By Jewish Link Staff

On Sunday, November 17, Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Northern New Jersey (JFCS) will hold its Annual Celebration, honoring its own beloved Chief Executive Officer Susan Greenbaum, along with Bergen County Commissioner Tracy Zur. The event will mark Greenbaum’s final Annual Celebration as the organization’s CEO, as she bids a bittersweet farewell to an organization she holds so dear. She is retiring in June 2025 with plans to make aliyah.

It was 2014 when Greenbaum, a licensed clinical social worker, took on the role of executive director at the Jewish Family Service of Bergen and North Hudson. Up till then, she had spent the vast majority of her career working for the JCC, and knew this new role at Jewish Family Service would be a big change. But she relished the fact that this agency was in her very own community of Bergen County, which she loves very much, where she raised her two children, and still lives to this day. Describing it as a relatively small agency at the time, she said, “I saw it as a great opportunity for me to do something different and lead a different type of Jewish nonprofit agency in my own community.”

When the agency had just begun to grow and change about a year into Greenbaum’s tenure, she and her team were informed by the Federation that they would be merging with another small agency, Jewish Family Service of North Jersey, based in Wayne and Fair Lawn. By 2017 JFCS of Northern New Jersey was established with Greenbaum at the helm.

“The agency has grown and it has been a tremendous honor and privilege to go through this merger, expanding and rebranding our agency and its impact to consolidate all of the strengths of each of the legacy agencies to become a stronger, more focused organization that can deliver consistent programs and services to everybody in our catchment area,” Greenbaum said. The agency is now working on its second strategic plan and for her, the process has been rewarding, “but I feel that nonprofit organizations deserve new leadership.” So after 11 years in this role, Greenbaum is stepping down next year and is looking for her next big adventure.

She is especially pleased with how JFCS reorganized all of its programs and services into a suite of services that makes a lot of sense from an organizational standpoint, especially as it relates to older adults.

She recalled how soon after assuming her position, JFCS was asked by the courts to take on the guardianship of an elderly woman in the community who had significant resources but no family to look after her. She was living in squalor without proper care, and her money was being spent irresponsibly. The woman had come to the attention of the court system because she had sustained an injury and was being exploited by many people who were supposed to be helping her. Greenbaum and her team at JFCS took on the responsibility of guardianship, and assigned a dedicated case manager who would also function as a surrogate support system. “Through that, this woman’s quality of life just transformed immediately and this instance became the genesis of our senior care management, to provide them with a support system and to help them avoid having their resources squandered, by assisting them and responsibly coordinating their needs.”

JFCS is now in the beginning stages of expanding its already robust suite of mental health services. This includes strategically examining how to expand into more intensive outpatient (IOP) services and resources for members in the community who very much need these services but are struggling to pay for them. “We have a team of the best clinicians in Northern New Jersey who are covered by insurance and copays and provide comprehensive psychotherapy for adults, adolescents, and children,” Greenbaum said.

Now in the planning stages of the agency’s second strategic plan, Greenbaum said, “I am incredibly incredibly proud of the board, leadership and all of the improvements and changes that we have made in governance.” She also takes tremendous pride in JFCS’s response during the pandemic.

“We now provide the social work support at the JCC on the Palisades and we continue to work extremely closely with the Federation, and all of the day schools in our community,” she added. “We really try to sit at as many tables as we can.” JFCS also plays a role in age-friendly initiatives in Teaneck, Englewood and Westwood. “JFCS has worked very hard to collaborate with all of the various organizations in order to fulfill our mission.”

Greenbaum said that because JFCS is vocal and vigilant regarding a coalition of agencies that access government funding, it is able to access significant government resources for community members who need it, and many other agencies refer to JFCS for that assistance. “We work very hard to be out there because it helps us understand the trends and the needs—both current and emerging—in the community.”

Calling her staff the greatest part of her job, she says that a huge part of her role was also advocating for them and making their lives as manageable as possible so that they can do the essential work that was needed in the community. “Nonprofit professionals and people working at all levels of nonprofits should really be entitled to gainful employment, and I would like to personally make a plea as a woman who worked very hard to get to where I am professionally, that we need to do more to show our appreciation for our nonprofit professionals. Let nobody think that any of this work is easy or without stress or short hours or any of those aspects. This work is hard and stressful and people take it home. All of it.”

Friends and family will be flying in from all over the world to honor and pay tribute to Greenbaum, including her two children, Sarah (who lives in Israel) and Yoni (who lives in Copenhagen). They watched as she had honored so many other people over the years and there was no way they were going to miss this moment.

“I feel very loved, by my leadership, by my staff, my family, and I look forward to and want to bless my agency with just much success, continued growth, and continued incredible impact on our amazing community. Our job is to keep our community healthy and what better job to have?”

To make reservations or donate to the JFCS celebration, visit JFCSNNJ.org/RSVP