Agudath Israel’s New England office is pleased to report on the success it has had over the past eight months since Mrs. Ariella Hellman became director of government affairs.
Jewish day schools and school leaders in Massachusetts have a lot to celebrate this summer. Agudah was proud to have partnered with schools throughout the pandemic to ensure that they had access to state level guidance and the opportunity to check in with policy makers as questions arose. Mrs. Hellman also worked closely with the schools to ensure that they could access all federal and state grant programs and any newly created COVID-relief opportunities. During the 2020-2021 Academic year, Jewish day schools accessed over $1.6 million in services.
Agudath Israel continues to make progress on the special education front to ensure that students in Jewish day schools can fully access their share of funding under state and federal special education law. Agudah was invited to co-lead a state-wide working group on this issue in partnership with Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary (DESE) and other leaders of the non-public school coalition. This working group includes both public and nonpublic school officials and is charged with advising DESE on a set of best practices and recommendations to address some of the remaining systemic issues with the implementation of the special education laws as they pertain to private school students in Massachusetts.
During this past legislative session, Agudah, in partnership with Project Access, a state-wide coalition of non-public schools advocated for a $1 million increase to the school health line-item along with nonpublic school equity language to ensure that these additional funds would be utilized for school services at nonpublic schools. Of this $1 million almost one third will be allocated to Jewish day schools across the state. Agudah also celebrates the inclusion of $1.5 million for nonprofit security grants in the state budget.
Agudah worked closely with community partners such as the Tifereth Raphael Food Pantry and Shaloh House Jewish Day School to navigate the USDA’s COVID waivers relating to the National School Lunch Program so that they could provide 7 days of nutritious kosher breakfast and lunch meals to all children regardless of family income levels. The beauty of these programs is that individuals who are struggling to access support may do so without any stigma or discomfort. These programs also allowed the Jewish community to contribute positively to the surrounding community in the Boston area by providing meals to many residents beyond the Jewish community. All were made to feel welcome and were encouraged to participate. Massachusetts is currently considering a bill to extend universal free lunch for future school years.
After the recent attack at Shaloh House, Mrs. Hellman reached out to key legislators to share the continued sense of fear and vulnerability in the Jewish community and to advocate for state support for security personnel. Several legislators have indicated that they are open to working with us to address this need. Agudah also worked closely with the Brookline rabbis to send a letter opposing a motion before the Brookline select board to relinquish the town’s designation as an “urban area” under the Department of Homeland Security Program. Had this occurred the town would have no longer been eligible for the federal nonprofit security grants under the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). Mrs. Hellman also testified before the Brookline Select Board on this topic and was pleased that the Select Board unanimously voted to retain their urban area designation under the UASI program.
This summer Agudah hosted a series of candidate forums with the candidates running for mayor in the city of Boston. Five of the six candidates (all but the acting mayor) attended Zoom forums with community members to discuss issues of importance to the community. The sessions were well-attended and helped to build bridges between the local community and the candidates. After the attack on Rabbi Noginsky outside of Shaloh House, all the candidates that we had hosted reached out directly to Agudah to share their concern and support for the community.
Agudah also compiled a list of government and community resources available to support families, which can be found here. These wide-ranging opportunities including kosher meals, support for rent and mortgage payments, tax credits and discounts on laptops among many other benefits. This resource has been shared with all the Jewish day schools and the Jewish social services agencies and we hope that it will create greater access to services and support for families in need within our community.
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