Five hundred unique individuals have attended the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center’s programming in support of federal workers impacted by layoffs since February.
“I’ve never seen an effort where we’ve received so many unsolicited emails from community members saying, ‘I felt incredibly isolated; I didn’t know where to turn,’” Jesse Bordwin, Edlavitch DCJCC’s chief experience officer, said. “‘And with your programming, not only did I get actionable advice, but [I] found a community of people who are going through something similar.’”
Six months into 2025, employers have announced nearly 700,000 job cuts. Government-related layoffs are still the largest source of reductions, with more than 284,000 job cuts attributed directly or indirectly to the impacts of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to the news website Quartz.
“It’s such a huge, huge issue in this community,” Faye Levin, a longtime member of Washington Hebrew Congregation, said of the mass layoffs. “It’s also national.”
Located in Washington, D.C., the synagogue sees many people impacted by these layoffs, especially federal.
“Washington is particularly hard hit with very talented people who went into the federal government to be public servants, thinking that they have stability, and now they lost that stability, much to their surprise, and they’re no longer public servants,” Levin said.
At the end of March, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington announced a plan to distribute $180,000 to laid-off federal workers. Staff of the Edlavitch DCJCC and other area organizations also jumped into action.
The JCC’s ongoing programming ranged from large coaching and networking events to headshot sessions and workshops. Workshops cover best practices for using LinkedIn and provide a space to practice for job interviews.
Community members also gather weekly for “coworking Wednesdays” when they can share tips and network with fellow job seekers, Bordwin said.
“It’s kind of the whole range of things and a lot of it has come from the community, based on what they said they need in this time,” Bordwin said. “We’ve done our best to be able to support them through that.”
Bordwin said the role of a community center is to ensure that members, and even nonmembers, feel supported: “We are as good as our community is, as healthy as our community is and we are the community.”
“When our community is struggling, we are obligated to respond to it and support them and be there for them,” Bordwin added.
Lending a helping hand reflects Jewish values as well.
“I think a lot of us felt that there was an imperative to step up and continue to live our values,” Bordwin said.
The leaders at Washington Hebrew Congregation similarly seek to live those values. Earlier this year, WHC hosted a pair of group sessions for members impacted by federal layoffs to gather and share their experiences. Clergy members are also available for one-on-one meetings with congregants. Seeking to do even more, Rabbi Susan Shankman asked longtime WHC members Faye Levin and Sherry Bindeman Kahn to help organize programming.
WHC member Erica Berger, a clinical social worker, and Dr. Judith Klavans led a June 18 panel to discuss the psychological impact of the mass layoffs, ways to cope with this stress and how to find resources. Klavans, an expert in career transition, taught attendees about job search strategies for transitioning out of the federal sector, Levin said.
“Essentially, how do you rebrand yourself for this new job market and how do you put that identity into words?” Levin said.
Klavans also discussed a modern hurdle: the challenges of navigating job applications with the rise of artificial intelligence. She followed up with available local resources and community-building techniques.
“Our goal was simply to connect these individuals with guidance, encouragement and practical tools that might help them move forward,” Levin said.
She added that she saw the positive impact on attendees after the virtual panel.
“What I saw was relief in the voices of some of the people who participated, simply because the trauma they were facing was acknowledged,” Levin recalled. “One of the participants put a note in the chat that said, ‘Thank you so much. This is the best webinar I’ve attended.’”
That participant appreciated learning about the psychology of stress and job applications with AI and how overwhelming stress — the “what if?” mode — makes it more difficult to devise a plan to move forward.
This community support reflects WHC’s “long history of commitment to social justice,” according to Levin.
Bordwin said it’s been “extraordinary” to see the EDCJCC community rally around laid-off federal workers, both Jewish and non-Jewish. He added that other communities have even begun to use the EDCJCC as a model for their own programming efforts, such as Pivoting Parents, which focuses on supporting parents impacted by layoffs.
“To be able to have that multiplying effect, where not only are we directly helping people, but we are helping people help other people is the dream,” Bordwin said.
