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The Jewish Board: 150 Years of Care
  • Helping hands,
    not bootstraps
    • Helping Hands,
      Not Bootstraps

      Worthy and
      Unworthy

      Mapping charity in
      immigrant New York

      Explore the map

      Deserted Family:
      A Story

      The National Desertion Bureau's
      search for runaway husbands

      Read the story
      Look Up Names

      United Hebrew
      Charities

      Look Up Names
      Look Up Names

      The
      National
      Desertion Bureau

      Look Up Names
  • ARCHITECTS
    OF CARE
  • VOICES OF THE
    JEWISH BOARD
  • 150 YEARS
    OF CARING
  • 1870s-1930s

    Helping Hands,
    Not Bootstraps

    Worthy and
    Unworthy
    Deserted Family:
    A Story
  • 1930s-1970s

    Architects
    of Care

  • 1970s-Present

    Voices of
    The Jewish
    Board

  • 150 years of caring

Back home

1970s - PRESENT

Voices of
The Jewish Board

Explore the past half century of our history through the stories of Jewish Board staff, trustees and clients.

  • People 11
  • Issues 5

Race and Racism

From the 1910s through the 1960s, millions of African American and Puerto Rican migrants sought safety, employment, and educational opportunities in New York City and other Northern and Western U.S. cities.

Medicaid

Through the latter half of the 20th century, The Jewish Board has worked closely with city and state government to provide needed social services to New Yorkers.

Community-Based Residential Care

From the mid-19th to mid-20th century, New York State housed large numbers of children and adults with mental health challenges in large state-run institutions.

UJA-Federation

The Jewish Board’s history as a social service provider is intimately intertwined with the rise of Jewish-led philanthropic organizations writ large.

HIV/AIDS Epidemic

HIV and its ensuing disease, AIDS, first came to public attention in the United States when cases emerged among gay men in several large cities, including New York.

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© 2025 | The Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, Inc is a 501(c)(3) and all donations are tax-deductible. EIN: 13-5564937

Site Credits

Site Credits

Project Historians

  • Gavin Beinart-Smollan, M.A.
  • Julia Thomas, M.A.
  • Erin R. Santana, Ph.D.

Academic
Advisory Board

  • Dr. Hasia Diner, Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History (Emerita), New York University
  • Dr. Deborah Doroshow, Associate Professor of Medicine, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai; Adjunct Assistant Professor of the History of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine
  • Dr. Annette Igra, Professor of History, Carleton College
  • Dr. Regina Kunzel, Larned Professor of History and of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Yale University
  • Dr. Kim Phillips-Fein, Robert Gardiner-Kenneth T. Jackson Professor of History, Columbia University

Consultant

  • Alison Cornyn,
    Picture Projects

Archives

  • American Jewish Historical Society
  • Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies
  • Harvard Library Special Collections and Archives
  • New York University Special Collections and Archives
  • Smith College Special Collections
  • YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Website Design
and Development

    • GS Lab | GAVS 
      https://www.gavstech.com/

     

    • Bharat K Viswanathan
    • Aravind Ajith
    • Adhun Anand
    • Sarath AR
    • Nandhu Raj
    • Deepak Vijayan
    • Vivek JK
    • Aparna JL
    • Lakshmi Srikanth
    • Anitha Vijayakumar
    • Srinath Mohanraj
    • Elangovan Sinthaikinian