Gov't layoffs send ripple effect within DC-area Jewish community

(JNS) — The wave of impending U.S. government layoffs has touched cities, suburbs and rural areas across the country. One demographic, in particular, is bracing for impact: Jewish day schools in and around Washington, D.C.

Jewish Insider reported that “local schools, synagogues and social-service agencies are making plans to support laid-off community members and their families,” and wrestling with how fewer students and dues-paying members will upend their bottom lines.

“It’s day schools, it’s camps, it’s early childhood, JCC memberships,” Gil Preuss, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, rattled off. 

He spoke of the insecurity of the situation, noting that Jewish family members “may never lose their job, but they may still make different decisions about where they spend their money because of fear of what might happen.”

Schools are already seeing an increase in requests for aid from parents.

At the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School—a pre-K-8 institution in D.C. proper where half of the school’s families have at least one parent either employed by the federal government or an agency receiving federal funding—plans for government shutdowns or furloughs are already in place. Administrators say they have never had to prepare for a financial situation like this, according to Jewish Insider.

Other organizations, including federations and synagogues, have set up extra funds to help offset these costs, including a reserve available for rabbis to disburse up to $1,500 a family to congregants in need.