American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (often referred to as "The Joint,", the JDC or the Joint Distribution Committee]]) is a worldwide Jewish relief organisation headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries. It says it 'is the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. Since 1914, JDC has exemplified that all Jews are responsible for one another and for improving the well-being of vulnerable people around the world.'[1]
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JDC institutions
In the course of its long history, JDC has helped create lasting institutions that do much of the research and policy development that inform JDC programs and advance its goals. In fact, the work of these institutions is highly regarded well beyond the Jewish community and can arguably be said to have raised the bar on social service delivery, globally.
Public policy making
The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute is a partnership between the JDC, the Israeli government, and the Inez Myers Foundation, established in 1974. Its role is to conduct applied social research on the scope and causes of social needs—specifically those related to aging, health policy, children and youth, people with disabilities, and new immigrants—and assesses various approaches to addressing them. Other JDC-affiliated institutions include the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, a think tank that analyzes and develops social policy alternatives, and the recently established JDC International Centre for Community Development, which supports JDC’s efforts worldwide to enhance and support Jewish communal life.
Background reading, External links, Resources
Background reading
- Yehuda Bauer. My Brother's Keeper. A History of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 1929-1939. The Jewish Publication Society of America. Philadelphia, 1974; ISBN 0-8276-0048-8
External links
- JDC web site
- JDC Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition
- JDC Archives
- Database of the JDC Archives digital holdings
- JDC YIVO Encyclopedia entry.
