Janis Black Warner Speaker Series for October 2024 on Special Needs Trusts

Our Janis Black Warner Speaker Series guest for October is Michelle Wolf, a parent disability advocate and Founding Executive Director of the Jewish Los Angeles Special Needs Trust. Wolf will discuss setting up special needs trusts for loved ones living with mental health conditions, as well as government benefits such as SSI, SSDI, and Medi-Cal, and planning ahead financially for people with disabilities. The Jewish Los Angeles Special Needs Trust, known as JLA Trust, is the first pooled nonprofit trust based in LA County for persons with a range of disabilities, which now has over 190 enrolled beneficiaries and over $11 million in pooled assets. Pooled trusts are an affordable and easy way for people with disabilities to have professional trustee services to legally supplement their government benefits. Wolf was formerly the Director of Serving the Vulnerable for The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and in 2005, she co-founded HaMercaz, an innovative multi-agency collaborative one-stop model that helps families raising children with special needs. As a parent of an adult son with cerebral palsy, she writes on topics related to Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and she is also a member of the Self-Determination Advisory Committee for the Lanterman Regional Center.

Join the free online event on Wednesday, October 9, 7 pm PT, via Zoom, here.