Jerry Witkovsky (MSW, University of Illinois) is a beloved mentor to thousands of individuals and generations of families, thanks to 47 years of professional leadership, eighteen of them as General Director of the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago. In 1995 he was named one of the city’s “Most Effective Non-Profit CEOs” by Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine. Since his 1997 retirement, Jerry has focused his considerable energies on grandparenting facilitation—helping multigenerational families work (and play) together to create a rich family life.
Jerry believes that grandparents, when they share their creativity, commitment, and things about which they are passionate, can transform their families. He’s made it his mission to get that message out to as many grandparents as possible. He has spearheaded a growing number of school-based programs designed to strengthen connections between grandparents and their teenaged grandchildren and strengthen school communities. He turned that program into an online curriculum called The Grandparent-Grandchild Connection School Program. He writes the Legacy Column for Grand Magazine, the publication for grandparents. He’s a regular speaker for grandparents in The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Global Intergenerational Initiative (G2) on “How to enter your grandchildren’s world.”
Most recently, Jerry partnered with JCC Chicago to launch “Grandparents Write Your Stories.” Over 400 grandparents from 22 states and Canada have registered to receive writing prompts twice a week for six-week sessions, to inspire stories for them to share with their families. “In my grandma’s kitchen. . . ,” “My favorite game growing up was . . . ,” even “Puberty was (insert adjective) because . . .” were among topics that let the decades disappear as grandparents and grandchildren could connect around similar milestones— a first doctor’s visit; a first car. Virtual panels allow grandparents in the program to get help and connect with one another along their writing journey.
Jerry asked JCC Chicago and Jewish Child & Family Services to work with him to create a series of panels for grandparents on how they can help their families in the face of school at home. A first panel offered help on having honest conversations within the family on what grandparents want to do, what thei adult children really need, and how to keep it all safe with COVID. Additional panels covered technology for long distance connection and academic and social development with remote learning. Jerry wants to remove barriers for grandparents to enjoy every possible opportunity to help their families, watch them thrive, and to deeply appreciate each other as individuals.
“Always leave your campsite better than you found it,” is Jerry’s motto for life. One, because camp is in his blood, starting from when he created a day camp for children of US Military personnel while stationed in Japan after WWII, to becoming a Boys Club camp counselor and ultimately director of JCC Chicago’s Camp Chi. Jerry believes each of us has an obligation to leave the world, our communities, our families, better for having been a part of it. For grandparents, that starts with unleashing their full potential, drawing on their creativity and things about which they are passionate, to have a deeply meaningful relationship across lifespan with their grandchildren and adult children.
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