Breaking: Jami and Jewish Care announce merger

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.