Jerry Starr is new head of SHW family service

By Lauren Matthew
May 23, 2008

Jewish Family Service of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties has a new executive director who can't wait to get started in the community.

Jerry Starr's first day was May 5.

"I've been a social worker about 25 years, and I've worked a little more than half that time in Jewish Family Services," Starr said.

He was working at Veterans Medical Center in New York when an associate told him about the opening. Starr has also served as the Director of Older Adult Services at Family Services in Union County. He attended the Wurzweiler School of social work, which is part of Yeshiva University.

Starr said that the reputation of Jewish Family Services in Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren precedes it.

"The agency has a very good standing... [it] has been up and running over 30 years now and has a very good standing as a counseling agency," he noted.

Additionally, Starr said, the facility is non-sectarian, although its focus is "certainly the Jewish community." That means that no one who needs help will be turned away.

For now, Starr said he will spend time getting to know leaders in community, and also looking to collaborate with other agencies within the community to see what needs must be met and how they can be met. But, Starr noted, JFS will definitely be focusing on the senior citizens in the area.

"We're very interested in working with the elderly population in the community," he said. "There's a lot of elderly out there that feel isolated... it's a matter of finding the funding to [offer programs to remedy] that."

There is already, Starr continued, a strong, well-established family mentoring program. He said he would like to see that program expand to match the elderly with mentors who would visit and "be resources" for them.

While he said there would certainly be improvements to existing programs, there were already several in place that the community should be proud of. Jewish Family Service, Starr said, already has a very active program for Holocaust survivors, called Café Europa, as well as good case management and other services.

"We also have a very well-established career counseling program and an ongoing career support group," Starr noted. "Especially as the economy might be taking a downturn, there may be more people needing career assistance."

If that does turn out to be the case, he said, Jewish Family Service offers a monthly group on career counseling.

Starr has been married almost 30 years and has two sons. He lives in Maplewood, and has been a member of Sharey Tefiloh, a Reform synagogue in South Orange, for about 13 years.

Starr said he's thrilled with the new position.

"I'm very excited," he said. "It's a big challenge. It's a very dynamic community to be coming to, and I think there's a lot of opportunity."

"I'm very much looking forward to seeing Jewish Family Service become even more a part of the community and addressing the community needs," Starr said.