Barbra Giles
Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives, Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan Detroit
Barbra Giles, LMSW, ACSW, serves Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan Detroit as the Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives. In her role she oversees the agency’s home and community-based programs as well as finding new and innovative ways for the agency to serve older adults. She has been with the agency for over 25 years. She is a past winner of the Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Award for Outstanding Professional Service, given to an individual recognized for the highest professional standards in Jewish Communal Service. She is actively involved with LeadingAge Michigan and serves as its Immediate Past Chair. Her background and training is in social work, and her degree is from the University of Michigan.
Articles
Collaboration
A Partnership of the Generations
The shutdown of the pandemic in 2020 hit older adults hard. The isolation was devastating, especially for those locked down in communal living environments and the reverberations are still felt by many seniors. The upheaval of the pandemic has made it particularly difficult for senior living homes to find and maintain staff and provide meaningful and enriching programming to residents.
For the first time, as a pilot with Jewish Senior Life in Detroit, Reboot has created a Digital Catalog to provide select experiences, programs and opportunities for residential programmers to access, curate and distribute meaningful Jewish content to their residents. The impact has been so great that it has been recognized as a model by the Association of Jewish Homes and Aging Services of North America (AJAS) and received a 2023 Jewish Programming Award. Learn more from our partners in Detroit here.