Karsh Family Social Service Center at Wilshire Boulevard Temple

Opens Doors to Thousands of Neighbors in Need in Heart of Koreatown

 LOS ANGELES, CA – November 11, 2016 ­­– The Karsh Family Social Service Center at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a unique new facility established to serve Koreatown and Los Angeles neighbors in need, opened with a dedication ceremony attended by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Council President Herb Wesson, founding sponsors Bruce and Martha Karsh, community leaders and more than a dozen service providers. The Karsh Center demonstrates a new model and unique concept for a faith based entity collaborating with local community based organizations to deliver services to the surrounding community.  It is the latest reflection of the Temple’s 150 years of civic leadership in Los Angeles, providing a permanent and tangible expression of commitment to helping its neighbors.

Many of the services offered at the 7,500 square-foot Karsh Center, located at 3750 West 6th Street on the site of The Temple’s Glazer Campus restoration and expansion, address immediate problems, such as hunger, illness, and legal issues. It provides an array of integrated social services including dental and eye care, legal aid, mental health services, civics and ESL language classes, literacy programs, and children’s book distribution, in addition to a well-established food pantry which has operated for nearly 30 years. Once immediate needs have been addressed, the Center will continue to provide a one-stop location where each client can develop an ongoing relationship with dedicated professionals.

“Strong communities exist because everyday people stay committed to reaching out and supporting their neighbors,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “The Karsh Family Social Service Center is special because it extends a hand to children and families of all faiths, with education and healthcare resources that can help them build better lives.”

“Within a five-mile radius of our Temple, about one-third of adults go hungry some of the time, and nearly four in ten adults cannot afford any dental care. An estimated one in four families in our community lives below the federal poverty level. With the generous support of the Karsh Family and our sponsors, we’ve created the most comprehensive outreach to neighbors of any synagogue in America and perhaps the world,” said Senior Rabbi Steven Z. Leder. “The Karsh Center helps us remember where we came from. The people seeking social services today are standing where our grandparents and great-grandparents and generations before them also stood, yearning for dignity and freedom.”

“In this area of extraordinary cultural, ethnic, and economic diversity, The Karsh Center at Wilshire Boulevard Temple opens as a hub for many vital social services and extends the Temple’s century and a half commitment to the city and people of Los Angeles,” said City Council President Herb Wesson, who represents the Temple’s district.

“Tikkun Olam is both a responsibility and a privilege — and, indeed, an essential family value,” said lead donor Martha Karsh. “We are thrilled that the Karsh Family Social Service Center will foster the Temple’s ‘good neighbor’ policy — extending a hand to those in need in the multicultural community immediately surrounding the Temple.”

“Social services are historically rooted in faith based organizations, but they typically provide one service, such as a pantry, or counseling and typically it is for the congregants,” said Elizabeth Ross, founding director of the Karsh Center. “The Karsh Center hopes to create a model for a new and innovative approach to meeting community need. By collaborating with long standing trusted providers and offering cross sector services, we are addressing the holistic needs of individuals, families and communities.”

Service providers include:

  • Korean Health Education Information & Research Center (KHEIR)
  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice
  • A. Family Law Association
  • Bet Tzedek
  • Alliance for Children’s Rights
  • HopeNet
  • Pathways
  • Public Counsel
  • The Inner City Law Center
  • QueensCare
  • The Book Foundation
  • Alzheimer’s Greater L.A.
  • Our House Grief Support Center
  • The Alliance for Children’s Rights
  • Southern California Counseling Center

“We want to give back;” says Rabbi M. Beaumont Shapiro who leads Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s social justice programs.  “We want to engage in social justice and service work because it makes us feel good, and we want to feel like we are doing something to help mend brokenness we see in our world, and that’s wonderful. But as Jews, it goes so much deeper than that, because as Jews it’s not just about doing it because it makes us feel good — as Jews it’s an obligation we have.”

More than 1200 local community members in need have already been assisted by trained Wilshire Boulevard Temple and community volunteers who help with appointments, referrals, provide direct services, work the pantry, and sometimes just smile and listen. High participation by Temple volunteers enable the Karsh to provide exceptional support to clients, many of whom face numerous barriers to accessing assistance. The greatest of which is typically their inability to navigate complex service systems.  Volunteer “Navigators” give clients individualized assistance in a one-one style usually hard to find due to lack of staffing. This very relational, empathic approach enables clients to feel heard, gives them confidence to talk freely, and connects them to the services they need.

The integration of all collaborating service providers and their adoption of the Karsh Model for co-located integrated services, enables The Karsh Center to act as the facilitating agent for breaking down silos, fostering relationships among providers, and engaging clients in discussion about their holistic needs. This three-prong approach ensures that client’s needs are met, providers know one another, and collaboration is paramount.

The Karsh Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5:00 p.m, with some evening hours being added this month.