For the more than 2,000 individuals who receive help from Yad Chessed every year, no two clients are ever the same. As Deborah Freed, the Newton-based nonprofit’s associate executive director and its longest-serving social worker, explains, Yad Chessed helps to address the unique challenges of Jewish individuals and families facing economic insecurity, including those who may already be receiving government assistance like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or MassHealth. However, many still struggle to afford basic needs such as hearing aids, dental work, or household essentials like toilet paper, shampoo, or cleaning products. These gaps in coverage can often be the difference between struggling and getting by, and Yad Chessed steps in to help fill them.
However, despite their extensive outreach, the organization only has four social workers to meet these needs.
Introducing the Jewish Assistance Network
When Nancy Kriegel became executive director of Yad Chessed four years ago, she quickly recognized that the organization was facing significant challenges in meeting the wide-ranging needs of its clients. She spent her first few months observing the operations and noticed a key inefficiency: the amount of time social workers spent searching for resources and services for their clients. This prompted Kriegel to think about how to streamline these processes to provide better support for those in need.
In response, Kriegel envisioned a centralized platform that would allow social workers to access available resources quickly and efficiently. By reducing the time spent on administrative tasks, the platform could free up more time for social workers to focus on helping clients directly. With this in mind, Kriegel set out to create an innovative solution, JAssist — the Jewish Assistance Network. The goal was not only to help Yad Chessed’s social workers but also to provide a tool that could be used by other Jewish organizations across the community, as well as by individuals and families themselves.
Kriegel received support from a matching grant from Project Accelerate, along with backing from CJP, which helped her turn her vision into a reality. CJP, with its broad view of the local community, played a crucial role in guiding and elevating the project. As Kriegel explains, “CJP has this incredible bird’s-eye view and ability to see above and across the community like no other organization.” This collaboration ensured that JAssist would reach its full potential, benefiting the broader community.
In addition to CJP, Yad Chessed also partnered with other key Jewish organizations, including Jewish Family & Children’s Service, JVS Boston, and Jewish Family Service of Metrowest. This collaborative approach helped ensure that JAssist would be effective and widely accessible, and an additional resource in CJP’s and community partners’ Anti-Poverty Initiative work, which includes the Warmline. “There’s power in collaboration,” says Freed, emphasizing how working together would allow the organizations to better serve the community.
One of the key benefits of JAssist is that it helps reduce the frustration many individuals face when trying to navigate social services. In the past, clients often found themselves being bounced between agencies or struggling to find resources on their own. Now, JAssist provides a one-stop platform where users can easily locate the support they need.
A digital platform for the community
As part of the process of building the platform, Kriegel and her team came across FindHelp.com, an existing resource that offered a similar service but lacked the specific focus on the Jewish community that Yad Chessed needed. Recognizing the potential of this platform, Kriegel and her team decided to purchase a license and adapt it to better serve their clients’ needs.
Kriegel was excited about the opportunity to create a platform that could represent the complex array of services available to individuals in need. She recalls, “It took me some time to learn all of the organizations and parse through what all of us offer. If I didn’t know, then the average person out there struggling doesn’t know.” With JAssist, Kriegel realized she could bring clarity to what had previously been a confusing and overwhelming process.
JAssist allows community members to easily search for and access services in their area. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and anonymous, reducing the barriers to accessing help. Users simply enter their ZIP code and are presented with a wide range of services, from legal assistance to car repair to mental health care. The platform empowers individuals with the information they need to make informed decisions about the resources available to them.
For Yad Chessed’s social workers, JAssist is a game-changer. It allows them to quickly and efficiently refer clients to the right resources, which frees up their time to provide more personalized and dedicated support. In addition, the digital intake form they use with JAssist further streamlines the process, ensuring that clients are directed to the most appropriate services without unnecessary delays.
For those who do not have access to the internet, Yad Chessed continues to provide traditional methods of support, such as the Warmline and referrals.
“We want people to access help in whatever way works for them,” Freed says. “We have several digital ways to access help, and people can still reach us by phone. We understand that when people need help, it can be hard to ask, and we want to make it as easy as possible.”
A new era for social services
The impact of JAssist is already being felt by individuals who would otherwise have gone without assistance. “JAssist helps us reach those who might not even be aware of what’s available to them,” Freed says. “By lowering the barriers to accessing support, Yad Chessed is able to extend its reach and serve a broader segment of the community.”
Kriegel and her team remain focused on finding new ways to support the Jewish community’s most vulnerable members, and the integration of JAssist is just the beginning. In the future, the platform will continue to grow, incorporating even more resources, expanding its reach to serve more individuals, and redefining what it means to provide effective, compassionate assistance in the modern world.
“Life is hard, and the challenges our community faces are complex,” Kriegel says. “But there’s a network of agencies and resources ready to help, and we want to make sure that people know where to find that support. That’s the power of JAssist.”
