Met Council

In 1972, two major academic studies on the growing number of impoverished Jews in New York City were released. They estimated that the number stood at approximately 300,000 people. Today, the number of poor and near-poor in the Jewish community has swelled to over 500,000. These statistics prompted the formation of the Metropolitan New York Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty, with support from the American Jewish Congress and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York. With funding from the Human Resources Administration, this group selected Rabbi Jack Simcha Cohen as its first Executive Director and Jerome M. Becker as Chair of the organization. United Jewish Council of the East Side and the Concourse Jewish Community Council were established as the first Met Council-affiliated Jewish Community Councils. Since then, Met Council has continued to grown to the largest Jewish charity in America fighting poverty. Today, Met Council serves over 305,000 clients throughout New York City and surrounding areas. From affordable housing, capacity building initiatives, career services, crisis intervention, and family violence services, to health insurance enrollment assistance, home care programs, home services, immigrant services, and kosher food distribution, Met Council continues to be the voice of New York’s poor and working poor.