78 results for author: test city


Maryland Sister State Committees Band Together to Send Medical Supplies to Mexico

Two 26-foot trucks braved a snowstorm over the mountains from Boise, Idaho all the way down to Brownsville, in Texas early this month to hand off a much-needed shipment of medical supplies and equipment. The supplies, valued at over $350,000, made their way to the Mexican state of Tamaulipas thanks to efforts by the Maryland Sister State program.  The supplies will help alleviate the lack of healthcare facilities in Tamaulipas, particularly in the aftermath of a recent series of earthquakes that have devastated large swaths of the country. Responding to the Call for Sister City Collaboration Wesley Chenoweth, of the Republic of Liberia (Bong County ...

Dortmund Comes to Buffalo in April for 40th Anniversary Tour

The Oberbürgermeister der Stadt (or Lord Mayor) of Dortmund, Germany, will lead a delegation of 20 government, education, and business leaders to Buffalo, New York, to help celebrate the two sister cities’ 40th anniversary next month. The delegates will attend the ground breaking ceremony on April 15 for a future park on the shore of Lake Erie, to be named Dortmund Park as a testament to the two cities’ historic partnership. Lord Mayor Ullrich Sierau and the others will then spend the rest of the day meeting with their American counterparts and building upon their existing partnership by exploring new investment and exchange opportunities. ...

3rd Annual Coulee Hoolie Ceili Links Charities in Wisconsin and Ireland

The La Crosse Bantry Friendship Association works to build a bridge between two charities on opposite sides of the Atlantic next week, with a fundraising night of traditional Irish music and dance. The 3rd Annual Coulee Hoolie Ceili will benefit Sacred Grounds, a group that aids homeless and vulnerable people in the Wisconsin city of La Crosse, and Cork ARC, a support service for those in Bantry, Ireland, with family members needing medical care.A ‘hoolie’ is a gathering or party, and ‘Ceili’ refers to traditional Irish music, dance, and singing, all of which you will find at the event on March 24, just a week after St. Patrick’s Day. ...

Birmingham Ushers in the Year of the Dog

Record crowds flocked to an auditorium in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, last month to celebrate the Lunar New Year, in an event featuring performances by dancers of all ages, and even a Beijing Opera singer. The city’s 12th Annual Chinese New Year Festival drew more than 4,000 people, not including performers from Birmingham’s sister city Chao Yang District (in the Chinese capital city of Beijing) and Chinese-Americans and others from the Birmingham area. The festival is just one of the many international events sponsored or founded by the Birmingham Sister Cities Commission, ranging from the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Cherry ...

Philippine High School Students to Spend Summer in Virginia City

The deadline is fast approaching for high school students from Cagayan de Oro, in the Philippines, to apply to visit Norfolk, Virginia, as part of a new summer exchange program between the two sister cities later this year. The Philippine students will stay with Norfolk High School students and their families during the first half of July, and are expected to visit local monuments, museums, parks, souvenir shops, and the city’s naval base. They will also visit the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. The new program was organized by Cheryl McGarrigle, chair of the Cagayan de Oro Sister City Committee. It will continue next year, when Norfolk ...

The City of Auburn Goes to the Olympics

A delegation from the City of Auburn, Washington will touch down in South Korea this week to attend the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. They come at the invitation of host city PyeongChang, who counts Auburn as its only American sister city. Seven delegates, including Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus and others involved with the sister city program, will join delegations from PyeongChang’s sister cities in Japan, China, and Mongolia for the opening ceremony. The cities of Auburn and PyeongChang entered into talks to become sister cities nearly a decade ago. The relationship was finalized in 2011, the same year the South Korean county ...

Virtual Classroom Links Schools in Highland Park and Puerto Vallarta and Modena through Poetry

A virtual classroom project launched this month, connecting Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, Illinois, to Los Volcanes School in Highland Park’s sister city Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico. The joint effort of the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation (HPSCF) and the Puerto Vallarta Sister Cities Committee connects the classes of Elm Place teacher Lori Wyatt and Los Volcanes teacher Raul Gibran through the study of poetry. Using a virtual platform called Edmodo, students will explore the values we share with people in other countries. The project also enables teachers in different cultures to collaborate and enrich their students’ ...

Legislators Bring the World to Annapolis

Legislators and officials in Annapolis welcomed delegations from Maryland’s 20 sister state relationships late last month to showcase their programs’ achievements over the past year at the annual Sister States Legislative Reception. The event also fosters greater cultural awareness in the Maryland community through special food, drinks, and items characteristic of each of Maryland’s sister states (in 17 countries total) set up at tables in an exhibit hall. This year’s reception, which was held January 30, also featured cultural performances by Chinese Taiji dancers and Korean drummers. The embassies of Estonia, Mexico, Turkey, Peru, ...

Stevens Initiative press release

11/06/2017 WASHINGTON, DC, (November 6, 2017) - The Stevens Initiative today announced the award of a 1.5-year grant to Sister Cities International, one of 13 new grants funded through an international competition to use online, collaborative learning to increase cross-cultural understanding and equip young people with the skills needed to thrive in a 21st century economy. Sister Cities International is among the second cohort of virtual exchange programs to be funded by the Stevens Initiative, an international effort to build career and global competence skills for young people in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by ...

Sister City Inspires Gold Award Project

The sister cities network has over the years supported countless local youth initiatives, giving youth a chance to not only build cultural awareness but also create lasting friendships. Aesha Rajan, a high school junior from Fremont, CA, is one such youth who, using sister cities as a resource, created a program to connect students from two different cultures.Aesha created this program to complete the Gold Award for Girl Scouts. The Gold Award is the highest achievement in Girl Scouts and challenges girls in high school to complete a project that can “change the world—or at least your corner of it…” For her project, Aesha decided to create a ...