Immigrant General Aid

Our General Aid program offers loans up to $5,000, repayable over 20 months. These loans serve as a safety net for immigrants from the Former Soviet Union:

• Who have no savings to cover emergency expenses
• Who otherwise are not able to pay for a major and necessary purchase such as a car to commute to work
• Whose only other access to credit is through high-interest loans, such as credit cards, that would saddle them with staggering debt that would be impossible to pay off

Immigrant Higher Education

Our Higher Education Program offers loans up to $7,500, repayable over 30 months, with options to refinance. These loans are made to immigrant parents who otherwise could not afford to pay for their child's higher education. Our borrowers typically:

• Have not been able to save for tuition
• May be supporting other family members, such as elderly parents, who also immigrated

Immigrant Retraining

Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union are the most highly educated immigrants in the history of the United States. They include doctors, engineers and professors who are typically unable to work in their fields. Our immigrant retraining loans are intended to help these immigrants re-enter the middle class by giving them money to pay for high-quality vocational or degree programs to retrain for professional jobs.

• Loans for high-quality vocational programs are up to $15,000 and must be repaid within up to five years
• Loans for degree programs are up to $7,500 per year (capped at $22,500 in total) and must be repaid within six years

Large Families

Once their children are in school, ultra-Orthodox women may seek additional education to enable them to secure well-paying, satisfying jobs to help support their families. This program helps women pay tuition to earn or complete a degree, such as one in education or social work.

• Loans are up to $7,500 per year (capped at $22,500 in total) and must be repaid within six years

Microenterprise Lending

Our microenterprise program is the 21st century equivalent of our loans to pushcart peddlers in a bygone era. The goal of this program is to help borrowers establish or expand a small business as a path to economic security. We target immigrants from the Former Soviet Union and the ultra-Orthodox community – both among the most economically vulnerable Jewish populations in New York. This program provides:

• Loans up to $25,000 that must be repaid within up to five years
• Culturally sensitive, locally sited core business training
• Pre- and post-loan technical assistance, including help in writing a business plan

Please follow the links below for program descriptions, FAQs and an application.

FSU Immigrant Program description, application and FAQ

Jewish Education

New York City is one of the most expensive areas in the country, making it challenging for Jewish day schools to retain teachers who may not be able to raise a family on an educator's salary. Our Day School Teachers Home Purchase Program provides:

• Loans for teachers up to $20,000, repayable over 10 years, for a down payment on a first home
• A cost-effective way to enhance teachers’ compensation
• An incentive for teacher retention

Click here for program description, FAQs and an application download

Click here for program description, FAQs and application downloads for the Shorashim Program

Jewish Family

Many Jewish New Yorkers want to create a family through adoption, but have exhausted their resources paying for fertility treatments or beginning the adoption process. Our Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Adoption Loan Program provides loans up to $15,000 repayable over five years for adoption costs.

Click here for Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Adoption Loan Program description, application and FAQ

Special Education

High-quality special education is very effective and enormously expensive. Under federal law, parents are entitled to public financing to pay for private school tuition if local public schools are unable to meet their children’s needs. However, this help is available only on a reimbursement basis.

The Society’s Special Education Bridge Loan Program lends money to parents entitled to government funding, thus enabling low- and moderate-income parents to pay tuition to schools that provide the help their children desperately need. These bridge loans of up to $30,000 pay for that portion of Jewish day school special education tuition allocable to secular studies. They are repaid with government reimbursement proceeds.