always been important to the Jewish community … no element of California society is more poorly treated than farmworkers," said Howard Welinsky, who has helped organize the Jewish coalition in support of the bill. Welinsky, who is also chairman of Democrats for Israel, called the Jewish support for the farmworkers bill, "One way to show the governor that there’s more support for this bill than just among farmworkers and Latinos."

The Jewish support for the bill has come together from among a variety of organizations and individuals who have worked for farmworkers’ or union issues in the past. A full-page advertisement in The Journal on Sept. 20 urging the governor to "make Cesar Chavez’s dream a reality" featured signatories including Rep. Howard Berman (D-Dist. 26), the Labor Zionist Alliance, eight individual rabbis and the AFL-CIO’s Paul Rosenstein. "This came from several directions," said Rick Tuttle, a former Los Angeles city controller who, with wife Muff Singer, also helped organize the campaign.

Jewish supporters of the farmworkers’ bill are also asking the community to write letters to the governor. The letter-writing campaign is being organized by Evelyn Jerome, a public affairs consultant and former president of L.A. County Young Democrats. "The Jewish community has a history of supporting the right to organize," Jerome said. "This is an extension of that history." — Mike Levy, Staff Writer

Westside Recovery

Despite recent closures of its facilities, the Westside Jewish Community Center (JCC) is now on an upswing, according to its management.

Westside JCC Board President Michael Kaminsky told The Journal that both Westside JCC’s parent organization, Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles (JCCGLA), and JCCGLA’s overseer, JCCs of North America, "have been very supportive" as Westside JCC begins to rebuild itself. Kaminsky is scheduled to fly to New York next week for further meetings with national JCC executives.

Westside JCC’s nursery school currently has an enrollment of 90 children in the transition classes (for 2-year-old children) through its classes for 4-year-olds in addition to 14 children in its kindergarten. Both figures are slightly higher than the membership this time last year.

"With all of the turmoil of last year, that’s pretty impressive," Kaminsky said. "A large number of them are new families. So that’s very significant. And the entire staff from last year is still there," including Early Childhood Education Director Ellen Greene.

The Westside JCC is actively trying to rebuild senior programming, Kaminsky said, despite the fact that JCC alienated many local seniors when a funding shortfall forced it to shut its pool, gym and senior services in May. However, the Yiddish Club is returning to the center. The Westside JCC has also received a grant from a nonprofit group based in Los Angeles to hire a part-time worker to develop senior programming. And Westside JCC’s Senior Day Care for the Frail Elderly is still running, now under the auspices of Jewish Family Service, a beneficiary agency of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Some 25 seniors attend this program every day, Kaminsky said.

"We’re developing our 2003 budget," he said. "We’re trying to add some additional specialists, after school programs and develop a periodic Sunday programming geared toward arts, theater, music and Judaic studies, as well as a class for special needs children."

Threatened with closure due to the JCCGLA crisis, the Westside JCC has been forced to scramble for creative fundraising avenues, such as the monthly Celebrity Staged Play Reading series, which will soon start its new season. Kaminsky said the center makes money on the series, which has featured celebrities such as Doris Roberts and Ed Asner routinely draws between 150-300 people. A night at "The Producers" is also on tap for next fall.

"My goal," Kaminsky said, "is to do logical, positive programming and keep the community engaged while we pursue our long-term capital campaign goal."

With $4 million in pledges, and over $1 million collected, the Westside JCC’s $14 million capital campaign is back on track, according to Kaminsky.

"The building committee is meeting," he said. "I’m really positive that in 4 to 6 months, we’ll make some progress on the [next stage of] plans for the building;" a project designed by architect Michael Lehrer of Lehrer Architects.

Westside JCC officials look forward to mounting a capital campaign aimed at the public by early 2003. Kaminsky said to expect an announcement at that time on some major gifts that will support Westside JCC’s capital campaign. While the pool/gym has not been cost effective, Kaminsky said that such services will return "in three years when we open a brand new flagship facility." — Michael Aushenker, Staff Writer