Jewish Community Watch : against child abuse

https://www.jewishcommunitywatch.org/

OUR STORY

Jewish Community Watch (JCW) never set out to be a major organization. In 2006, Meyer Seewald’s best friend died tragically at age 17. The young man’s father set up a youth group in his late son’s honor where young teens gathered for camaraderie and support. In 2011, Seewald, himself a survivor of child sexual abuse (CSA), began receiving reports that the father was molesting boys who attended this program.

Further enquiries revealed that this person had a long history of abuse dating back decades earlier to Israel. As is so often the case, community leaders and rabbis in New York who were aware of his dangerous history preferred to handle it “internally,” never considering how many more lives would be put in jeopardy.

After a website was set up to expose the molester and warn others of the danger he posed, hundreds of reports of abuse began flooding in from Jewish communities around the world. JCW’s scope of services quickly expanded to include victim support services, mass awareness events, staff screening for schools and camps, a website with hundreds of pages of resources, and much more.

The staff grew from a handful of volunteers working out of a 10 x 10 bedroom to over a dozen professional employees. A virtual “safe place” has been created for victims to come forward, tell their stories, and receive the help and support they need.

Since our 2014 relaunch JCW has:

• Ran 16 major awareness events across the United States, Canada, and Israel; and participated in 7 educational events in the US and Israel. These events were attended by over 5,000 people.
• jewishcommunitywatch.org has attracted 803,961 unique visitors who viewed 3,269,349 total pages of educational material, articles and help pages.
• JCW regularly reaches over 9,000 people on our email list with important alerts and updates.
• Created 52 educational videos that have been viewed a total of 956,816 times to date.
• Hosted 4 Facebook Live events with experts in relevant fields of cyber safety, camp safety, adolescent offenders, and CSA research.
• 190 Jewish sex abusers have been added to the Wall of Shame, providing the largest private online updated database of Jewish sexual offenders.
• Over 20,000 people from around the world follow JCW’s Facebook page. On average, over 30,000 people see our posts each month.
• Connected with well over 2,000 survivors of CSA, offering them advice, emotional support, and a listening ear.
• Has supported victims in 15 different countries around the world.
• Has provided information and worked with local and national law enforcement officials to assist in the apprehension of offenders in 7 different countries.
• Logged over 1,300 reports of child sexual abuse by over 1,680 abusers, helping to remove predators from our streets, schools, and shuls.
• From 2015 through 2016, JCW subsidized therapy for 150+ survivors from all over the world, and has coordinated external funding subsidies for therapy for 140 survivors to date.
• 130+ survivors from 4 continents have taken part in our 3 virtual support groups via Whatsapp, as well as in-person support groups.