AN ART AND A SCIENCE

Yael Shaltieli: We are builing relationships (photo by Douglas Guthrie)

Community building is both an art and a science, says Beit Shean Valley Regional Council head Yael Shaltiel, but the true key to turning lives around is the building of relationships.

"Struggling communities can't rebuild themselves," she says. "People here in Beit She'an need help in developing the networks of social support that will yield positive change."

That help is on the way. Through the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 program, it is coming from the Jewish community of Cleveland, Ohio. In turn, it is helping young Clevelanders understand their history and the interconnection of Jewish values, Jewish knowledge and community action. The people-to-people link between Beit Shean and Cleveland is stressed throughout the community building program now being developed through economic outreach, in binding together the town and its surrounding region, in reorganizing and strengthening businesses and enterprises; in its social and educational connections, based on linking and supporting different groups in the community - from isolated Ethiopians, to the elderly; and in its community leadership development, which aims to enhance the capacity of people aged 25 to 45 to forge partnerships among the public, private and community sectors.

"This new generation of local leaders will be responsible for establishing the preconditions for building community and reversing the sense that change is impossible," says Shaltiel. Every two years, a class of 25 to 30 people will be chosen to take part in Beit Shean's leadership program, and every program will have a strong Cleveland component.

"What makes this program different is that it's based on building relationships," says Shaltiel. "Relationships among residents of the town and the region, between the authorities and the residents, and between the people of Beit Shean and Cleveland."

Young Leader Tzvi Pearlman of Kibbutz Ein Hanetziv

"One of the immediate benefits of the program is that we sit together - residents of the kibbutzim, moshavim and city - to think about the needs of the region as a whole," says Kibbutz Neve Eitan's Avri Kafri, who has also met with young leaders from Cleveland and looks forward to further interaction.

"We believe that our colleagues in Cleveland and us stand much to gain from this dialogue," adds Tzvi Pearlman of Kibbutz Ein Hanetziv. "They have whom to talk with in Beit Shean and are welcome at any time."

Partnership 2000 also operates a Women's Forum, chaired by Michal Palgi of Kibbutz Nir David, and coordinated by Beit Shean's Rachel Batito. The Forum addresses two main challenges, says Palgi, helping women in distress, and assisting women entrepreneurs. The Forum started its activities by recruiting 30 volunteers who staff a "hot line" and accompany women in distress after attending a special training program. Members of the Women's Forum have also met with women's leaders from Cleveland and are exchanging ideas for further activity.

June 1999