by Elaine Durbach
NJJN Bureau Chief/Central

May 21, 2009

ETP Network founder Rod Colon told a meeting of the Central New Jersey Networking Group that he sees membership in such a body as an opportunity for each person to find ways to help others — and to receive the help they need themselves. “There’s no limit to how far this can go,” he said.

At the May 12 meeting, there was more talk about exciting new possibilities than there were complaints about lost jobs, though many of the two dozen people there had felt that pain.

The meeting was held at the YM-YWHA of Union County under the auspices of the ETP Network with support from the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey and the Union Y. It was hosted by Aaron Cohen, the leader of the Central NJ group, and his wife, Laura.

ETP — which stands for “empowering today’s professionals” — is a mutual help organization whose volunteer members teach networking and job search skills.

Janet Fleischer of Elizabeth, who has extensive experience handling medical records and billing in doctors’ offices, when asked if she could train others in medical billing, lit up. “I could go into a doctor’s office, watch what’s going on, and within a day or two I could show them how to get things working far better,” she said.

She, in turn, suggested that meeting participant Andree Laney of West Orange, an attorney who has worked in labor and employment law, could seek work helping doctors with compliance issues. Laney paused at that suggestion. “At first I wasn’t that receptive,” she said later, “but it’s the field my mother worked in. It could be really interesting.”

Together we can

Another meeting participant was Carol Einhorn, the social worker hired by Jewish Family Service of Central NJ, with a grant from the Central federation, to help people deal with the economic crisis through its Together We Can Community Economic Recovery Initiative.

Recognizing the degree of distress in the community — and despite across-the-board funding cutbacks — the federation committed $176,000 to the JFS economic recovery team. It has also promised to continue funding at that level for at least a second year.

Einhorn, together with the agency’s new vocational counselor, is offering — free of charge — vocational counseling, financial advice, and counseling to help people deal with the emotional issues related to financial stress and job loss.

The JFS/federation program is offering counseling at the JFS offices in Elizabeth, but also at synagogues and private venues across the area. Einhorn sent out an invitation to congregations, offering to conduct programs and offer appointments at their buildings and to work with volunteers from the community to counsel job seekers and provide financial advice.

Temple Emanu-El in Westfield was one of the first to respond, and she has been meeting with people there on a weekly basis.

Einhorn is planning to offer talks and workshops on a variety of subjects related to the economic situation. One of the first will be on dealing with the strain that financial stress places on a marriage. Another topic will be talking with children about changes in the family’s finances.

Contact info

For more information about Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey counseling or to make an appointment with social worker Carol Einhorn, contact her at 908-352-8375, ext. 239, or ceinhorn@jfscentralnj.com.

For more information about the Central New Jersey Networking Group, contact Aaron Cohen at centralnjnetworkinggroup@gmail.com or visit www.etpnetwork.com.

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Synagogues join forces

A team of three area synagogues from across the denomination spectrum have joined efforts to assist congregants who are out of work or underemployed.

Congregation B’nai Israel and Chabad Jewish Center, both in Basking Ridge, and Temple Har Shalom in Warren are drawing from their own pool of “talent” — members who are human resource experts, managerial team leaders, department heads, and placement experts — to help those out of work by assisting with the first step: polishing and reviewing their resumes and cover letters.

The effort followed a meeting that included Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey executive vice president Stanley Stone; Carol Einhorn, a social worker at Jewish Family Service of Central NJ who oversees the federation-funded Community Economic Recovery Initiative; Debbie Rosenwein, JFCNJ director of planning and allocations; and Rabbis John Schechter of B’nai Israel, Randi Musnitsky of Har Shalom, and Mendy Herson of Chabad.

“Each of us knows at least a dozen congregants who are out of work,” and even more who are underemployed, said Schechter, a Conservative rabbi. The rabbis “hear the pain and frustration and difficulty of congregants who find themselves at the first time in their lives unable to make future plans.” Musnitsky is Reform and Herson is Orthodox/Chabad.

To that end, the rabbis are soliciting cover letters and resumes from congregants, stripping their names from the materials, and planning an evening in June when the experts can review the materials on an anonymous basis.

“There is no hiring at this point,” said Schechter, adding that when the economy does improve, these candidates’ resumes and cover letters have to be as “polished and as ready as possible…it has to read in a solid fashion.”

— LORI SILBERMAN BRAUNER

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