The "Partnership Award of Excellence" was presented at the 4th Annual Partnership 2000 Conference in Jerusalem, "Jewish Peoplehood Every Day Around the World", held in conjunction with the Jewish Peoplehood Hub.

To describe the Gesher Chai program is to describe a true “Living Bridge” with programming that connects the Partnership communities on many different levels. The program begins with the personal connections made between the youngest students in the form of letters, drawings and simple projects that go back and forth across the ocean. As the students grow, so do the connections with more frequent communication using internet, web sites and videoconferencing, as well as delegations between the partnership cities and schools. Today Gesher Chai involves about 200 educators and 4000 students.