A concept to unite all Jain Centers in the United States and Canada under one umbrella was proposed by JCSC in 1980. This was formalized at the first national JAINA convention hosted by JCSC in Los Angeles in May 1981. JCSC also hosted the 15th Biennial JAINA Convention held in our new facility in July 2009. Since 1981, JCSC has continued to play a significant role to help JAINA grow into a unified and well regarded international organization, and JCSC adults and youth continue to serve in leadership roles in JAINA and the Young Jains of America (YJA). The 2011 JAINA President’s Award was awarded to JCSC in recognition of its accomplishments and contributions.
What is JAINA? JAINA is the Federation of Jain Associations in North America, an umbrella organization that preserves and shares Jain Dharma and the Jain Way of Life. JAINA's head office is located in New York at 43-11 Ithaca Street, Elmhurst, NY 11373, 510-990-0204. For more information, please contact info@jaina.org.
Who are members of JAINA? Over 65 organizations are members of JAINA. This includes Jain temples, sanghs, societies and centers.
What is JAINA'S Organizational Structure? There are over 70 organizations under the JAINA umbrella. Each organization, based on their membership size appoints 1, 2, or 3 Directors. There are 110 JAINA Directors who elect the JAINA Executive Committee every two years. Also there are over 30 specialized working groups called JAINA Committees.
Young Jains of America (“YJA”) is an entity of Federation of the Jain Associations in North America (“JAINA”), a non-profit religious organization. YJA puts emphasis on projects relating to Jain youth from ages 14-29. YJA was first established in 1991, and held its first youth convention in 1994.
Throughout the years, YJA’s membership has grown substantially. Today, YJA serves over 10,000 members. Our mission is to be recognized nationally and internationally as an umbrella Jain youth organization for establishing a network for and among youth to share Jain heritage and religion. Through local event, regional retreats, national conventions, educational webinars, community service projects and social activities, YJA encourages Jain youth to get involved, meet other Jains and continue the Jain heritage.
The YJA Executive Board comprises of sixteen Jain youth from across North America: two Co-Chairs, eight Directors, and six Regional Coordinators, between the ages of 18 and 29.
In addition, we are work with Local Representatives (“LRs”) who assist Regional Coordinators (“RCs”) and members of the Executive Board with activities in their local temples or around their region. If you are interested in becoming a YJA Local Representative for Southern California, email west@yja.org.
The Young Jain Professionals’ mission is to increase the awareness and understanding of Jain principles and heritage by promoting networking among Jain professionals. Through networking dinners, seminars featuring Jain leaders, and community service projects, YJP strengthens the relationship among young Jain professionals. Please email chairs@yjp.jaina.org for more information and to get involved!
The JCSC Wellness Challenge is a program that aims to spread awareness of health epidemics prevalent in South Asians in North America such as heart disease and diabetes. The program strongly encourages a community-wide initiative to change lifestyle choices and eating habits to live a healthier and longer life.
The goal of the Wellness Challenge is to improve collective and individual healthy score cards in six months by implementing education on lifestyle change, exercise, and stress management. In order to support the participants in starting and maintaining their health goal, the modalities utilized in the Challenge include weekly health competition, cooking demos, wellness seminars, walking clubs and yoga classes. Upon completion of the program, the goal is to reduce baseline body weight by a 5-7% and include 150 minutes per week of moderate level physical activity.
The leaders for this are Vijay Cheda / Mani Uncle