Jewish Family Service (JFS) has been a lifeline for our community since 1892, providing critical support to Jewish individuals and families, refugees and immigrants, and the broader community as well. We support individuals and families facing financial crises, food insecurity, domestic violence, homelessness, cognitive disabilities, as well as refugees and immigrants seeking to rebuild their lives in a new country, older adults seeking connection and dignified care, and more.
Today, that lifeline is at risk.
Government cutbacks are threatening essential programs that keep our clients housed and healthy at the exact moment when demand for services is skyrocketing. As inflation and food insecurity surge, our clients are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Federal policies seeking to bar refugees and immigrants from entering or remaining in this country are putting children and families in danger.
JFS supported nearly 5,000 people last year who needed our help including 500 Jewish households who live below the federal poverty level and who rely on our community to survive. We also supported nearly 1,700 individuals and families in the last year, from nearly 50 different countries around the world, helping them resettle in a new country and on their path to self-sufficiency.
But ongoing federal efforts to slash support, like those below, are extremely harmful for our community:
- $500 million in Emergency Food Assistance funding from the federal government, for states to provide food to low-income people across the country, has been permanently canceled. This amounts to $4.7 million dollars’ worth of food for the state of Washington and includes items like frozen protein, dried fruits and milk which JFS clients rely on to be able to provide healthy food for their families.
- Federally Qualified Health Centers, which provide crucial healthcare to most JFS clients, are at risk due to Medicaid funding reductions.
- Many JFS clients rely on their small, monthly social security check to be able to pay their rent and live in government-subsidized housing. The government has signaled that reductions to these benefits are coming and changes to the Social Security Administration have already made it extremely difficult for JFS clients navigate receiving their Social Security payments.
- Rising food costs have increased the number of clients coming to the Polack Food Bank and, at the same time, the food bank has reached record-breaking demand, with 168 clients served in a single day in March 2025, tied for the highest number of visits in the food bank’s history. Due to federal government funding cuts, the sources of food our food bank relies on have also been hit hard.
Welcoming the stranger
For 133 years, JFS has been a beacon of hope for refugees and immigrants seeking safety, stability, and a fresh start. But our Refugee and Immigrant Services program has been deeply impacted by the suspension of our country’s Refugee Resettlement Program, barring refugees from entering the United States and stripping away federal funding to support refugees who fled violence and persecution, desperate to rebuild their lives in the Puget Sound region.
Given the significant funding loss for our Refugee and Immigrant Services’ work that JFS has experienced, we have made the painful decision to close our Humanitarian Relief Legal Services which provided clients with legal support in pursuing immigration relief such as asylum—critical and complex services that are in high demand.
Our extraordinary, culturally-sensitive, highly-skilled staff—many of whom are refugees and immigrants themselves—have responded by continuing to provide high-quality care to refugees who arrived in the area in the months leading up to the suspension of resettlement. We are also continuing to support the resettlement of Special Immigrant Visa holder Afghans who worked with U.S. troops during the war and are finding ways to flee to the United States, and arriving at our doorstep, literally, in many cases. We are also continuing our youth work, supporting youth survivors of sex and labor trafficking as well as children who enter the country without the protection of an adult.
Thanks to you, JFS is a lifeline
This is a moment of crisis—but it is also a moment of opportunity. JFS has always been a safety net for those in need, in partnership with our community that built and sustains the agency. With your support, we can ensure that no one in our community is left behind. Whether you’re able to contribute, volunteer, or share this information with your family and friends, your support can help save lives.
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