Some 90 young people and students from the Pittsburgh area visited Karmiel and the Misgav Region during May as part of a Partnership 2000 program sponsored by the Jewish Agency.

The first group was composed of 20 young women from the Hillel Academy who got together with their 11th grade counterparts from the Amit High School in Karmiel. Together, they toured the Tzipori National Park and Gardens and the city of Tzafat. The second delegation was made up of 30 8th grade pupils from Pittsburgh's Community Day School (CDS) which was paired with eighth graders from the ORT Kramim Comprehensive High School. The two classes traveled together for a 2 1/2-day journey visiting the Golan Heights, Tzafat, the historic cemetery at Kibbutz Kinneret, Akko and Rosh Hanikra. The CDS pupils also had the chance to visit ORT Kramim where they participated in joint artistic activities and a basketball tournament.

The third and final group was made up of 45 students from Pittsburgh area universities who arrived in Israel as participants in the Jewish Agency's "Taglit/Birthright" Program which gives Jewish students who have never visited before the opportunity to conduct a ten-day tour of Israel. The delegation visited ORT Braude Regional College and met with Braude students for lunch, after which they all headed out to the "Sagi" Neighborhood in Karmiel for a volunteer gardening project for the benefit of the neighborhood's residents.