Kiryas Joel - Getting Ready For New Workforce Development Center

Kiryas Joel - Village officials are vowing to roll out all they have to finish up the Kiryas Joel Workforce Development Center. Computer courses, English lessons, job placement, a chamber of commerce and more, all in this 5,000 square feet of space built with $400,000 in state money to put more Kiryas Joel citizens to work and help its businesses thrive, thousands of dollars' worth of furniture, including desks for 100 students, are on order.
"I want to have this building providing all sorts of training potential, whether it be community-related or business-related," Kiryas Joel Administrator said during a building tour.
The vocational needs in this Hasidic community of 18,000 in Kiryas Yoel are formidable. Men will have studied only religious texts and spoken only Yiddish or Hebrew in the classroom since the age of 12.
The result is Orange County's lowest median household income - just more than $15,000 when the 2000 census was taken - and heavy dependence on government assistance. Village leaders have responded in recent years with an economic development push, which includes the work-force center and a five-story office building now under construction.

Among the next steps in activating the work-force center, Village Administrator said, is hiring an economic development director or czar to run its programs.