SAN DIEGO (Press Release) – The inaugural cohort of San Diego’s Jewish Community Emergency Response Team (JCERT) is now prepared to respond in the aftermath of local antisemitic incidents to help strengthen individual recovery and community resilience.
Nineteen Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) team members have graduated the JCERT training program after completing more than 35 hours of specialized coursework, developed by the organization’s Center for Jewish Care, on Jewish cultural competency, antisemitism, listening and communication skills, trauma and trauma-informed care. Future cohorts of the program will be members of the larger community, including from partner organizations.
Located throughout the county – from Escondido to the border and Alpine to the coast – this first group of responders represents eight spoken languages and several religions. Each is now ready to immediately respond after a hate incident or crime – whether individual or large-scale – against the San Diego Jewish community.
Certified in psychological first aid, suicide awareness and prevention, CPR/AED/first aid and food handling, the team is designated to assist victims with compassionate triage, psychological support, and connection with short-, medium-, and/or long-term resources to aid in recovery.
“We are grateful to our community partners and the JCERT graduating class for their passion and expertise,” said JFS CEO Michael Hopkins. “By providing an immediate compassionate response and connections to resources in the wake of an antisemitic incident or crime, JCERT will help our community heal from trauma.”
Drawing on JFS and the community’s experience in responding to the aftermath of the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting in 2019, JFS’s Center for Jewish Care is using part of its funding from a two-year $325,000 California Department of Social Services’ “Stop the Hate” grant to develop JCERT.
To learn more, get help or get involved, visit www.jfssd.org/jcert, or call 858-637-3000.
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Preceding provided by Jewish Family Service
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