To provide housing, social services and emergency financial assistance, health services and employment training to performing arts and entertainment professionals.[3]
The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a 501(c)(3)charitable organization that supports performers and behind-the-scenes workers in performing arts and entertainment, helping more than 17,000 people directly each year. Serving professionals in film, theatre, television, music, opera, radio and dance, the Fund's programs include social services and emergency financial assistance, healthcare and insurance counseling, supportive and affordable housing, and employment and training services. The Fund owns and operates the Lillian Booth Actors Home, a skilled nursing and assisted living facility in Englewood, New Jersey.
The Entertainment Community Fund was founded as the Actors Fund of America by Albert Marshman Palmer on June 8, 1882,[1] largely due to the efforts of former New York University student Harrison Grey Fiske, editor of the New York Dramatic Mirror, who was aware of the many problems faced by those in the profession. The Actors Fund's first meeting was held in the theatre of president J. Lester Wallack. The Actor's Fund's first officers were Lester Wallack, president; Albert M. Palmer, vice president; Daniel Frohman, secretary; and Theodore More, treasurer.[6] The original bylaws said that the organization existed to "foster and benefit the physical, as well as advance the intellectual, welfare of the actors of America."[7]
Funds raised at the 1892 Fair, held at Madison Square Garden, enabled the charity to provide individuals and families with assistance, including burial plots in a Brooklyn cemetery and accommodations in the Actors' Fund Home.
During the next decades, benefit performances held throughout the country raised significant amounts of revenue to subsidize the Fund's many projects. From 1960 through 1978 Louise Heims Beck was chairman of the Actors Fund's governing board.[8] Today, the Fund sponsors many special events and performances, with numerous Broadway stars and Hollywood celebrities hosting, performing, and attending. Theatres throughout the country frequently pledge proceeds from regularly scheduled performances to the charity.
Offices are maintained in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Additionally, the Fund is associated with a range of sister organizations which raise money through donations, including Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the guild/union relief funds of Actors' Equity, AFTRA; AGMA; AGVA; Episcopal Actors' Guild; the Jazz Foundation; the Professional Dancers Society; MusiCares, Society of Singers, and the Lambs.
In 1997, the Actors' Work Program (AWP) was incorporated into the Actors Fund's full spectrum of services. Today, the Actors Fund Work Program (AWP) assists entertainment industry and performing arts professionals in identifying and finding sideline work and new careers. The Fund in New York also hosts a weekly creative writing workshop held on Thursdays for disabled and senior citizen performers.[citation needed]
The Fund operates the Dorothy Ross Friedman Residence (formerly the Aurora), a site which provides supportive housing to special low-income groups including seniors, working professionals and people living with AIDS. The Dorothy Ross Friedman Residence opened in 1996 (as the Aurora) and the Actors Fund provides on-site social services for residents. The social services group provides information and referral to community resources, entitlement program advocacy, coordination of home care and medical services, outreach, health education and support groups. The on-site social services staff includes two social workers, three case managers, and an activities coordinator. The Actors Fund developed this supportive housing project with its partner, the Related Companies.
The Actors Fund's Palm View residence is a similar residential facility, located in West Hollywood, California. The Palm View, opened in 1998, is a 40-unit apartment complex that provides homes to low-income people with HIV/AIDS. The Palm View is a collaborative project between the Actors Fund, the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, Housing for Entertainment Professionals and various funders. The buildings are managed by the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation.
The Fund also owns and operates the 6-acre (24,000m2)Lillian Booth Actors Home, in Englewood, New Jersey, a nursing home and assisted living care facility for retired members of the entertainment community. The home is licensed by the Department of Health and qualifies for Medicaid and Medicare. Individuals who have dedicated a major portion of their professional lives to the entertainment industry are eligible for admission. The Actors Fund provides funds to subsidize the care residents receive.
One of the earliest services the Actors Fund provided was assistance with the cost and arrangements of funerals and burials. In 1886, the Actors Fund purchased its first plot at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn, New York, and, in 1904, a second plot was purchased at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. These plots are the final resting place of over 2,000 members of the entertainment industry. Today, the Fund continues to assist with the cost of funerals and provide a grave site with a headstone to those in need. In addition, the Fund offers pre-pay arrangements for those interested in purchasing a grave site.
In 2014, Fund President and CEO Joseph P. Benincasa received the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre for outstanding contribution to the theatrical community for 25 years of service to the Fund.[9]
In May 2022, the organization changed its name to the Entertainment Community Fund, reflecting the broad scope of professionals the organization serves.[10][11]
Services
The Fund's programs include social services and emergency financial assistance, healthcare and insurance counseling, supportive and affordable housing, and employment and training services.
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Merger with Career Transition for Dancers
On September 21, 2015, the organization announced that it would merge with Career Transition for Dancers. The former activities of Career Transition for Dancers will thereafter be carried on as an operation of the Actors Fund.
The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts
In March, 2017, the Actors Fund opened the Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. This facility (located at 729 Seventh Avenue and 49th street in the heart of the theater district) is in partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital and offers medical care for everyone in entertainment.[citation needed]
Home care is supportive care provided in the home. Care may be provided by licensed healthcare professionals who provide medical treatment needs or by professional caregivers who provide daily assistance to ensure the activities of daily living (ADLs) are met. In-home medical care is often and more accurately referred to as home health care or formal care. Home health care is different non-medical care, custodial care, or private-duty care which refers to assistance and services provided by persons who are not nurses, doctors, or other licensed medical personnel. For patients recovering from surgery or illness, home care may include rehabilitative therapies. For terminally ill patients, home care may include hospice care.
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to indicate whether the institutions are public or private, and whether they provide mostly assisted living, or nursing care and emergency medical care. Nursing homes are used by people who do not need to be in a hospital, but require care that is hard to provide in a home setting. The nursing home staff attends to the patients' medical and other needs. Most nursing homes have nursing aides and skilled nurses on hand 24 hours a day.
An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States. Still, the setting is similar to a retirement home, in the sense that facilities provide a group living environment and typically cater to an older adult population. There is also Caribbean assisted living, which offers a similar service in a resort-like environment.
The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded under the name Nurses' Settlement in 1893 by progressive reformer and nurse Lillian Wald.
The Community Service Society of New York (CSS) is an independent, nonprofit organization established in 1939. Originally formed as a charity providing direct assistance to the poor, its mission has evolved include research and advocacy as well as legal and informational support services for other organizations that work with low-income individuals. It is one of the seven organizations supported by The New York Times' "Neediest Cases Fund".
The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries and their families with limited or no resources, including services such as temporary financial assistance, case management, and residential living.
Supportive housing is a combination of housing and services intended as a cost-effective way to help people live more stable, productive lives, and is an active "community services and funding" stream across the United States. It was developed by different professional academics and US governmental departments that supported housing. Supportive housing is widely believed to work well for those who face the most complex challenges—individuals and families confronted with homelessness and who also have very low incomes and/or serious, persistent issues that may include substance use disorders, mental health, HIV/AIDS, chronic illness, diverse disabilities or other serious challenges to stable housing.
New Community Corporation (NCC) is a not-for-profit community development corporation based in Newark, New Jersey. NCC focuses on community organizing, provision of a variety of community-enhancing services, and resident participation in agency operation. Early prototypes of the community action movement included local housing and service agencies started by the Ford Foundation Gray Areas Initiative and the United States Office of Economic Opportunity, and both federal and private Mobilization for Youth in New York City.
Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and coordinated services that promote independence, maximize patients' quality of life, and meet patients' needs over a period of time.
The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 (CMHA) was an act to provide federal funding for community mental health centers and research facilities in the United States. This legislation was passed as part of John F. Kennedy's New Frontier. It led to considerable deinstitutionalization.
Supported living or supportive living refers to a range of services and community living arrangements (CLAs) designed with individuals with disabilities and their families to support disabled citizens to attain or retain their independence or interdependence in their local communities. Supported living is recorded in the history of the NASDDDS, celebrating its 50th anniversary. Community Supported Living Arrangements (CSLA) was a landmark federal multi-state demonstration to illustrate the federal role in community living in the US. Supported living is considered a core service or program of community living programs funded through federal-state-local partnerships.
A group home, congregate living facility, care home, adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living and medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children or young people who cannot live with their families or afford their own homes, people with chronic disabilities who may be adults or seniors, or people with dementia and related aged illnesses. Typically, there are no more than six residents, and there is at least one trained caregiver there 24 hours a day. In some early "model programs", a house manager, night manager, weekend activity coordinator, and four part-time skill teachers were reported. Originally, the term group home referred to homes of 8 to 16 individuals, which was a state-mandated size during deinstitutionalization. Residential nursing facilities, also included in this article, may be as large as 100 individuals in 2015, which is no longer the case in fields such as intellectual and developmental disabilities. Depending on the severity of the condition requiring one to need to live in a group home, some clients are able to attend day programs and most clients are able to live normal lifestyles.
Respite care is planned or emergency temporary care provided to caregivers of a child or adult.
Swords to Plowshares is a veterans organization that provides job training, housing, and benefits advocacy to low income and homeless U.S. military veterans. Swords to Plowshares also operates a drop-in center for veterans requiring emergency services, and engages in policy work. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, supported by governmental and private grants, as well as donations from individuals. Michael Blecker is the executive director.
Project HOME is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides housing, opportunities for employment, medical care and education to homeless and low-income persons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Lillian Booth Actors Home of The Actors Fund is an American assisted-living facility, in Englewood, New Jersey. It is operated by the Actors Fund, a nonprofit umbrella charitable organization that assists American entertainment and performing arts professionals.
As of 2017, approximately 1.4 million Americans live in a nursing home, two-thirds of whom rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. Residential nursing facilities receive Medicaid federal funding and approvals through a state health department. These facilities may be overseen by various types of state agency.
The New Jewish Home is an American nonprofit older adult health care system based in New York City. The organization serves older adults of all religions and ethnicities at its three campuses in Manhattan, The Bronx, and Mamaroneck in Westchester County. It provides rehabilitative services, skilled nursing, senior housing, and numerous home health programs, including a certified home health agency and a home care agency. The organization was founded in 1848 by Hannah Leo of the B'nai Jeshurun Ladies' Benevolent Society.
Womankind, formerly known as the New York Asian Women's Centre (NYAWC), was founded in 1982 by a group of volunteers led by Pat Eng. In 2017, the NYAWC changed its name to Womankind. It is a non-profit organization which aims to empower Asian survivors of gender based violence. Womankind was initially a community awareness program designed to educate families about domestic violence in Chinatown, and then developed into a 24-hour multilingual hotline that now includes 18 different Asian languages and dialects. Womankind also provides Asian immigrant women confidential services including an emergency refuge, shelter services, crisis counseling, 24-hour online free multilingual hotline, welfare promotion, support groups, parenting workshops, children's services, volunteer training, community education, and some English courses. Each year, the organization receives over 3,000 hotline calls.
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