The California Welcoming Task Force is a binational coalition dedicated to re-envisioning how the U.S. can welcome people seeking asylum safely and expeditiously at our border by coordinating across sectors: humanitarian, legal, health, advocacy and communications. We must efficiently welcome people seeking refuge and ensure people have access to a fair and organized process if the U.S. is to continue championing itself as a defender of human rights. Jewish Family Service of San Diego makes a statement within this press release.

The California Commission on Aging has named Dana Toppel, JFS CEO Designate, as Vice Chair. Dana brings years of experience, wisdom, and leadership to support CCOA mission to support California’s older adult population.

“The Role of Compassion in Social Change,” this year’s luncheon hosted by the Center for Jewish Care, features Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz in conversation with Michael Hopkins, CEO of Jewish Family Service, about how acts of compassion can bridge divides, heal communities and drive systemic change.

The Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) Board of Directors announced today that current CEO Michael Hopkins, who has been at the helm for 13 years, will retire at the end of June 2025. The board has selected Dana Toppel to become the new CEO when Hopkins retires. Toppel is currently the COO and has been an integral part of the organization for over 15 years.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Jewish Family Service, I am writing to share the bittersweet news that after 13 years at the helm of JFS, Michael Hopkins will be retiring a year from now, on June 30, 2025. Over the last several months, the Board has been fully engaged and working diligently to design a seamless transition, while we prepare to announce the Board’s selection of our next CEO at the end of this month.

JFS recognizes the anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and applauds President Biden’s executive order as a significant step to help keep families together and provide stability for many immigrant families who contribute to our local community.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) has named Tanya Hackel the organization’s new chief advancement officer. In her new role, Hackel works closely with JFS’s development, marketing, and volunteer engagement departments to enhance relationships with supporters, stakeholders, and the community in support of JFS’ vision and mission. In addition, she will provide fundraising leadership, strategy, and support to JFS’ CEO and board of directors and work closely with JFS’s COO to align institutional giving and individual giving with program needs.

New Program Includes Hiring of Wellness Counselor to Provide Individualized Assistance to San Diego’s Jewish Student Community.

This blueprint for humanitarian reception was developed by the Women’s Refugee Commission and the Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFSSD). Over the last five-plus years, JFSSD has adapted and expanded its shelter network and services to serve more than 201,000 people seeking safety. This respite shelter network serves as a road map for how governments and communities across the US can build upon the experiences and lessons learned from the model in San Diego.

The San Diego Rapid Response Network calls for collaboration with the County of San Diego regarding specifics on the allocations of federal funds and next steps for coordination of services to those seeking safety and temporary care in San Diego.

SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services’ resources and infrastructure are currently stretched to capacity. We cannot provide respite shelter and services to all the people seeking asylum that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is releasing. The shelter will continue receiving up to 300 of the most vulnerable asylum seekers released by DHS daily, including people with medical conditions, families, pregnant people, LGBTQI people, older adults, etc., as space allows.

The County of San Diego and Jewish Family Service of San Diego have announced the successful completion of the Recovery Action Fund for Tomorrow (RAFT) grant program – assisting 2,242 low-income families and seniors and distributing $8,968,000 in cash to those in need in the aftermath of the pandemic.

JFS’s economic mobility and opportunity team leads innovative projects designed to alleviate the major stumbling blocks that underserved San Diego County families face, such as housing unaffordability, soaring health care costs and labor wage inequity. The programs provide vital financial investments in families with guaranteed income initiatives and targeted community-driven programming.

JFS, in response to input from the community, is adopting new nutrition wraparound services in 2024 designed to help people move forward in all areas of their lives. A new coaching program will be coming soon to the Corner Market and JFS’s home-delivered meals and congregate dining sites continue for those who need them most, along with emergency food distributions.

National University announced a partnership with Jewish Family Service of San Diego to expand National University’s mobile clinic healthcare services to impact further the health and wellness needs of the San Diego community. The unique on-site mobile clinic, staffed by nurse practitioners and healthcare professionals, provides medical services, prescriptions, and lab work for JFS’s four City of San Diego Safe Parking Program lots, serving individuals living out of their vehicles.

We write with concerns about U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)’s practices relating to the processing of family groups at the southern border which result in harmful separations.

ACLUF-SDIC, CILP and JFS have filed complaints with DHS about similar concerns in the past. Today’s CRCL complaint focuses on family separations stemming from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)’s ongoing practice of releasing high volumes of recently processed migrants to transit centers and makeshift nonprofit organization installations throughout San Diego County since mid-September 2023 without providing basic necessities, including food, water, and shelter, medical screening or stabilization, or onward travel coordination. Al Otro Lado has documented 1,081 unique instances of separations among adult family members since mid-September 2023. “We have seen too many cases in which part of a family will be in our care at the San Diego Rapid Response Migrant Shelter Services with no knowledge of where their other family members are. At best, they are somewhere else in the county. There are some instances where people have been detained in other states. The most devastating instances are when a family member has been deported with little hope for reunification,” said Kate Clark, Esq., Senior Director of Immigration Services at JFSSD.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) has promoted Shreya Sasaki to Vice President of Programs and Services. This newly created position will play a critical role in shaping and advancing the JFS mission, ensuring continued program excellence, and driving additional innovation to address evolving community needs. Shreya was formerly JFS Senior Director of Family and Community Services, Gina Mittal has been promoted to this position. Gina will oversee a breadth of JFS initiatives, including refugee resettlement, positive parenting education and other JFS programs that strengthen families.

Each day, JFS lives out our value of repairing the world, to support people from all backgrounds and to bring compassion and humanity to every moment.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) welcomes Little Amal to the San Diego borderlands Nov. 3-5. A 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old refugee girl named Little Amal, this cross-border interactive art experience is spreading the critical story of hope throughout the U.S. and Mexico.

We join Jewish communities around the world in standing in solidarity with the people of Israel.

Miles4Migrants, Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFSSD), and San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) have teamed up to provide essential aid to asylum seekers left vulnerable on the streets of San Diego. This collaborative effort aims to facilitate 150 flights per week, offering a lifeline to these individuals and families, reuniting them with their loved ones across the United States.

We urge all levels of government to continue funding the critical resources needed to sustain operations and to welcome and assist all people seeking asylum arriving in the San Diego border region. And importantly, following the County of San Diego Board of Supervisors’ resolution passed on Sept. 26, we urge the County to take action and use its own funds and seek other funding sources to fulfill this urgent need.

Together as members of the Antisemitism Roundtable and as leaders in San Diego’s Jewish Community, we thank the San Diego City Council, which unanimously condemned the vile antisemitic, racist and homophobic statements made in public comment throughout last night’s City Council meeting. This vitriol has no place in our public discourse, and we appreciate the Council’s rejection of the remarks and their determination to reduce opportunities for any form of hate speech in the future.

DACA Day will be held on Saturday, Sept. 9 at the JFS Joan & Irwin Jacobs Campus in Kearny Mesa (8804 Balboa Avenue) from 9:00am to 1:00pm Space is limited with pre-event registration required via jfssd.org/dacaday; registration ends August 31.