Breaking: Jami and Jewish Care announce merger
After 17 years leading Jami, Laurie Rackind step down from his role as chief executive
Two of the Jewish community’s largest charities have today announced a merger of their boards.
Jewish Care supports more than 10,000 people each week and Jami is the leading charity supporting mental health in the Jewish community.
In an email to clients and supporters seen by Jewish News, Adam Dawson, chair of trustees at Jami, writes that the two charities are to become one.
“Eleven years ago, Jami and Jewish Care signed an association agreement to bring our organisations closer together. Since then, Jami’s support for people whose mental illness and distress makes everyday life a struggle has grown exponentially. With a record high in the prevalence of mental health problems for adults and children in our community, we have decided that now is the right time for both organisations to fully integrate.
“This move will ensure that the needs of the community continue to be met effectively, and the future of Jami’s vital mental health services are sustainable and secured for the future. Full integration will enable a better use of communal resources, focused governance, a stronger capacity to raise funds and broader promotion of Jami’s services. Please be assured that any donation you have made to Jami will still be used to deliver Jami’s essential mental health services.
“After 17 years leading Jami, Laurie Rackind will be stepping down from his role as Chief Executive but will remain closely involved with the transition towards full integration of Jami services into Jewish Care over the coming months.
“We owe him a great debt of gratitude. Laurie’s vision and leadership has driven Jami to transform the way mental health services are delivered; his contribution to Jami and our community has been enormous.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting Jami. Your generosity has helped to bring hope and help to thousands of people impacted by mental illness and distress in our community, and continues to be needed now more than ever. We are excited about this next stage of the journey and look forward to keeping you updated.”
- This is a developing story.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
