Los Angeles, CA, September 15, 2016 – On Tuesday, September 13, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ CSI was honored with the “Building Resilience with Diverse Communities” award in Washington, D.C. at The White House. The presentation was led by Melissa Rogers, Executive Director, Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, The White House; Rev. David L. Myers, Director, DHS Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, FEMA; and Dr. Jannah Scott, Deputy Director, DHS Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, FEMA. Ivan Wolkind, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and Jason Periard, Director of Community Security at The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, accepted the award in Washington, D.C.
CSI’s mission is to increase the security stance of the Jewish community in Los Angeles through a three-legged approach, which represents a Total Readiness Cycle. The services that CSI offers protect and strengthen the Jewish community by directly impacting Jewish institutions. In order to fully benefit from CSI’s security methodology, Jewish institutions must embrace all three legs of the program, starting with site visits to assess the institution’s securities and vulnerabilities. The three categories/legs include:
- Site Visits and Vulnerability Assessments
- Training, Exercises and Events (hosted by CSI)
- Information Sharing and Intelligence Analysis Leveraging a 24/7 Two-Way Communication System
“CSI is undoubtedly increasing the security stance of the Jewish community in Los Angeles, as well as the larger community as a whole. In today’s world, there is a growing general understanding that we must always be aware of our surroundings from a security standpoint, locally and nationally. The very foundation of CSI is to strengthen and protect the Jewish community – we are in a constant state of security awareness,” said Ivan Wolkind, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. “Our three-legged approach and strategic methodology at CSI give us the opportunity to fully assess the community and make recommendations, as well as provide training and vital communication to our clients.”
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| From left to right: Jason Periard, Director of Community Security at The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and Ivan Wolkind, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. |
CSI achieves its mission by coordinating and partnering with local, national and other law enforcement agencies and government bodies. CSI also works with other faith-based organizations at the city (local) and national levels.
Jay Sanderson, President & CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, said, “CSI is building resiliency and ensuring security throughout the community, and we are honored and humbled to receive recognition for our work today. We would like to congratulate all other award recipients and honorees, and look forward to continuing our work together in strengthening and protecting the Jewish community and national community at large.”
As a program of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, CSI does not charge for its services to the community.
For more information, please email Aweiner@JewishLA.org.
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