Mission
Formerly known as the Jewish Child Care Association, JCCA’s mission is to address the child welfare and mental health needs of New York’s most vulnerable children and their families. They are committed to providing the highest quality services to ensure that every child can thrive in a safe, stable, and supportive environment. Guided by the Jewish mandate of tikkun olam, which emphasizes the responsibility of each individual to make the world a better place, JCCA stands as one of the oldest, most distinguished child and family services organizations in the United States.
Supported Causes
JCCA’s programs include foster and residential care, educational services and funding schemes, care coordination for children with mental health diagnoses, family support services, treatment programs for children, and mentoring for young adults in the highest-risk neighborhoods. The association’s diverse staff works closely with families and children to provide the necessary services and support for positive life transformations.
The Foundation's History
JCCA origins trace back to 1822 when New York’s Jewish community raised $300 to aid fellow members in need. Initially known as the Hebrew Benevolent Society, the organization established New York City’s first Jewish orphanage in 1860. Since then JCCA has assisted more than a million young people and children facing challenges like poverty, abuse, neglect, developmental disabilities, or mental illness.
Projects
Every year, JCCA programs help more than 17,000 children and families across New York’s many diverse communities:
Behavioral Health and Wellness
These collaborative outreach programs offer rapid assessment, crisis intervention, and treatment. They support families during pivotal moments by connecting them with essential resources like schools, courts, health care, recreation, and community services.
Family Support Prevention
These initiatives aim to stabilize, support, and strengthen families facing difficulty, focusing on resolving immediate problems and preventing out-of-home placement of children at risk. JCCA has professional staff on hand, trained in supporting families that struggle with domestic conflict, mental illness, substance abuse, truancy, and parental stress.
Foster Home Services
JCCA is one of the largest and most respected foster care agencies in New York City. It plays a crucial role in placing children in secure, nurturing environments, simultaneously offering assistance to families in establishing safe and healthy homes. The ultimate goal is to reunite children with their parents permanently, if possible. Additionally, JCCA offers comprehensive training and ongoing support for foster families.
LEAP (Leadership Education Achievement Pathways)
JCCA’s LEAP division provides academic, vocational, and life-skills support to children and adolescents, fostering long-term educational and professional success.
Residential Care – Pleasantville Cottage Campus
Four residential programs — Pleasantville Cottage School, Edenwald Center, and Pleasantville START (Short-Term Assessment and Rapid Treatment) — provide a safe, structured, and highly supervised environment for 300 troubled and often traumatized youth. The JCCA’s skilled and caring staff, teach the young residents how to heal physically and emotionally so that they can return to their communities.
Services in the Jewish Community
Along with meeting the needs of all of New York’s vulnerable children and families, regardless of religious, ethnic, and racial background, JCCA is also dedicated to providing culturally sensitive services to Jewish children and their families through mental health, vocational, educational, and recreational programs.