The Jewish Agency for Israel launched Partnership 2000 in 1995, together with the United Jewish Appeal and Keren Hayesod. The innovative program addresses two prime challenges facing the world Jewish community today:

• developing Israel's priority areas - the Negev, Galilee and Jerusalem; and
• linking Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora to promote Jewish continuity.

Partnership 2000 offers Diaspora Jewish communities an opportunity for direct involvement in developing Israel's peripheries. The Negev and Galilee hold more than two-thirds of Israel's land reserves, yet house only 17% of the population. The outstanding potential for development and immigrant absorption in these areas remains largely untapped due to high unemployment rates coupled with weak educational infrastructures. Partnership 2000 links Jewish communities in the Diaspora and Israel in a shared effort to promote regional development in Israel, unity, and Jewish identity.

Diaspora Community Involvement

38 regions and one regional project (Higher Education in the Eastern Galilee) have been matched with 550 Diaspora communities. The Southern New England Consortium (SNEC), which includes the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts' communities as well as communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, is partnered with the Afula/Gilboa region of Israel. These two communities are located in Northern Israel, immediately north of Jenin.

Afula:

• Afula has 40,000 residents, of which 13,000 or approximately 33% are new immigrants. 4,000 immigrants arrived from Ethiopia; the rest are from the Former Soviet Union (FSU).
• The city of Afula, the capital of the Jazreel Valley, is located at an important junction road. The Afula industrial area includes a number of large factories. On the outskirts is "HaEmek" Medical Center, which serves the population of the entire area.
• Afula has 22 schools, with about 10,000 students.
• The elderly population, number about 1, 700 people, enjoys a wide range of actives that take place in the community centers in Afula's three main neighborhoods -- Givat Hamoreh, Afula Illit, and downtown Afula.
  

Gilboa:

• The Gilboa Regional Council includes 32 settlements. 5 of these are Arab villages that comprise about 40% of the population. The Gilboa Regional Council has absorbed 110 new immigrant families, some of the in the Kibbutzim through the "First Home in the Homeland" program.
• Gilboa includes all forms of rural settlement, including community settlements that accept residents from all around the country.
• The Gilboa region is a center of attraction for tourists and visitors, and is one of the most beautiful areas of the country.

Partnership 2000 Programs

Young Emissaries
Committed high school graduates are chosen for ten months of voluntary service in the partner community. Selected volunteers go through training to learn about the Jewish community abroad, Jewish history and history of Israel. The Young Emissaries engage in a wide range of social-education activities for children and youth, and work with local professionals and volunteers to plan and hold community wide events. These young people contribute to outreach, develop mutual understanding, and enhance the connection between the communities abroad and their partner community in Israel.

Our new young emissaries who arrive in September are Lidor David and Dror Ben Ami.

The central Massachusetts Jewish community participated in the Young Emissaries program for the first time in 2002 - 2003.

For more information about Partnership 2000 or our Young Emissaries Program contact the Jewish Federation at 508.756-1543 or send an email to lthurlow@jfcm.org or visit the Partnership 2000 websites www.snecp2k.org or www.partner.org.il/afula/