JSDD in 2024, a year ripe with celebration and innovation. This agency, long committed to creating home, opportunity, and community, has arrived at the 35th anniversary of its very first kosher group home in Millburn, New Jersey.

We’ve had many people who have grown… People who have become independent… They’ve come to the WAE Center and through the time being with us, learnt about having a voice, and that their voice is important. They’ve learned to express themselves, ask for what they want, and go after what they want.

Twenty Years of helping to cultivate dreams. Our residents and members speak to their personal experiences of enrichment and joy in finding meaningful lives.

The Chairs of Inclusion were commissioned and created to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled’s WAE (Wellness, Arts, Enrichment) Center, an alternative learning center in West Orange for people with developmental disabilities.

The Power of Performance is a film featuring a slate of WAE Center member artists who have been developing their craft and preparing for public events. Inspirational original poetry readings, dramatic readings, singing, Tai Chih Chih, and song leading to name a few of the featured performances.

The holistic nature of the Center’s offerings, its diverse curriculum, the sharing of ideas, the respect for the whole person, the sense of community is what truly makes the Center unique.

Life for adults with developmental disabilities should be like yours and mine —engagement in an active life spent working, time spent with friends, involvement in the community and following their hearts and minds to pursue interests and hobbies and continued learning towards personal growth.

JSDD and programs that the agency operates have moved into their new space. Take a look at the cutting edge work being done in Residential Services, the WAE Center, Therapeutic Services and the onsite art gallery, Heidi Gallery. Explore all that the agency does to foster human growth through the constant focus on community and creativity, as essential to the human experience.