Students learning together at the Hermelin ORT Center at the JCC in West Bloomfield.

Head Geek

At age 34, Shaindle Braunstein looks like she is still
in high school but is almost a two-decade veteran of
the computer age. Her future brother-in-law was a
computer programmer when Braustein, then a stu-
dent at Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield, began playing
with the new computer in his house.
She attended Touro College in New York, but fin-
ished her college degree in interdisciplinary studies
at Wayne State University in Detroit, never losing
interest in computers.
"I was in the right place at the right time," says
Braunstein, director of the Hermelin ORT Center at
the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. "I
am self-taught. Once you understand the functional-
ity [of computers], it's easy to learn the next piece.
That's why we teach our [Hermelin Center] com-
puter classes the way we do."
Braunstein is now married to her second husband,
Mendy Cohen, and lives in West Bloomfield with
their blended family of four children.
While still a student at Wayne State, and married,
she began working at age 21 at the Crain's publish-
ing company in downtown Detroit. "I was the only
person in the building who understood how to use
their first computer [in 1994] and that's how I got

the job." She was production manager for Crain's
Detroit Business and Detroit Monthly magazine.
In 1999, Braunstein was hired by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit to set up its Web
site and teach Federation staffers how to use com-
puters. The next year, she was hired as production
manager for Automobile magazine.
In 2003, she interviewed for the job to establish
the Hermelin ORT Center. She turned down the job
offer, figuring she would stay in publishing where
there was something new all the time.
Then she got a telephone call from Harlene
Appelman at Federation, urging Braunstein to recon-
sider. "Harlene told me, 'You'll be able to make this
[Hermelin Center] into whatever you want it to be, —
Braunstein said. Nearly five years later, "it's the lon-
gest I've ever been in one job."
Braunstein is proud of her training program and
the organization she works for. "ORT has a fantastic
mission," she said, "and it's also nice to help our
neighbors [referring to the collaboration with COTS].
"Michigan needs better-trained workers, with new
job skills. And that's what we do, even if it's only 100
at a time."

- Alan Hitsky

were from poor families and had little employment train-
ing or experience, Braunstein says.
Braunstein, who is Orthodox, then expanded the
program to the overall Jewish community and the gen-
eral community. The Hermelin Center partnered with
Southfield-based JVS and also set up a booth at the
United Way Jobs Fair at the Michigan State Fairgrounds
in Detroit.
The jobs fair brought in many applicants who couldn't
afford to pay. But, says Braunstein, the students have been
from "across the spectrum" — from people without a
high school or GED (general educational development)
diploma, to some with master's degrees and even one
attorney. Some students have been older people trying to
get back into the job market and 50 percent of the stu-
dents have been Jewish.
The Hermelin Center's first job-opportunities class
was mostly African American; the second class was
mostly from Temple Israel in West Bloomfield; the third
had only three Jews. Yet the response has grown: from 60
in 2005-06, to 85 last year. They expect to serve 125 in
2008.
Braunstein insists on small class sizes. She has one
instructor for each eight students, plus several intern/
assistants. The instructors include Shira Blum of Royal
Oak, James Ryan, Matt Clark and Braunstein.
The interns are students or alumni of the Frankel
Jewish Academy, which is also based in the JCC.
Braunstein likes to pick FJA sophomores as interns and
expects the students to help for three years. They set

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February 14 • 2008

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