News & Impact

By Dr. Anita Friedman, JFCS Executive Director and co-chair of the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education As we all can see, hate is surging at unprecedented levels throughout our society. Antisemitism is at an all-time high in California, and every week the JFCS Holocaust Center receives calls from local schools seeking guidance on how to handle hateful incidents. Now more than ever, education is critically and urgently needed to combat this frightening trend. The Case for Fighting Antisemitism and Hate Through Education Holocaust education was legally required in the California state education code as of 1985. Only now,… Read More

September 14, 2023—Governor Newsom has signed and passed California’s 2023-24 budget, which includes $1.5 million in renewed funding for the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education. The Collaborative is developing a robust series of new, standards-aligned lessons and teacher training initiatives to educate 6 – 12th graders about what happens when bias goes unchecked. The funding included in the State budget will support the continued work of the Collaborative to train over 8,500 teachers and educate over one million California students by 2027. The California Teachers Collaborative is the first of its kind in the nation. Established by… Read More

“When JFCS called me with the news about this scholarship, my eyes immediately filled with tears of joy and I felt a sense of relief and happiness rush through my whole body,” says local student Shana Sklovsky. This spring and summer, outstanding young people in our community received the joyful news that they would receive meaningful financial help for their college dreams, thanks to the generosity of donors to JFCS’ scholarship fund. One of the scholarships administered by JFCS’ Financial Aid Center is the highly competitive Vivienne S. Camp Scholarship. Each year, the Vivienne S. Camp Scholarship is awarded to… Read More

Seventy local teens are getting the chance to explore their career interests and learn on-the-job skills through YouthFirst’s Summer Internship program. These paid, six-week internships pair teens with a business or organization in the community to learn valuable, on-the-job skills and gain real work experience. In weekly workshops at JFCS, each teen gets personalized professional development and a chance to connect with their peers. The program gives teens an opportunity to explore vocational interests and they come away with increased confidence and a better sense of what academic and career goals they want to set for themselves. “This experience has… Read More

In 1977, San Francisco’s reputation as a city of peace and love was tested by an unexpected threat: just steps away from a synagogue in the Outer Sunset, a Nazi bookstore had opened its doors.   This brazen, shameless act infuriated Tauba Weiss, a member of the city’s considerable population of Holocaust survivors. She confronted the shop owner on Erev Pesach, demanding that he explain himself—was it not enough that the Nazis had killed so many of her people in Europe just years ago? The man responded cruelly, “No, it was not enough.”   Filled with anger, Tauba picked a rock up… Read More

There is no more powerful tool in fighting antisemitism than Holocaust and genocide education. The JFCS Holocaust Center’s Manovill Seminar program is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for high school students to dive deep into the ties between racism, antisemitism, and the patterns of genocide as they learn how to become upstanders in their communities. The program carries on the legacy of Lilly Manovill Endrei z”l, who courageously helped fellow Jews from the Budapest ghetto escape and survive. In this three-month long program, students hear first-hand survivor testimony, engage in stimulating discussions, and explore historical artifacts in the Tauber Archives. It culminates… Read More