History

1901 - 1950

1902

• The Hebrew Relief Association helps organize The Federated Jewish Charities (now the Milwaukee Jewish Federation).

1905

• The first trained superintendent is employed.

1906

• Russian Aid Society of Milwaukee is formed.

1908

• Charles Friend is elected president. He serves for thirty-two years.

1914

• The first woman is elected to the Board of Directors.

1916

• The Agency locates its first permanent office at 10th and Walnut Street.

1918-21

• A trained nurse is hired, "To give mothers instructions".

1919

• The Hebrew Relief Association helps organize the Society for the Care of Dependent Jewish Children.
• The Agency's concern about the lack of medical care leads to the establishment of medical services. This becomes the nucleus for the Outpatient Department at Mt. Sinai Hospital

1920

• The Sol Fein Memorial Dental Clinic is established by the Agency.

1921

• The Hebrew Relief Association is renamed the Jewish Social Service Association and moves to 10th and North Avenue.

1922

• The Ladies Auxiliary of the Milwaukee Jewish Orphans Home is formed.

1924

• The Jewish Children's Home is opened at 403 N. 21st Street.  Many of the residents are refugee children.
• The Agency receives its first child welfare license from the State. 26 children are placed in foster or boarding homes.

1926

• The first nursery school is established by the Agency and Abraham Lincoln House becomes the nucleus of the present UWM Nursery School and Day Care Center.
• The Agency hires its first trained social worker.

1933

• Rebecca Tennenbaum is employed as executive director and serves until 1966.

1934

• The Agency arranges its first "recorded" adoption.

1936

• The Agency moves to third and North Avenue.

1937

• The Great Depression necessitates new vocational programs that later become Jewish Vocational Services. A Self-Help Fund assists the unemployed and immigrants to establish their own small businesses.

1938

• The Agency establishes a separate and distinct Refugee/Migration Department.

1939

• The Agency expands children's services to include psychological testing and child guidance.
• The Agency becomes licensed to place children for adoption.

1941

• At the urging and with the support of the Federal Works Progress Administration, the Agency and its Ladies Auxiliary create a nursery school and day care center. It later emerges as the Edith Babbitz Nursery School.
• The Jewish Orphan Home name changes its name to Milwaukee Jewish Children's Home.

1943

• The Agency moves to 2218 N. Third Street.

1946

• The Sunshine Club begins and becomes forerunner of the present Golden Age Club.

1946-47

• The end of World War II brings a flood of Hitler's Jewish victims and another increase in refugee and immigration services. The Agency resettles several unaccompanied minors.

1948

• The Agency expands services to children through a merger with Milwaukee Jewish Children's Home. This merger is acknowledged with a new name -- Jewish Family & Children's Services.

1949

• Family counseling services are broadened and a psychiatric consultant is added to the staff.
• The Agency is accredited and joins Family Service of America.
• The Agency honors Persion Family for serving as foster parents for 25 years and caring for over 20 children.

1950

• Margaret Miller is the first woman to be elected president of the agency.
• The Jewish Children's Home moves to 50th and Wright Street.