March 13, 2006

Dear Friends,

Last month, the Jewish Agency held its Board of Governor's meetings at the Dead Sea.  Just the drive down and back was worth it, as the desert view was more striking than usual as Israel's winter flowers softened the usually stark and brazen hills. In addition to the view, however, I would also like to share with you the up-date that was presented to the BOG Partnership Subcommittee - not as visually striking as the Negev in the winter-time, but I believe will be interesting all the same.

The presentation is divided into two sections.  The first section is an overview of Partnership 2000's annual work plan for 2006.  You will see that we are dedicated to sustaining partnerships of excellence by providing professional and financial resources to help ensure the undertaking of steering committee orientations, planning processes as well as program evaluation and assessment. As I have mentioned in the past, we are dedicated to creating venues for the sharing of information so that none of our partnerships "reinvent the wheel".  All of this we are doing through a national schedule of conferences, marketing initiatives, and more. 

Indeed, two weeks ago, we held the first in our series of conferences - "P2K and Education", which featured five parallel workshops highlighting carefully selected educational programs. The workshops were well attended and we have subsequently received a stream of positive feedback on how beneficial it was to be exposed to the undertakings and experience of other partnerships.  In that spirit, I encourage all of you to explore our web site, which includes a wealth of information on partnership programming (i.e., for the conference on "P2K and Education" we produced a small brochure highlighting best practices which is already on the web).  For the convenience of our P2K surfers, please see below several key links:  

* General Website:  http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Israel/Partnerships
* Catalogue of Educational Programs:  http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Israel/Partnerships/Peer+Groups/Educators
* Catalogue of Programs on Women's Issues: http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Israel/Partnerships/Peer+Groups/Women
* Catalogue of Programs on Young Leadership Development: http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Israel/Partnerships/Peer+Groups/Young+Leadership
* Link to Previously Distributed Communiqu?s/Documents: http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Israel/Partnerships/p2k/Leaders

The second part of the presentation facilitated the Partnership Subcommittee's discussion on what should be the minimum community investment when entering into an exclusive one-on-one Partnership 2000 relationship (as opposed to joining a consortium).  Taking into consideration the issues outlined in the attached presentation, the Subcommittee decided that $75,000 is the minimum investment for entering an exclusive Partnership 2000 relationship - with the hope that such an investment would grow over time.

Lastly, I trust that you have all received our notices and registration form for our first National P2K Conference on May 7th and 8th in New Jersey - and I trust that you will be joining us… 

As always, I welcome your comments on the attached presentation and any questions you might have. In the meantime, wishing you and yours a Purim Sameach!

Sincerely,
 
Andrea Arbel
Director
Division of Partnerships