Blog

A few months into her new marketing role, Kim sent an email to her JVS Career Counselor Sandra Saltzman, thanking her for her guidance, encouragement and expertise during her 1.5-year job search.

JCFS Chicago is one of six agencies that are partners in the Strategic Workforce Opportunity Collaborative (SWOC). This collaborative of trusted workforce professionals focuses on increasing employment opportunities for Chicagoland individuals with disabilities, and just as important, assisting employers in hiring qualified, pre-screened candidates.

Parenting is rarely a solo act. We rely on carpools, group chats, and friends who drop off dinner and say, “You’ve got this.”

In Jewish life, we call that kehillah - community that shows up not just when things are easy, but when they’re real. For foster and adoptive families, that kind of support isn’t just nice to have, it’s necessary.

Some Knapp School & Yeshiva students are getting a taste of working in the food service industry—right at their school. The school lunch cart operates twice a week, and six to eight students regularly help with everything from taking orders and shopping for ingredients, to cooking and delivering the food.

Hi, I’m Rosemary, and I’m thrilled to be Response’s new Community Education Coordinator. I earned my B.S. from Northwestern last year, and while I am new to the experience of teaching full time, I have had a wide range of teaching experiences.

Clinicians at Integrated Pediatric Therapies (IPT) often work with those they support in public or everyday settings to help them apply the skills they learn in the clinic to real-world environments. This process is called generalization.  

“For some kids, generalizing from the clinic is harder than for other kids,” said IPT Director Jennie Marble. “We try to work on that in a lot of different ways, and we make it a priority to include parents or caregivers in the process.” 

One of the janitors who is employed through JCFS Chicago’s Contracted Employment Services (CES) accompanied CES Assistant Director Virginia Hopkins to SourceAmerica’s annual Grassroots Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C... where he first shared his employment story with a group of fellow advocacy teams, and later presented a shorter version to legislators.

When Anna came to JCFS Chicago she was in the process of finishing her bachelor’s degree in English. Anna has a passion for reading and libraries, and she expressed to her employment specialist her desire to find a job in a library.

Thomas works at a local pizza restaurant, a position he secured with support from JCFS Chicago several years ago, but he recently expressed interest in finding a second job. So he turned to JCFS again, this time through our Customized Employment Program.

As a recent high school graduate, Daniel turned to JCFS Chicago’s Duman Opportunity Center for help finding employment. He began working with an employment specialist to explore opportunities that would highlight his strengths, build his confidence, and prepare him for long-term success.