The Bernard and Etta Weinberg Family Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia was established by Etta WeinberG DURING HER LIFETIME AND FUNDED THROUGH HER ESTATE
It is one of the Jewish Federation’s largest restricted endowment funds, with over $22 million in assets. The fund distributes grants in accordance with the terms of Etta’s trust to the areas she cared most about during her lifetime: geriatric counseling and care management (50% of grants), older adults (33% of grants), and Jewish education (16% of grants). Any unallocated dollars may be directed to Israeli charities. The allocations of this fund are overseen by a committee of lay leaders and professionals, who continue to search for programs that are new, innovative and reflect Etta’s core areas of interest.
For Fiscal Year 2027, more than $1,128,000 in grants have been awarded to the following 18 programs in the Greater Philadelphia area and in Israel:
Geriatric Care Management and Older Adult Services
The Tikvah Residence provides stable, affordable housing and comprehensive rehabilitation services to low-income, aging adults with serious mental illness. The program emphasizes direct care, wellness, and community connection to promote recovery and successful aging in place.
Jewish Relief Agency’s Project Hadar provides essential case management and volunteer services to socially-isolated Russian-speaking Jewish seniors, with a special focus on Holocaust Survivors. This enhances their access to vital resources and fosters community connection in Greater Philadelphia.
Abramson @ Jewish Family and Children’s Service (JFCS)
Health Care Management Program – $114,779
The Health Care Management Program enhances dementia care management accessibility by supporting older adults and their caregivers with essential healthcare services.
Older Adult Hybrid Social Worker – $75,000
Jewish Family and Children’s Service (JFCS) Older Adult Hybrid Social Worker project provides integrated care management and counseling to seniors in Northeast Philadelphia. This initiative promotes dignity, independence, and emotional well-being through a collaborative and community-supported model.
Older Adult Transportation – $150,000
JFCS is launching a transportation program to provide medical and socialization rides for older adults. The program aims to enhance healthcare access and community engagement while addressing loneliness concerns and critical transportation barriers in Northeast Philadelphia.
LGBTQ+ Elder Initiative
LGBTQ+ Elder Initiative – $112,000
The Elder Program provides culturally sensitive support to LGBTQ+ older adults. It works to combat social isolation by offering inclusive community spaces, support groups, and education to enhance wellbeing and community connection.
KleinLife’s In-Home Support Program empowers vulnerable, homebound Jewish seniors in Northeast Philadelphia to live safely and independently. Through personalized case management, home modifications and nutritious meal delivery, the program helps seniors reduce their risks of falls and hospitalizations while enhancing social connectedness.
ARTZ Philadelphia offers the Side by Side program, supporting people living with dementia and their caregivers through engaging activities that enhance quality of life.
Jewish Learning Venture’s jkidphilly Grandparent Ambassador Program empowers Jewish grandparents in Greater Philadelphia to strengthen family connections and Jewish identity. This initiative addresses the challenges of multicultural and interfaith families by fostering meaningful engagement and Jewish learning across generations.
Kaiserman JCC’s Brain, Body, Balance program offers innovative, holistic wellness for older adults. The program combines physical and cognitive training through onsite and virtual formats to enhance quality of life and reduce social isolation in the Jewish community.
Shtetl 2.0 is a member community in Northwest Philadelphia dedicated to helping older adults age in place with dignity, connection and mutual support. The initiative welcomes members of all Jewish backgrounds for religious and cultural programming and works to advocate for affordable and accessible housing.
StudentsCare Senior Buddy Program connects undergraduate healthcare students with low-income older adults in Greater Philadelphia to reduce social isolation and improve well-being. Through weekly visits and events, this initiative provides valuable experience for future healthcare professionals while alleviating caregiver and healthcare staff stress.
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PROGRAMS FOR JEWISH EDUCATION
Golden Slipper Camp offers cultural, educational and recreational programming to campers aged 7-15. Through partnerships with key Jewish organizations, the camp aims to deepen community engagement and foster Jewish identity.
Jewish Learning Venture’s Community Learning Program combines nationally recognized therapeutic models with small, sensory-supportive group environments to ensure neurodiverse students from Greater Philadelphia have access to Jewish education. The initiative leverages relationships with therapists, educators, parents and clergy to help students improve their social-emotional and friendship skills while also learning foundational Jewish content.
Mem Global’s newly launching Base Philadelphia will offer a unique, home-based rabbinic community that fosters meaningful connections and Jewish engagement for young adults through personalized programs and pastoral support. This model, based on successes in other Jewish communities, promotes inclusive, low-barrier access to Jewish life, strengthening community ties in Philadelphia.
Mercaz, a program of Philly Unity Project (UP), empowers Jewish teens in Center City Philadelphia through leadership training, community-building activities, social events and service projects to foster strong Jewish identities and future leaders.
ISRAELI CHARITIES
Fresh Start’s Economic Recovery Program provides personalized financial rehabilitation and comprehensive support services to Gaza-border reservists and families, fostering long-term economic resilience and community empowerment amid ongoing conflict.
The Hadar Institute supports 15 grassroots liberal-religious communities in Israel, assisting them in designing innovative, inclusive public programs that foster spiritual connection and resilience. It helps Israelis cope with the impacts of war through prayer, song and community engagement.
PAST Grants
GERIATRIC CARE MANAGEMENT AND OLDER ADULT SERVICES
Abramson Senior Care
HealthCare Management Program – $114,779
Abramson Senior Care provides expert geriatric care management so that older adults can remain safe and healthy in their own homes for as long as possible. The grant supports enhanced dementia care management accessibility by providing older adults and their caregivers with essential healthcare services.
ARTZ Philadelphia
Cafe for Care Partners & Creative Connections – $30,833
ARTZ Philadelphia is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life and wellbeing of people living with dementia and their care partners through joyful interactions around arts and culture. The grant supports engaging social programs for individuals with dementia and their care partners in order to foster meaningful connections and reduce isolation.
Kaiserman Jewish Community Center (JCC)
Dorot Bucks County Intergenerational Program – $12,019
In response to the need for more Jewish resources and connection in Bucks County, the grant supports Kaiserman JCC’s intergenerational series that provides programming pairing older adults with younger participants in Bucks County as a way to foster engagement, mentorship, and communal bonds.
Keystone Care
Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care – $67,100
Keystone Care is a nonprofit organization offering services to seriously ill patients regardless of income or insurance, in the Philadelphia region. The grant supports its specialized program designed to offer comprehensive hospice and palliative care services to patients across hospitals, nursing facilities, and in the comfort of their homes.
KleinLife and Abramson Senior Care
Innovation and Service Integration – $150,000
This initiative augments the offerings of both KleinLife, a community resource center, and Abramson Senior Care, which provides healthcare management services for older adults, to increase the quality of life for seniors and establish the link between community center participation and overall wellness. The grant supports individualized health and wellness plans, quarterly check-ins with nurse practitioners and care managers, fitness visits, socialization and therapeutic programs, congregate lunches, health and wellness workshops.
Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Philadelphia (JFCS)
Social Programs for Positive Aging – $200,000
Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater works to strengthen families and individuals across generations and cultures to achieve stability, independence and community. This grant supports older adult socialization programs to reduce loneliness and promote community engagement. This includes outreach efforts to offer these types of opportunities at more housing centers to better target and serve the population.
LGBTQ+ Elder Initiative – $112,000
This initiative decreases loneliness and isolation and increases inclusivity and belonging among older adults who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. The program offers support groups, care management and specialized training for JFCS case workers and relevant industry professionals at Jewish and non-Jewish organizations throughout the area. The grant supports the expansion of JFCS’ LGBTQ+ services to provide more in-person support sessions as well as cultural competency trainings for non-LGBTQ residents and family members.
Jewish Learning Venture (JLV)
jkidphilly Grandparent Ambassador Program – $65,000
Jewish Learning Venture empowers families to make Judaism more meaningful and relevant for themselves through programming and community building. The grant supports its initiative to help grandparents positively impact the Jewish experiences of their grandchildren in interfaith and multifaith families while combating social isolation and loneliness. The program is hiring three grandparent ambassadors to cultivate relationships throughout the region and is offering Get Together Grants for grandparents to host intimate multigenerational programs.
OneTable
Together@OneTable – $62,900
OneTable empowers young adults to find, share and enjoy impactful Shabbat dinners as a way to engage in Jewish life. The grant supports the second year of One Table’s Together@OneTable program, which focuses on expanding existing offerings for individuals who are 50 years old and up in order to address isolation, loneliness and disassociation from Judaism. The initiative includes providing a platform for connection, resources, and monetary incentives for hosts and guests.
The Shtetl 2.0
Aging in Community – $25,000
Shtetl 2.0 emphasizes the positive aspects of the old shtetls of Eastern Europe – namely, community. The program is a grassroots initiative that promotes alternative aging models that emphasize independence, peer support, and Jewish community living for seniors.
Students Care Inc
Senior Buddy Program – $30,000
Student Care Inc. aims to reduce isolation and loneliness amongst seniors. The grant supports the training of undergraduate healthcare students, who are paired with isolated older adults at six Federation Housing communities across the area for weekly social visits and events.
PROGRAMS FOR JEWISH EDUCATION
Golden Slipper Camp
Jewish Programming at Camp – $30,000
Based in the Pocono Mountains, Camp Golden Slipper provides a meaningful summer of fun for over 500 Jewish and non-Jewish children, ages 7 to 15, and approximately 100 professionally trained staff. The grant will expand Jewish programming through hiring a dedicated associate director and support additional partnerships with Jewish organizations to enrich campers’ experiences and promote interfaith understanding.
Moving Traditions
Kulam: Identity and Israel – $25,000
Moving Traditions emboldens Jewish youth through programs to thrive through the pursuit of personal wellbeing (shleimut), caring relationships (hesed), and a Jewish and feminist vision of equity and justice (tzedek). This grant supports Moving Traditions’ Kulam program to create an “Identity and Israel” track, designed for Jewish educators to use to empower teens in a regular Hebrew high school settings, camps and more.
Penn Hillel
U.S.-Israel Academic Bridge Fellowship – $25,000
In its second year, the U.S.-Israel Academic Bridge Fellowship brings 30-40 young Israelis to the University of Pennsylvania for a month-long academic and research internship and for engagement with faculty and students working at Penn during the summer. The program aims to develop student leadership and engagement around Israel by fostering dialogue, education and cultural exchange between United States and Israeli academic communities. The grant supports Israeli students’ needs, such as flights, housing, meals, an orientation program in Israel, and local trips.
Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel (BZBI)
Mercaz Philly – $100,000
Mercaz Philly engages Center City teens to get actively involved, builds Jewish identities, strengthens connections to Jewish community and creates future leaders. The grant supports an education, service and leadership program. This includes a monthly service project and social program, an annual trip, and includes a leadership development program for 11th and 12th graders.
ISRAELI CHARITIES
Hadar Institute
Hadar Israel Community Support – $53,627
The Hadar Institute is a center of Jewish life, learning and practice that builds vibrant egalitarian communities in North America and Israel. The grant supports the organization’s efforts to help 15 grassroots liberal-religious communities across Israel build resilience and connection post Oct. 7 through community Shabbat and holiday meals, educational lectures, and community volunteer projects.
GERIATRIC CARE MANAGEMENT AND OLDER ADULT SERVICES
Jewish Family & Children’s Service
LGBTQ+ Elder Initiative – $112,000
Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater works to strengthen families and individuals across generations and cultures to achieve stability, independence and community. The grant supports the expansion of JFCS’ LGBTQ+ services to hire a full-time care manager to focus solely on the LGBTQ+ older adults to decrease loneliness and isolation and increase inclusivity and belonging. The initiative offers support groups, care management and specialized training for JFCS case workers as well as relevant industry professionals at Jewish and non-Jewish organizations throughout the area.
Jewish Learning Venture
Grandparent Ambassador Program – $55,000
Jewish Learning Venture empowers families to make Judaism more meaningful and relevant for themselves through programming and community building. The grant supports its initiative to help grandparents positively impact the Jewish experiences of their grandchildren in interfaith and multifaith families while combating social isolation and loneliness. The program is hiring three grandparent ambassadors to cultivate relationships throughout the region and is offering Get Together Grants for grandparents to host intimate multigenerational programs.
JEVS Human Services
Tikvah Residence Part Time Care Manager – $30,000
JEVS Human Services’ Tikvah Residence is a supportive home in Delaware County that strives to improve the quality of Jewish community life for vulnerable adults with serious and persistent mental illness. The grant supports the hiring of a care manager to assess the needs of eight low-income aging adults with serious chronic mental illness, helping them apply for benefits, arranging for home-based care services and training another position to provide long-term care after the grant period ends.
Kaiserman JCC
Located in Wynnewood, the Kaiserman JCC works provides services for and fosters Jewish peoplehood through programs and activities that impact families, teens and older adults. (Chapter Three: Live Well @ the Philly J – $40,000) The grant supports the Kaiserman JCC’s initiative to engage older adults through fitness, clubs, health talks, lectures, arts and culture classes, and Judaica and holiday programs. In addition, the organization provides blood pressure screenings, EKGs and intergenerational programming. (Dorot-Bucks County Intergenerational Program – $13,722) In response to the need for more Jewish resources and connection in Bucks County, the grant supports Kaiserman JCC’s five-part intergenerational series that provides programming for grandparents and their grandchildren to converse and connect around Jewish themes.
Keystone Care
Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care – $67,100
Keystone Care is a nonprofit organization offering services to seriously ill patients regardless of income or insurance, in the Philadelphia region. The grant supports its specialized program designed to offer comprehensive hospice and palliative care services to patients across hospitals, nursing facilities, and in the comfort of their homes.
KleinLife and Abramson Senior Care
Innovation and Service Integration – $250,000
This initiative augments the offerings of both KleinLife, a community resource center, and Abramson Senior Care, which provides healthcare management services for older adults, to increase the quality of life for seniors and establish the link between community center participation and overall wellness. The grant supports individualized health and wellness plans, quarterly check-ins with nurse practitioners and care managers, fitness visits, socialization and therapeutic programs, congregate lunches, health and wellness workshops.
OneTable
Together @OneTable – $60,000
OneTable empowers young adults to find, share and enjoy impactful Shabbat dinners as a way to engage in Jewish life. The grant supports a pilot program to focus on expanding existing offerings for older adults, in order to address isolation, loneliness and disassociation from Judaism. The initiative includes providing a platform for connection, resources, and monetary incentives for hosts and guests.
PROGRAMS FOR JEWISH EDUCATION
Golden Slipper Camp
Jewish Programming – $10,000
Based in the Pocono Mountains, Camp Golden Slipper provides a meaningful summer of fun for over 500 Jewish and non-Jewish children, ages 7 to 15, and approximately 100 professionally trained staff. The grant will support more Jewish programming, which will help foster a greater sense of identity for Jewish campers and help non-Jewish campers become more accepting as they grow up.
Penn Hillel
US-Israel Academic Bridge Fellowship – $50,000
The US-Israel Academic Bridge Fellowship is a pilot program to bring 30-40 young Israelis to the University of Pennsylvania for a month-long academic and research internship and for engagement with faculty and students working at Penn during the summer. The grant supports Israeli students’ needs, such as flights, housing, meals, an orientation program in Israel, and local trips.
Student Care Inc.
Senior Buddy Program – $30,000
Student Care Inc. aims to reduce isolation and loneliness amongst seniors. The grant supports the training of undergraduate healthcare students, who are paired with isolated older adults at six Federation Housing communities across the area for weekly visits and events.
Temple BZBI
Philly UP Mercaz – $85,000
Philly Up engages Center City teens to get actively involved, builds Jewish identities, strengthens connections to Jewish community and creates future leaders. The grant supports an education, service and leadership program. This includes a monthly service project and social program, an annual trip, and includes a leadership development program for 11th and 12th graders.
18Doors
Creating Our Jewish Interfaith – $19,375
18Doors works to empower people in interfaith relationships and families in formation, providing them with connection to Judaism in a non-judgmental way. The grant supports the organization’s educational programs to help interfaith couples learn and appreciate each other’s identities, provide resources for spouses to support their Jewish partner, family and community during this unprecedented rise in antisemitism, and educate about the horrors and impact of the Holocaust.
ISRAELI CHARITIES
Hadar Institute
Community Support – $36,500
The Hadar Institute is a center of Jewish life, learning and practice that builds vibrant egalitarian communities in North America and Israel. The grant supports the organization’s efforts to help 15 communities across Israel build resilience and connection post Oct. 7 through community Shabbat and holiday meals, educational lectures, and community volunteer projects.
K’far Aza Resilience Center
Group Therapy for Young Adults – $36,500
K’far Aza, situated between the cities of Sderot and Netivot, is a kibbutz in southern Israel and located near the Gaza Strip. This grant supports group therapy and retreats not covered by government funding for 180 young adults who are from K’far Aza.
For more information
For more information about the Bernard and Etta Weinberg Fund, please visit jewishphilly.org/grants or contact grants@jewishphilly.org.
“The Bernard and Etta Weinberg Family Endowment Fund continues to make a significant impact in the lives of our older adults and for our Jewish community at-large. I am honored to lead an extremely dedicated group of people who are committed to finding and funding state-of-the-art programs that will benefit our community for years to come.”
– Ron Perilstein, Weinberg Fund Committee Chair