1917 – JWB organized to serve religious and welfare needs of Jewish military personnel in WWI
1921 – Merger with National Council of YMHAs and Kindred Associations, founded in 1913, makes JWB the national organization serving JCCs, Ys and Jews in the U.S. military
1922 – JWB begins intensive programming services to JCCs. Lecture bureau established.
1925 – President Calvin Coolidge joins JWB leaders in laying cornerstone of Washington, D.C. center. That year, 47 new JCC buildings had opened since the end of the war, bringing the total to 120.
1932 – Day camp programming for JCCs launched.
1935 – JWB and JCCs organize American team for Palestine Maccabiah.
1936 – JWB leads fight to keep the U.S. out of Nazi-controlled Berlin Olympics.
1940 – U.S. War Department reaffirms JWB role as official representative of Jews serving in the military.
1941 – JWB becomes a founding member of USO.
1942 – Organization of Jewish Community Center Division spurs service to the field.
1943 – JWB serve military on five continents through chaplains, field workers, community groups and USO.
1945 – Jewish chaplains aid liberated concentration camp survivors. At the war’s end, JWB serves 588 communities and 203 USO operations; 311 jewish chaplains are on duty.
1946 – JWB takes initiative in creating World Federation of YMHAs; the JWB Circle is born.
1947 – JWB survey calls for stressing Jewish goals and programs of JCCs. A new era ushered in for JCC Movement.
1948 – Louis Kraft goes to Israel during Arab siege to set up Jerusalem YMHA. Later, JCCs across North America become focal points of community celebrations hailing the birth of the state of Israel.
1951 – JWB spurs JCCs to implement expanded services to seniors.
1954 – First book on JCC practice is published by National Association of Jewish Center Workers and JWB.
1960 – JCCs assume role in JWB financing with the adoption of Fair Share Plan at JWB Biennial.
1964 – Florence G. Heller elected first woman president of JWB. She was the first woman to head a national Jewish organization.
1967 – JWB mobilizes support for Israel during the Six-Day War.
1968 – JWB takes part in mass demonstrations of solidarity with Soviet Jewry.
1972 – JCCs hold memorial services for Jewish athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics.
1982 – JWB initiates Commission on Maximizing Jewish Educational Effectiveness (COMJEE) and the first JCC Maccabi Games®, a week-long, Olympic-style competition for Jewish teens, is held in Memphis, Tennessee.
1984 – COMJEE report released in September.
1990 – JWB is renamed Jewish Community Centers Association of North America (JCC Association).
2003 – Jewish chaplains participate in memorial service at NASA headquarters for seven victims of space shuttle Columbia disaster.
2006 – The first JCC Maccabi ArtsFest®, a showcase of visual and performing arts for teens, is held in Baltimore.
2011 – First JCC Maccabi Games® are held in Israel.
2017 – Doron Krakow named president and CEO of JCC Association.