The Joint Distribution Committee will provide $2,100,000 during 1967 toward the overseas vocational training program of CRT, it was announced here today by officials of both organizations. This is $150,000 more than the amount allocated in 1966, reflecting the increased need for vocational training among Jewish youth and unskilled adults overseas, especially in Israel and France.
The grant will help finance technical education and economic rehabilitation services of CRT in Europe, Israel, North Africa, Iran and India. More than 50,000 persons are expected to receive such assistance in these and other areas during the coming year. ORT activities in Israel, with trade schools in 38 cities and towns, comprising the largest vocational school system in the country, will receive by far the largest portion of the 1967 JDC grant. About 25,000 persons are expected to receive industrial and technical instruction in these schools during 1967.
The JDC allocation includes provision for substantial funds to be used by CRT in France for vocational education and other job training programs for North African refugees. ORT trade schools, apprentice programs for youth and special courses for adults, have been greatly enlarged to meet the needs of 250,000 arrivals of recent years. These measures have been insufficient however and will have to be expanded in 1967.
The amount ORT will expend for all its 1967 programs in 22 countries is about $12,500,000. The agreement between the two agencies stipulates that ORT will make up from other sources the difference between the JDC grant and the total required. Signing the financial pact for the two agencies were Charles H. Jordan, JDC executive vice-chairman; Dr. William Haber, president of the American CRT Federation; and Max A. Braude, ORT director-general. The new pact is the twenty-first consecutive annual financial agreement between the two agencies. JDC has made $31, 368,000 available to ORT in the past 20 years towards the aid of over 500,000 persons.
The new agreement specifies that the American CRT Federation will refrain from conducting independent fund-raising campaigns in the United States, but will continue its membership activities. Vocational training assistance through CRT represents one aspect of JDC’s overseas programs. In 1967, JDC requires a minimum of $23,347,500 to provide welfare and rehabilitation services for hundreds of thousands of needy Jews in 30 countries around the world.
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