Our Impact
From Baby to Blessed Memory, the Federation is a part of everyday life.

Though its JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Committee), the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond is a central advocacy arm for the Jewish community in Richmond. In order to protect the interests of the Jewish community, we establish and maintain relationships with law enforcement, local community leaders, government officials and clergy. We also make regular statements on vital and timely issues, submit opinion pieces to the Richmond Times Dispatch, publish regular articles in the Reflector, promote our positions and informative articles on social media, and connect with our local television news stations to encourage coverage of important Jewish community issues.

Through our partners Hillel International and Hillel’s across the state of Virginia, the JCFR supports college students on the campuses where they study and live. We also help support the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel Fellows at UVA, VA Tech and GMU. We partner with the following on campus programs, Jewish Life at VCU, U of R Jewish Life, Brody Jewish Center at UVA, Hillel at VA Tech, Hillel at William and Mary, Radford Hillel, and Hillel at University of Mary Washington.

Through all of its programming and relationships, the JCFR strives to educate the community about the dangers of Antisemitism and how bias and bigotry, if unchecked, can grow into acts of violence and legal discrimination. By protecting our community physically and by utilizing op-eds and our relationships with community leaders and media outlets, the JCFR takes seriously the need to counter Antisemitic acts and Antisemitic rhetoric whether these incidences use classic canards and libels or attempts to demonize and delegitimize Israel.

The Jewish Community Federation of Richmond partnered with Secure Community Network (SCN) to enhance our community’s safety, security, and preparedness posture. Our Regional Security Advisor provides services to community institutions to enhance their safety, security, and emergency preparedness posture. These services are provided free of charge to non-profit Jewish community institutions, including synagogues, day schools, JCCs, and Jewish service organizations.

Education is relevant throughout one's whole life. From educating our community about the harms of Antisemitism to working with our legislators to affect positive social change to working with our Israeli partners, education in our community is a part of everyday. The Jewish Community Federation of Richmond also supports, RTA, Aleph Bet Preschool, the Weinstein JCC Preschool and continuing education for community members.

Richmond families of all ages and stages can find a place to learn and grow with the help of the JCFR and our community partners. Find your fit at either at the Weinstein JCC preschool or afterschool programs, Aleph Bet Preschool, Rudlin Torah Academy, youth groups, synagogue life, PJ Library programs and much more.

The Richmond Jewish community supports three food pantries, the Elmer Toth Weinstein JCC Pantry, the KBI Pantry and the Pantry at Beth Sholom Woods. During COVID, Federation made an allocation to FeedMore to support city wide food insecurity.

The Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, through its JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Committee), establishes relations with Government officials and legislators at the city, county, state, and Federal level. We lobby our government partners on issues ranging from legislation to enhance Holocaust Education in the Commonwealth, to Federal Legislation aimed at supporting non-profit security.

Federation supports high school students in a variety of ways, BBYO, Jewish Student Union and other youth groups offer programs for teens. Federation also offers Israeli teen trips and scholarships for students traveling to Israel.

Federation is the centralized location for resources and holidays events for Jewish of all denominations and affiliations. We strive to offer resources and programs for all levels of observance.

The JCFR believes it is integral to be in relationship with other cultural communities and faiths in wider Richmond community. This is both to foster mutual understandings and to create a network of allies for the times when we need their support – and for times when they need ours.

Our support of Israel is ingrained in the work of Federation. We look to build meaningful relationships with communities in Israel through our ‘people to people’ programs and support a variety of social service programs through our partners of JDC and the Jewish Agency. These programs support and include seniors, children, job training, those with disabilities, new olim and much more. We also provide Israel Education and Advocacy programs that focus on promoting accurate information about Israel and combatting the rise of Israel related Antisemitism.

The Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Committee (JCRC) is the central public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community. The JCRC handles government affairs and represents the Jewish community on many critical issues.

JCFR helps support children in our community in a variety of ways. Through PJ Library, our partnerships with the Weinstein JCC, Rudlin Torah Academy, and Aleph Bet Preschool. We also support Jewish Camp experience for children and much more. We strive to offer opportunities for children to connect with the community in a variety of meaningful ways.

Federation's Leadership Development program prepares community members to serve, advocate, and lead at Federation and other organizations around the community. This year long program empowers and prepares young leaders in the community to understand the intricacies of Federation and our affiliated agencies through a Jewish lens.

Since Federation’s inception the work of supporting Jews all over the world has been at the forefront of what we do. Though our partner JDC we fund communities all over the world in caring for seniors, those in need, and to help rebuild Jewish life. In times of global emergencies, such as the Haiti Earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the South East Asia Tsunami, we also raise funds to support people of all backgrounds and faiths.

JCFR is proud to provide scholarships and special grants for all types of educational initiatives enabling parents to send their children to overnight summer camps as well as to participate in Israel Experience programs. Nothing makes Jewish identity and history come alive for young people like an Israel Experience Program or a Jewish summer camp.

The Federation is committed to ensuring the seniors of our community are cared for and engaged in a variety of programs. We are proud to support the work of JFS and Beth Sholom Senior Living, as well as supporting programs like EnRich for Life and working with our congregations to engage those who’ve given our community so much.