JCCGCI was honored to welcome Dr. Helen J. Arteaga, MPH, PhD, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services of New York City, along with Adrian Gonzalez, Senior Advisor, to our Coney Island headquarters on July 1st for an in-depth visit and comprehensive discussion of JCCGCI’s citywide programs, impact, and priorities.

Upon arriving, the Deputy Mayor and Senior Advisor Gonzalez were greeted by Executive Director Rabbi Moshe Wiener and our team of program directors. Rabbi Wiener opened the meeting with an overview of JCCGCI’s history, mission, citywide reach, and vision for the future.

In the more than five decades since its founding, JCCGCI has grown from a local Coney Island institution into a major social service provider in New York City, serving diverse communities throughout the five boroughs with programs designed to meet people’s evolving needs at every stage of life. The visit provided an important opportunity to demonstrate firsthand both the breadth of these services and the needs of the New Yorkers they support.

During the visit, Deputy Mayor Arteaga and Senior Advisor Gonzalez heard directly from JCCGCI program directors about the organization’s extensive range of programs and services, from comprehensive supports for Older Adults and Holocaust survivors to workforce development, adult literacy, internship programs, mental health services, in-school and after-school programming, community safety initiatives, and JCCGCI’s NonProfit HelpDesk, which provides capacity-building technical assistance throughout the city. 

Rather than focusing on a single site, the visit was structured as a series of focused conversations, giving the Deputy Mayor and her team an opportunity to hear directly from the professionals who administer these programs each day, while enabling JCCGCI’s program leadership to present community needs, operational challenges, and emerging priorities directly to senior City leadership.

Program directors spoke candidly about the challenges communities face, the gaps they work every day to close, and the partnerships that make their work possible. The exchange underscored the importance of sustained communication between City leadership and community-based professionals with firsthand knowledge of the needs confronting New Yorkers.

For JCCGCI, the visit was more than a formality; it highlighted the role JCCGCI has developed over more than five decades not only as a provider of essential services, but also as a bridge between the communities we serve and the public systems designed to support them. As New York City continues to  address significant and evolving human-service needs, strong partnerships between government and experienced community-based organizations remain essential.

Executive Director Rabbi Wiener expressed his gratitude for the Deputy Mayor’s time and attention, noting that “visits like this one strengthen the vital relationship between JCCGCI and city government, a relationship built on decades of collaboration in service to New Yorkers.”

The visit offered a valuable opportunity to share both JCCGCI’s accomplishments and the pressing needs that remain. We are deeply grateful to Deputy Mayor Arteaga and Senior Advisor Gonzalez for taking the time to engage so thoughtfully with our leadership and learn about our programs, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with the City in serving New Yorkers at every stage of life.

👉 Want to learn more about JCCGCI’s programs? Visit JCCGCI.ORG