Some say that change is necessary to success. Jane Gellman, chair of the Partnership 2000 cluster communities of Milwaukee, Tulsa and St. Paul, would certainly agree.
Gellman and six other Milwaukeeans just returned from P2K’s fall joint steering committee meeting, held Oct. 25-28 in Israel, where P2K officials from the North American cluster communities met with their Israeli counterparts in the Sovev Kinneret region of Israel, the area around the Sea of Galilee.
In spite of some dramatic changes facing the partnership, things are looking up, Gellman said. “I think each year we get better and better and that is what the partnership is all about.”
The most profound change is that Minneapolis left the cluster, resulting in a budget decrease of $250,000. “We lost a major part of our funding,” said Roslyn Roucher, the P2K director for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, which contributes funds from its Annual Community Campaign.
This presents “a challenge for us,” Gellman said.
Roucher said of Minneapolis, “We had some differences in approach to the partnership.” However, “we are finding that continuing to work with our other partners is very possible.”
This year, Roucher added that “St. Paul is becoming much more active through their JCC, in terms of activity,” although “Milwaukee is the now the largest [financial] contributor.”
Meeting participants also met the new Sovev Kinneret regional director, Levana Caro Regev (see related story, below).
Plans for the coming year include continuing the successful programs already in place, such as the Young Emissary program, commonly known locally as the Shin Shin program, which brings post-high school students to Milwaukee to work throughout the community; Israel Adventure, which brings local teens to Israel; and Teen Mifgash, which sends Israeli teens to Milwaukee and Steve and Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken.
Those teen exchanges, said Roucher, have a “huge impact on Milwaukee.” The 25 students who travel each way “get to know entire families. By next year at this time, more than 100 people will have a closer connection,” referring to the teens and their host families who will participate next summer.
“This builds a connection between us and the people in our region. That is what is so exciting about it,” Roucher added.
And that is one of the general goals of the P2K project, which was created in 1995 by the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Hayesod and what is now United Jewish Communities — to create direct people-to-people relationships between diaspora Jews and Israelis.
One of the challenges we face in the coming year, Roucher said, is the ability to “maintain successful programs and still have room for creativity and new programs.”
Also, Sovev Kinneret is experimenting with a new leadership program to “create a think tank, bringing people together to start talking about some of the challenging issues facing the region,” Gellman said.
Roucher said it will consist of a “strong group of 18 adults in a forum to discuss major areas of concern within the region and to strategize ways to deal with issues such as education, drugs and alcohol.”
Gellman called the plan “challenging,” but also a “ very creative idea that may or may not work.”
Roucher also discussed how the P2K committee is attempting to develop new partnerships with Israeli schools for the Education Bridge program, which links Israeli and American schools through projects and e-mail.
Roucher said one of the highlights of the visit for her was a remembrance ceremony for Yitzhak Rabin, held at Yad Sasson regional school at Kibbutz Lavi, which is partnered with Milwaukee Jewish Day School.
“After the ceremony, we had to walk back to the classrooms. All of the kids were so excited to meet people from Milwaukee,” she said.
Roucher met her daughter’s pen pal. “I looked at this little girl, and thought, ‘They could be friends. They even look alike.”
Both Roucher and Gellman left the meeting feeling optimistic.
“People are enthusiastic about the exciting things that have happened in the past and the ability to build on them,” said Gellman.
Roucher agreed. “It’s a hard time in Israel [right now] and this is something everyone feels positive about.”
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