OFAKIM, Israel – Ofakim residents are seeing red.

But there is no stopping the rapid growth in the Negev development town that serves as the Partnership 2000 sister community of the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.

Last month, Ofakim received its first traffic light, a welcomed annoyance – that is, convenience – that residents see as a sign that they are finally on the map.

"We have become a real town with real traffic," Ofakim Mayor Yair Hazan said. "We consistently had heavy traffic at the entrance to the town and it was beginning to become a safety problem, so we had to get the traffic light. I hope it doesn't mean we have lost our innocence," he joked.

The traffic light was reported in Israeli newspapers, giving positive publicity to a town that usually makes news only for its economic plight. Hazan acknowledged that he milked the light as a gimmick to get coverage, hoping the newspapers would also mention the town's achievements fighting unemployment.

Ofakim has lowered its unemployment rate to only 6 percent – much lower than the staggering rate in Israel as a whole of 10.8 percent. Israel's unemployment rate is the second highest in the western world after Spain.

One way Ofakim has brought down its rate is to use the late U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's strategy of employing people in public infrastructure projects. The town has a new cultural center, library, youth center, and sports center, and a visual arts center due in November.

Many of the projects were made possible in part by the support of MetroWest. UJC MetroWest executive vice president Max Kleinman and MetroWest Israel Office director Amir Shacham came to Ofakim recently to witness the town's rapid development.

"There has been tremendous progress in the physical development of the town," Kleinman said. "It was a cultural wasteland several years ago. But now there is a feeling of pride in the population manifested in the new cultural center and other new facilities. They have a greater sense that change is possible, and children are seeing they can stay there."

To work with the children of Ofakim, MetroWest sent a delegation of seven counselors to the town's Kefiada English summer camp. MetroWest is one of only two Jewish federations that has continued sending counselors to Israel for Kefiada programs.

In another effort to help employ more residents of Ofakim and the Merchavim Regional Council, MetroWest will fund a program to train local occupational and physical therapists to staff a new 200-bed care center for the mentally retarded and physically handicapped in Merhavim. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the facility, which is expected to create hundreds of new jobs.

So when it comes to development, Ofakim is not taking any caution and is ready to go forward. For Ofakim residents, the traffic light may end up being the light at the end of the tunnel.

"It's a very nice traffic light," Kleinman said. "It's not quite working yet. It will start working when they get the green light," he joked.