2013 Annual Report
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2013 Annual Report SisterCities INTERNATIONAL Explore 50 Years of Sister Cities History Sister Cities International’s 50th Anniversary book Peace Through People: 50 Years of Global Citizenship contains hundreds of stories of citizen diplomats bringing the world together from the first half century (1956-2006) of the sister cities movement. This fully searchable edition is available online at www.sister-cities.org/50years . TTaabbllee ooff CCoonntteennttss Letter from the President .................................1 State Coordinators ........................................20 2013 Annual Report ........................................2 Honorary Board and Global Envoys ...............21 2013 Donors .................................................18 2014 Sister Cities International Staff ..............22 Board of Directors .........................................19 Annual Report 2013 Greetings, I want to first thank our members and partners for supporting the work of Sister Cities International. It is through the efforts in your respective communities that we fulfill our mission to “Promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation – one individual, one community at a time.” We began 2013 with a huge event – the very first Sister Cities International Inaugural Gala! As most of you are aware, every President of the United States, since Dwight D. Eisenhower, has been the Honorary Chairman of Sister Cities International. Since we were the very first event of Inauguration week, we received worldwide publicity for our goal to connect communities in the United States with their friends around the world. The President’s own Marine Corps band opened an evening that brought Mayors, Congressional Representatives and Ambassadors together to celebrate with our own citizen diplomats. SisterCities Our Sino-African Initiative has been the prime example of how cities can form mutually INTERNATIONAL beneficial trilateral sister city relationships. The Osogbo, Nigeria-Asheville/Raleigh, North Connect globally. Thrive locally. Carolina-Xiangyang, China trilateral partnership worked together in Osogbo to renovate and upgrade one primary health care center to offer emergency obstetric care, establish a drug revolving fund, and provide extra equipment. Included in the project were medical training exchanges between the cities, as well as mayoral and business delegation exchanges. The other two programs under the grant were a water and sanitation project involving Nairobi, Kenya/Denver, CO, U.S./Kunming, China at the Madaraka Primary School in Nairobi and a waste management project in Malawi with the communities of Zomba, Malawi/ Urbana, IL, U.S./Haizhu District, Guangzhou, China. In 2013, our annual conference was held in the great city of San Antonio, Texas. We partnered with the United Nations United Environmental Accords program to host 600 delegates from all over the world including Diplomatic Corps representatives from 30 countries. We reinvigorated our Youth Leadership Program and intend to double the size of our youth leadership summit in San Jose in 2014. It’s apropos that the theme of the 2014 conference in San Jose is “The Power of Digital Diplomacy” given the expanded presence of Sister Cities International as well as our members on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media. We’ve also added customizable partnership profiles to our website for all of our more than 2,000 sister city relationships and you can now view our 50th anniversary book, Peace Through People , which recounts some highlights from the first half century of sister cities. If you have not yet had the chance to see the amazing photos and even more incredible stories of international cooperation, please have a look at www.sister-cities.org/50th . Please also continue to share your stories with us; our 60th anniversary is quickly approaching and hope to be able to share some of the newer stories about how sister cities members are building peace. This upcoming year we are poised for even bigger things. In addition to the conference in San Jose, the first ever U.S.-China Sister Cities conference will be held in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the first U.S.-China partnerships. We’ll continue to expand and enhance our website, put more resources like webinars and toolkits online, and expand affinity benefits for members. We’ve also decided to waive any application fee for our Young Artists and Authors Showcase as well as our Annual Awards to encourage even more members to participate in these popular programs. We hope that you are as excited about sister cities in 2014 as we are; it’s going to be a big year. Again, thank you for your support and your belief that if we “Connect Globally” we can “Thrive Locally.” Mary D. Kane President & CEO 1 Annual Report 2013 TO PROMOTE PEACE THROUGH MUTUAL RESPECT, UNDERSTANDING, AND COOPERATION — ONE INDIVIDUAL, ONE COMMUNITY AT A TIME. Sister Cities International Mission Statement ister Cities International is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) S nonprofit that serves as the national membership organization for individual sister cities, counties, and states across the United States. This network unites thousands of citizen diplomats and volunteers from 522 U.S. communities with over 2,000 partnerships in more than 140 countries. Sister Cities International was created at President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1956 White House Summit on Citizen Diplomacy. He envisioned an organization that would be a champion for peace and prosperity by helping citizens foster bonds between people from different communities around the world. President Eisenhower reasoned that if private citizens built partnerships that celebrated and appreciated differences between cultures, and didn’t rely solely on institutional partnerships, grants, programs, and support for national governments to manage international relations, then its members. Sister Cities International motivates and it would lessen the chance empowers private citizens, local organizations, and of new conflicts. municipal officials to conduct long-term, mutually beneficial sister city, county, or state relationships. For nearly six decades, Sister Cities International The mission of Sister Cities International is just as important has served as a hub for today as it was when it was founded. With the advent of the institutional knowledge internet and new technologies, the world is becoming and best practices in the smaller, and the relationships and interactions between the field of citizen diplomacy. U.S. and its foreign counterparts are more complex than Sister Cities International ever. Despite this increase in online communication, the continues to strengthen face-to-face meetings and personal relationships developed the sister cities network through sister cities are still vital and irreplaceable. through strategic “If we are going to take advantage of the assumption that all people want peace, then the problem is for people to get together and to leap governments – if necessary to evade governments – to work out not one method, but thousands of methods by which people can gradually learn a little bit more of each other.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower, Founder of Sister Cities International and 34th President of the United States of America 2 Annual Report 2013 What is a Sister City? What Do Sister Cities Do? sister city, county, or state relationship is a broad, long- ister city organizations plan and implement cooperative A term partnership between two communities in two Sactivities and exchanges with their counterparts in other countries. A sister partnership is officially recognized after countries. These activities typically fall into four categories: the highest elected or appointed official from both youth and education, community development/municipal communities sign an agreement establishing the exchange, business and trade, and arts and culture. Within relationship. these categories there is a tremendous breadth of diversity, as each community uses its unique resources, history, A city may have any number of sister cities, with community geography, and citizenry to guide their activities. involvement ranging from a half dozen to hundreds of volunteers. In addition to volunteers, sister city organizations Sister City Partnerships by Country may include representatives from nonprofits, municipal governments, the private sector, and other civic Mexico 188 organizations. Sister city relationships offer the flexibility to Japan 185 China 167 form connections between communities that are mutually Germany 108 France 101 beneficial and which address issues that are most relevant Italy 82 Russia 76 for each partner. United Kingdom 64 Chinese Taipei 56 South Korea 50 Israel 48 Philippines 42 Ireland 41 Poland 37 Spain 33 Ghana 32 Canada 30 Brazil 29 Ukraine 23 Australia 22 India 20 522 U.S. With 2,012 In 143 Greece 17 Nicaragua 17 Communities Partnerships Countries Peru 16 Argentina 15 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 Sister City Partnerships by Region East Asia 462 North And Central Asia 101 Sister City Partnerships Middle East 68 Southeast Asia 63 by U.S. State South Asia 28 Western Europe 343 343 Southern Europe 145 Central Europe 78 California 368 Northern Europe 46 Florida 185 Eastern Europe 36 Southeastern Europe 24 Texas 174 North America 220 Illinois 97 South America 107 Central America 52 Ohio 76 Caribbean 51 Washington 75 West Africa 75 North Carolina 63 Eastern Africa 31 Southern Africa 24 New York 61 North Africa 15 Virginia 59 Central Africa 7 Oceania