Justin Borses is a 21-year-old “valley kid from California” who lives with Cerebral Palsy. Currently, he is a student at California State University at Northridge (CSUN), majoring in broadcasting and journalism, but he’s secretly a theatre kid at heart. Justin is a major extrovert and thrives on conversation and interaction with others, which makes his [click to continue...]
Ignacio Estrada, the educational consultant and motivator, once said: “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” The Torah put it even more forcefully, “train a youth in his own way, he will not swerve from it even in old age.” (Proverbs 22:6) In 2015, Athena [click to continue...]
The mission of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles is to assist youth in reaching their full potential through innovative, impactful programs. For over 100 years, JBBBSLA has been offering one-to-one mentoring for Jewish youth who could benefit from an additional positive adult role model. In addition, JBBBSLA offers a Jewish and secular [click to continue...]
“The Jack and Shirley Silver Center for Special Needs builds and nurtures an inclusive and accepting community where individuals with disabilities and their families have opportunities to make meaningful connections to each other and their communities. We serve as a catalyst and leader for transforming the ways in which the community at large understands and [click to continue...]
Shlomo Meyers was born in Manhasset, New York on December 6, 1985 with Down Syndrome. He is the middle child in a family of seven children. Meyers currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Danielle. He has been working at Maimonides Academy in Los Angeles since 2014. Meyers describes himself as a kind, respectful [click to continue...]
Saturday night began the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av. This is a fast day, and traditionally requires a great deal of mourning. When determining our individual observance, however, we must remember core Jewish values. Judaism emphasizes the wellbeing of individuals and their safety. One should not put themselves in a position of harm because they [click to continue...]
“The Jewish Los Angeles Special Needs Trust (JLA Trust) provides professional trustee services to people with physical, mental, cognitive, and developmental disabilities with affordable pooled special needs trusts so beneficiaries of legal settlements and inheritances do not lose their essential government benefits. Our person-centered services support people surviving on these benefits (often SSI and/or Medi-Cal), [click to continue...]
Two weeks ago, I had the absolute joy and privilege to attend a webinar entitled “How Nonprofits Work.” It was the second of seven free, phenomenal webinars being put together by Joshua Steinberg. This “Leaders of the Future” series, which concludes on July 20, is providing incredible content to introduce aspiring Jewish lay leaders with [click to continue...]
Alex Howard is a compassionate, funny guy, to whom it is incredibly easy to talk. Alex has MEPAN Syndrome – one of only 18 people in the world with the condition – and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. MEPAN Syndrome is a rare genetic neurological disorder that usually presents in early childhood, but Alex was not diagnosed until [click to continue...]
Los Angeles, July 2 – Benjamin Rosloff, a talented filmmaker on the Autism spectrum who served as a Jewish Inclusion Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program, has created an unprecedented short documentary film that is a compilation of his one-on-one interviews with Jews with disabilities. The short film features deep insights and fabulous emotions [click to continue...]
