Martha K. Selig, for whom the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services renamed its Educational Institute in 1993, has been many things to the social work profession: an advocate for families and children, a pioneer for professional women, and an architect of services designed to foster a better life for all New Yorkers.

At JBFCS, with which she first affiliated as a consultant in 1974, Mrs. Selig recognized the responsibility of the nation’s premier mental health and social service agency to be at the forefront of training. She believed the agency needed to give professionals, inside and outside JBFCS, the knowledge and skills for responding to new and increasingly challenging community crises.

Mrs. Selig’s life-long dedication to the field of social work has been in the service of one essential tenet: a belief that nothing should stand in the way of creating and providing the supports that can make it possible for people to take charge of their own lives. This premise continues to guide and inspire the JBFCS, the Selig Institute and generations of social workers who are touched and enabled by the impact of her work.

Martha Selig passed away on April 8, 2006. Though she is greatly missed by her colleagues and friends, her legacy lives on in our unwavering commitment to providing the highest caliber training for the mental health profession.

The Martha K. Selig Institute is generously funded by The Saul Z. and Amy S. Cohen Family Foundation and named in honor of the late Martha K. Selig for her extraordinary contributions to JBFCS’ education and training programs.