Jewish Community Center

A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social, and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish culture and heritage through holiday celebrations, Israel-related programming, and other Jewish education. However, they are open to everyone in the community.
JCC Association of North America is the continental umbrella organization for the Jewish Community Center movement, which includes more than 170 JCCs, YM–YWHAs, and camp sites in the U.S. and Canada.
The Hebrew Young Men's Literary Association was first set up in 1854 in a building at the corner of Fayette and Gay Streets in Baltimore, Maryland to provide support for Jewish immigrants. Dr. Aaron Friedenwald was the group's founder and first president.
The first Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) was founded in New York City on October 10, 1874, with Lewis May as its first president. The first official headquarters were at 112 West 21st Street in Manhattan. Young Women's Hebrew Association (YWHA) was first established as an annex to the YMHA in 1888. YWHA was founded to provide spiritual and material support for the young Jewish women who were moving to cities at the time. YMHA helped young Jewish women find housing and employment. Fannie Liebovitz was one of the founders. The first independent YWHA was established in 1902. The New York YMHA and YWHA now operate together as the 92nd Street Y. (There are two other YM–YWHA organizations in Manhattan, which are not affiliated with the 92nd Street Y. They are the 14th Street Y, and the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood. The 14th Street Y, in the Gramercy/East Village neighborhood, is a branch of the Educational Alliance. The Washington Heights organization serves a diverse community uptown.) In 1917, these organizations were combined into a Jewish Welfare Board.
Following a merger of the Young Men's Hebrew Association, Young Women's Hebrew Association, and the Jewish Education Alliance, the organization was renamed Jewish Community Center (JCC) in 1951. Many member organizations adopted the new name, but some other member organizations did not do so, particularly in the New York metropolitan area, such as:
An example of the objectives of Jewish Community Centers can be seen within the New Bedford, Massachusetts branch's Constitution. In January 1947, the Jewish Community Center of New Bedford listed the following objectives:
JCC Association offers a wide range of services and resources to help its affiliates to provide educational, cultural, social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. JCC Association supports the largest network of Jewish early childhood centers and Jewish summer camps in North America and is also a U.S. government accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs of Jewish military personnel through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Some JCCs provide services for people with disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities. In 2008, The Mandel JCC of Cleveland was awarded $652,500 in grant funding to be used for individuals with disabilities. Cleveland-area children and adults with emotional, physical and developmental disabilities now have many opportunities to get involved in fitness, wellness and recreational activities. Whenever possible, activities are inclusive and children are able to fully participate, usually with the assistance of an aide.
As a rule, today JCCs are open to other ethnic groups as well, with a possible exception of strictly traditional Jewish activities. In fact, many JCCs sponsor local events. There are, however, many other activities that anyone can host at the JCC.
There are over 170 JCCs across North America in 43 US states and Canadian provinces. The states with the most JCCs include New York with 37, California with nearly 20, and 13 in Florida and New Jersey. Almost all of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. now have at least one JCC, and many smaller communities also have locations. JCCs all over the country provide a wide range of social, cultural, and educational services, ranging from lectures, concerts, theater performances, and dance recitals to health and fitness classes, job training workshops, and citizenship classes.
Their programs and activities vary by location. Particularly noteworthy is the JCC in West Bloomfield, Michigan, which is the largest JCC in North America, and possibly the world. The Holocaust Memorial Center, which attracts many visitors to its programs and exhibits, used to be a part of the JCC of West Bloomfield, but recently opened a building of its own. The West Bloomfield JCC houses two gymnasiums which can be made into three gyms using a movable wall, a workout area, an indoor full size and kiddie pool, an outdoor full size pool, a kosher restaurant, a Michigan Jewish war veterans museum, an in line hockey center, a library, ceramics/art rooms, a large multi-purpose room (Handleman Hall), an art museum, an area dedicated to teaching and learning about tzedakah (charity) called Shalom Street, a performing arts theater in the basement, a preschool, offices for summer camps, the previously mentioned preschool, and other administrative offices and organizations. The top floor is completely dedicated to The Jean and Samuel Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, a Jewish High School which opened in 2000. The JCC building is on the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus along with multiple living quarters for the elderly and mentally disabled and an Alzheimer's treatment building.
A significant addition to the family of JCCs in North America is the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. This eleven-story building situated in Manhattan's Upper West Side neighborhood opened its doors in the winter of 2002. The JCC offers a diversity of programs, from parenting to fitness and wellness, and each year the organization produces four week-long film festivals, an all-night Tikkun Leil Shavuot, a New Year's Day fitness fair, and an annual Symposium on Positive Aging. The JCC features multiple centers dedicated to segments of its community, including the Jack and Shirley Silver Center for Special Needs, the Bert and Sandra Wasserman Center for Family Life, the Selma and Lawrence Ruben Center for 20s + 30s, and the new Wechsler Center for Modern Aging, for those aged 60+.
Solar thermal panels were installed at the Joan and Alan Bernikow JCC in Staten Island 2011.
In recent decades, several incidents that have taken place at JCCs and other Jewish-related locations across the United States and Canada, as well as the September 11 attacks, have prompted JCCs in all areas to increase security at their facilities. Some of these events have included: