A recent Pew report (Jewish Americans in 2020) about the current state of the American Jewish community found that 26% of all Jews in the United States had difficulty paying for necessities. Necessities include food, shelter, medical care, basic bills or debts. It is confirmed that 17% of Jews are unable to meet their basic expenses or just meet basic expenses.

What does it mean when you can’t meet or just have enough to meet your basic expenses?

It means that almost 1/5 of our Jewish community faces real economic vulnerability.  It means that our fellow Jews, including those who live down the street from us, are one adverse event away from serious financial difficulty.

Since this study was primarily conducted prior to the pandemic, a more recent survey was conducted in January 2021. That study found that 38% of Jews said they or someone else in their household had lost a job or suffered a pay cut since the pandemic began. We can infer that there will be more Jews who are facing economic vulnerability and the needs for The ARK’s services will be growing.​

Marna Goldwin, CEO, is “incredibly proud that The ARK is not only providing physical, emotional, financial and psychological support for the community. We remain true to our mission to help Chicagoland Jewish who are facing adversity – those who either cannot or are just on the edge of meeting their basic needs – navigate toward self-reliance.”