Josephine Stern Weiner
Josephine Stern Weiner’s lifetime of community service culminated in her creation of Women in Community Services (WICS), an umbrella organization that coordinated efforts between Jews and Christians, Black people and white people, at the height of the civil rights movement. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1929, Weiner began a teaching career. She rose through the ranks of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) to become president of the greater Detroit region from 1942–1944 and national president from 1967–1971. As president, she helped NCJW found the Research Institute for Innovation in Education at Hebrew University, an institute which has created early education programs adopted in countries around the world. She also created Orchards Children’s Services in Detroit in 1962. But her proudest accomplishment in 1965 was the creation of WICS, which linked NCJW, Church Women United, The National Council of Catholic Women, the National Council of Negro Women, and the GI Forum to help disadvantaged young women get Job Corps training. She served as WICS’s president for many years, and wrote a history of the organization in 1979.