Top Haifa Official to Visit New York Employment Programs

New York -- July 25th, 2006 Tomorrow the Director of the Department of Welfare from the Municipality of Haifa, Pini Wugman, will visit New York to meet with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, together with a JDC-led team of experts, to learn about the city's success in the area of employing the disabled.

Yossi, the Director of JDC's Employment Initiative, is heading the delegation. Tamir previously served as the Director General of Israel's National Insurance Institute (Israel's Social Security Administration).

We believe that it is an extraordinary gesture on the part of a high level minister from the besieged city of Haifa to keep his commitment as part of this delegation and to be present during this professional exchange in New York.

This visit is part of a broader JDC initiative with the Israeli government. Unemployment hovers at 11 percent in Israel and is highest among Arab Israelis, ultra-Orthodox and immigrant populations from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. JDC's "poverty-to-independence" Employment Initiative began in 2005 with the focus of developing services to help the long-term jobless overcome social and educational barriers to workplace success.

In addition to meeting with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the delegation will visit key social service agencies in New York dealing with employing the disabled.