The Karmiel-Misgav Pittsburgh Partnership 2000 Joint Steering Committee in cooperation with the Jewish Agency concluded its Spring Session on Tuesday May 12, 2009 during which a program’s activities for the 2009-2010 program year were discussed and approved.

The partnership’s Joint Steering Committee conducted three days of discussions from May 10th through the 12th.  The Pittsburgh committee was represented by Louis Kushner, the partnership’s outgoing chair, the current chairpersons, Linda Simons and Skip Greenberg as well as UJF staff members. The Israeli contingent included Roma Manor, Misgav’s lay chairperson, Hanna Kovel and Eti Levy, the city managers of Karmiel and the Misgav Regional Council, respectively, Yael Raych, the Partnership Regional Manager for the Jewish Agency and other members of the committee from throughout the region. Adi Eldar and Ron Shani, the mayors of Karmiel and Misgav participated in a portion of the discussions and expressed their fullest appreciation to the members of the Steering Committee on their important and valuable work on behalf of the entire region.

A $582K budget to conduct activities throughout the 2009-2010 programming year was approved by the committee to promote projects in the areas of Youth Activities, Branding the Region as a Tourism Destination, Branding Karmiel as a City for Young Families and support for small businesses, etc.

The members of the committee spent a day on a study tour of the Beit Shemesh- Yehuda Plains, Washington D.C./South Africa partnership in order to gain a better idea of the variety of activities conducted in that partnership in the area of tourism development (the Wine Route, cycling trails and ethnic cooking festivals, etc).

Back in the region, they visited the Kemana Elementary School where they got a closer look at the “Everyone Can Do More” project funded in part by the partnership and through which two after-school clubs operate for children in the region’s Bedouin sector. The clubs are open 3 days a week and provide the children a warm meal and study groups to improve their reading and other basic educational skills.

Once pupils are able to prove advancement and the ability to adapt to their particular classroom level, they release their place in the program for the benefit of other children in need of support.

The highlight of the visit was their participation in the “Partnership 2000 Trail” Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. The “Partnership 2000 Trail” is a bi-directional cycling route that connects between the neighboring communities of Karmiel and Misgav. The 35 km  (21.75 mi) route crosses through residential neighborhoods, open spaces and nature reserves and is fully expected to attract thousands of professional and amateur cycling enthusiasts and visitors from Israel and abroad.

Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, a Lag B’Omer ceremony was held including a bon fire and songfest.

The end of the Steering Committee sessions was also an opportunity to part from Yael Raych from Yuvalim, who is concluding 8 years as the partnership’s regional director on behalf of the Jewish Agency. Pittsburgh representatives as well as those from the region thanked Yael for her enormous contribution towards promoting and strengthening the partnership and for the fully professional manner in which she managed the partnership over the years.