Toronto wins top prize for Israeli partnership

By Raquel Kaplan Goldberg--
Toronto’s partnership with Eilat-Eilot has borne much fruit by beginning the transformation of the area from a totally tourist based economy to a centre for post-secondary education. Now Toronto has received first-prize laurels for its internship program at a Partnership 2000 conference in New Jersey over the Victoria Day weekend.

The Partnership 2000 (P2K) program twins North American communities with those in Israel. In addition to the Awards of Excellence ceremony, the conference included an opportunity for the 45 partnerships from around the world to share best practices.

Toronto’s strategic model of partnership, presented by co-chairs Morley Brown and Brian Schachter, was singled out by Jewish Agency for Israel chairman Zeev Bielski as one that other communities should be emulating. It was considered the best of its kind in North America.

The three-year-old internship program, in which high school graduates from Toronto volunteer for a minimum of six weeks in Eilat-Eilot, is one of Partnership 2000’s ‘living bridge initiatives.’ “We’re bridging the gap between us and the community that we partner with, and building that bridge people-to-people,” explains Michal Kaye, director of the Israel Volunteer Programs Centre, under whose auspices the internships are arranged.

“We’re honoured to have won the prize for our community ­ it really relates to the hard work that has gone into it by both lay and professional leadership,” says Schachter. “We took the kids out for dinner while we were in Israel recently and just listening to them talk, we could hear the connections that are being formed. That's the real reason we’re doing this ­to help the present and build for the future, and we saw that happen.”
Participants, who are supported by a partnership team in Eilat, work in a variety of fields thanks to the close relationship between Toronto and Eilat-Eilot. “It gives us access to all kinds of amazing volunteer positions that we wouldn't have otherwise,” explains Brown. “We’ve placed interns with the mayor’s office and at Eilat’s coral reef, with others running sports programs, teaching English, and volunteering with the fire department.”

The program is part of a comprehensive development strategy underlying Toronto's partnership with Eilat-Eilot that also includes scholarships for higher education and new dormitories at the Eilat campus of Ben Gurion University, enrichment opportunities for gifted students and unique programs for weaker ones, and vocational training centres. As well, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto helped fund the Collier Centre, a community centre where interns now run after-school programs for the children of Eilat.

Ultimately, Kaye would like to see as many of the volunteers as possible working in UJA Federation-affiliated programs in Eilat “so they can understand where their money is going and get to know the people they are helping, and so the Eilat is will be able to connect the commitment of our community with actual faces.”