To help battle rising rates of unemployment and poverty among Jews in the Baltics, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has launched two of its successful Ariel Job Centers in Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia. The centers – based on a pioneering model that continues to help Argentina’s Jews recover in the wake of that country’s economic crisis – provide seminars, classes and training on job hunting, interviewing, resume building, as well as computer and other professional skills.

JDC has seen a rise in the number of Jews requiring welfare services, particularly in the Baltic nations which are the slowest European countries to recover economically. In 2010, JDC expects to be serving more than 7,000 Baltic Jews in need, an increase of 50% in one year.