Margo is the executive director of The Jewish Fund – established in 1997 from the sale proceeds of Sinai Hospital to the Detroit Medical Center – created to support efforts primarily in the Jewish community, but also within the general community, that promote health and wellbeing in metro Detroit. 

Written By: Margo Pernick

From the early stages of The Jewish Fund’s history, we have been supportive of Kadima. Because of the alignment of our missions – with the Jewish Fund’s focus on the health and wellbeing of the community and Kadima’s primary purpose to provide positive programs, services and activities for people with mental health needs – Kadima presented itself as quite an appropriate partner.

Our practice is to focus on helping launch new programs and services that have the possibility of being sustainable through other financial resources or planned fundraising. From the beginning of our relationship together, when Kadima has approached The Jewish Fund with a new idea or program, it has come from a place of thorough research on an identified need, engaging mental health providers and surveying stakeholders rather than operating on a whim.

They don’t have to do that. As a nonprofit, you could just “do what you do.” It takes a lot of work to begin new programs and then to fund, staff and maintain them. Not every nonprofit does that. Some nonprofits just stay the course, focused on providing what they’ve always provided, remaining focused on their original vision rather than maintaining a flexibility for new needs that may arise. Take the Integrated Health Care Program, for example. The program closely aligns with our mission and our focus on health and wellbeing. It also is the trend in modern health care to coordinate physical and mental health. Because of what it was trying to accomplish and the way Kadima put together the plan, it was met with our enthusiastic our support.

That is one of the things that is very compelling about Kadima. They are continuously working to identify ways to better serve their clients, whether they have pinpointed an unmet need, determined a necessary shift of focus or identified a necessary expansion of current services. Their work really comes from a place of giving their clients the most successful chance in life they can.

Kadima has always made the most of funds we’ve provided and has continued their new programs and services – unless they weren’t needed anymore – through its own funds, whether from endowments, organizational dollars, annual campaigns or other kinds of giving. It is exactly what we hope happens with a grant from the Jewish Fund – to maintain programs for as long as they are needed beyond the Jewish Fund’s initial start-up support.

That dedication is one of the reasons Kadima was a recipient of our Robert Sosnick Award of Excellence. The Robert Sosnick Award of Excellence was established in memory of Bob Sosnick, whose bold vision and leadership abilities led to the creation of The Jewish Fund. In tribute to Mr. Sosnick and in keeping with the mission of The Jewish Fund, programs selected for the award must be a collaborative, innovative and compassionate effort to improve the quality of life of our most vulnerable populations. Kadima embodies that sentiment.