‘It is ingrained within us to support our community’s most vulnerable’

NOMI KALTMANN meets a dedicated cohort of young Australian Jews who are creating meaningful experiences and work for young people with a disability

DANIELLE WAKERMAN LOVES a good challenge. As the manager of the JCA The Choice Foundation, a Sydney-based charity for people with a disability, she loves looking at complex problems to understand the best way to address them.

Each year, the foundation she manages accepts applications for funding from people who are keen to improve lives of persons with disability in five key areas: social, respite, housing, vocation and education.

“What we fund has to be an innovative idea. We are not interested in doubling up. Our main mission is to create more opportunities for persons with disability,” says Wakerman.

The innovative approach taken by JCA The Choice Foundation, a charity founded in 2018 by Sydney philanthropists Taryn and Andrew Boyarsky, has paid dividends within the Australian Jewish community. The foundation caters to thousands of participants across their programs, and focuses on funding Jewish organisations, but the hope is that those programs impact the wider community.

Droves of young people flock to the foundation with their best ideas, keen to receive funding to create solutions to longstanding problems in the disability space.

But it’s not just the foundation that is benefiting. Across Australia, some of the best and brightest minds of the Jewish community are creating programs, organisations and solutions to some of the most complex issues facing persons with disability.

Wakerman finds the influx of creativity and energy in the space exhilarating. “We are trying to be innovative and creative in a space that has been in existence forever. But in recent years, it has taken off and become a freshplace for young people to work in,” she reflects.

“While we have captured the attention of young people, we want to tap into their minds and use their creativity. This development has been very exciting!”

You don’t have to look too far to see that the trend Wakerman has identified is alive and well. She has even taken a trip to Melbourne, to visit Flying Fox Services, another disability charity, to gain new ideas.

Founded in 2014 by 30-year old Dean Cohen, a stalwart of the disability space, Flying Fox , is an innovative charity for young people with a disability.

The charity, which provides camps and overnight stays in Melbourne for young persons with disability is rapidly growing. In less than a decade it has become one of the go-to Australian disability support organisations. It is open to any person with disability in Victoria.

In the next 12 months Flying Fox will host eight overnight camps and 100 short-stay and day programs for young persons with disability. Demand is high, with waiting lists for most programs.

Cohen and his team are masters at creating new leadership in the disability space, having designed a “Buddy model” where young people volunteer their time to accompany participants with disability during programs and camps.

To date, his charity has trained over 750 young persons as disability support volunteers, many of whom have gone on to found new and exciting ventures in the disability space.

Cohen is also motivated by his Jewish values. “We do this work because it is ingrained within us from an early age to work to support our community's most vulnerable. We have learned these lessons from our ancestors” he says.

“Historically, it’s no secret that new members of our community rocked up on a boat to Australia without a whole lot of anything. They had no money and no resources. Historical figures in our community waited on the docks, ready to give them a few bucks and housing and food for the table. It is in the fabric of our community.”

Notwithstanding the history of assisting those in need present in the Australian Jewish community, how did a 22-year-old Cohen create a movement that in just a decade has spawned such success and impact?

“At 21 years of age I was the treasurer of Habonim. I had oversight over the budget of a large organisation, which had hundreds of people going on their [youth movement] camps each year. There were lots of zeros at end of the budget and I was responsible for managing it.

“The youth movement gave me an incredible opportunity for leadership at a very young age,” he says. "I benefited profoundly from those experiences, and I wanted to create those opportunities for others."

The power of Cohen’s hard work has reached far and wide, with many families crediting the experiences on his camps and programs as profoundly shaping their children. His genius and creativity in this space was even recognised with an OAM in 2021.

An alumnus of Cohen’s programs is Bianca Stern, who, at 25, is the general manager of All Things Equal Café. The Melbourne café she manages provides an innovative model for what disability inclusion looks like, by employing 50% of its café staff with disability.

“For me, measuring success is not about filling in a survey. It’s about seeing someone make their own meal, setting a table properly, learning how to be resilient, dealing with difficult customers and speaking louder because they have confidence,” she says.

Since launching in 2021, the café has been able to employ 18 persons with disability and revolutionised what inclusion looks like, with the patrons of its café just as likely to be served by someone who has a disability or one of its other staff members.

Stern credits Cohen for his work in creating opportunities for young persons to learn about what it means to be involved in the disability space. “I learnt a lot from Flying Fox, not just about disability, but what camaraderie and teamwork can look like.”

But Stern is far from alone in crediting her involvement in the disability space to Cohen via the training received at Flying Fox.

Another alumnus of Flying Fox is Rebecca Adler, 26, the Community and Innovation Manager at Australian Jewish Funders, an organisation dedicated to inspiring effective philanthropy and strengthening community.

Adler loves volunteering at Flying Fox and is one of just a handful of volunteers to reach a 20-camp milestone, and was even given a coveted bedazzled Flying Fox jumper. “The opportunities I have gained through Flying Fox have been life-changing… and who doesn’t love a bedazzle!”

While her current day job is not directly linked to disability, Adler spends her spare time dabbling in creating a start up in the disability space, which is scheduled to launch in the second half of this year. “It’s a platform for people with disability and their families to meaningfully and efficiently coordinate support,” she says.

Adler is emphatic that being Jewish is integral to her desire to give back and contribute to a better world.

“Everything I do is guided by Jewish values, a lot of what I know I learnt through my Jewish education, as well as my grandparents who demonstrated the importance of kindness, generosity and supporting others through their giving.”

Cohen appreciates that his organisation has been instrumental in training many upcoming leaders in the disability space, but he does not want to take credit for all their successes.

“All Flying Fox did was capture the existing energy and creativity that has been applied through youth movements and across the Jewish community. We injected that into the disability sector.

“I believe that Bec, Bianca and others would have found their way to doing amazing things anyway. Flying Fox just inspired them to use their creativity and talents towards supporting people with a disability.”

It's something that Wakerman recognises too.

“I think that there’s hope with disability that you do not get with a lot of other programs. You are working with someone who deserves friendship and fun. To be on the receiving end and giving end is so fulfilling. We have tapped into that with a younger market, helping them see that showing up in a real way, can lead to changing someone’s life.”

Photo: Staff at the All Things Equal cafe in Melbourne