Peter Bloch, JVS president and chief executive officer, made the following comments during a noontime program on May 6, 2010, as JVS celebrated its 70^th anniversary:

During our seven decades of existence, one of the great strengths of JVS has been its many, many partnerships and collaborations with our sister organizations, with employers, with customers, and with funders.  We are very grateful for our continuing partnership with the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and for its longstanding support for both our VIP program and for the Cincinnati Career Network.   As we identified additional needs, we found new partners like the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services and most recently, the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities Services.   Over the years, work has been the key common denominator.   We have always embraced goal setting and achievement as a way to build self esteem, pride and a sense of dignity that is both empowering and enriching.

Today, thanks to an incredibly talented and devoted staff, JVS serves about 300 people each day and more than 3500 people during the course of a year. The real story, however, is not in those numbers, but in the individual achievement -- the outcomes -- that result from our continuing, creative, individual focus on each individual and his or her aspirations. We measure our success by the achievements and satisfaction of those we serve and use that data to modify and improve our services.

Even as we celebrate this significant milestone, we are looking beyond our current challenging realities to focus on what we must do as an organization to sustain and enhance our services. We are committed to anticipating and meeting the needs of the individuals and communities we serve by fostering self-esteem, independence, accomplishment and community participation.  We care for and invest in our employees’ wellbeing, growth and development.  We operate in a fiscally responsible manner.  We seek to collaborate with other organizations to respond to changing community needs and opportunities.  We strive to be a nimble, resilient organization able to confront challenging environments and emerging needs.

I am grateful to our Board for its strategic and devoted stewardship of JVS, Thank you for your commitment, your energy, and your wonderful partnership in these challenging times. I also want to thank the many individuals, organizations and institutions - from funders to Work Center customers and to employers for their support and collaboration. And to our wonderful, dedicated, hard working, talented staff, thanks for your efforts everyday on behalf of those we serve. You are the heart and soul of JVS and the real story behind our successes. I also want to thank the people we serve.  You inspire us every day to do a little better, to do a little more, and to be more supportive – you truly are what matters most. Today, as we celebrate our 70^th anniversary, we are rededicating this beautifully renovated building that is now so much more functional and accommodating. We are now able to house the nurse and the behavioral specialist that our program has been lacking.  Just as important, it allows us to rededicate ourselves to empowering our consumers and enriching their lives and, in so many ways, our own as well. 

Peter Bloch made the following comments during an evening program on May 6 for the JVS anniversary celebration:

Earlier today, at a brief program rededicating this building during our open house, I referenced the many partnerships and collaborations that have been the hallmark of our successes over the years. None has been more important than our relationship with the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. Beginning with our earliest efforts to assist European immigrants in acclimating to Cincinnati and finding a job, our Cincinnati Career Network, supported by the Jewish Federation and JVS has been a longstanding constant.

Today, too many members of our community have had their lives literally reset by the economic crisis and are worried that they will not be able to get back to where they once were. They grapple with a change in lifestyle, their social network, where they live, where their children go to school and so on. As they go through this so called situational poverty, they are suffering the loss of a dream, a future lifestyle, of personal and family identities.

Our efforts through the Cincinnati Career Network help them to stabilize their work lives so they can begin the process of rebuilding their worlds. The time it takes to regain employment has doubled to twelve months or even longer depending on the industry. In some instances, this has forced people to cobble together several jobs in order to reach some level of economic self sufficiency, often at lower pay and with fewer or no benefits.

Our CCN caseload has nearly tripled to about 200 since 2008, presenting a huge challenge for our two very skilled and caring career consultants. In addition to changing our service delivery methods to include more group programming, the advent of social media creates a new set of tools that can significantly benefit those engaged in a job search, those establishing a business or expanding a brand, and those wishing to be connected to family and friends.