The Current Association Board Members are:
- Ben Barnes
- Huijin Chuang
- Joan Conwell
- Karen George, Secretary
- Ian Henshaw, Treasurer and Immediate Past President
- Werner Hunn
- Jennifer Jones, President
- Kathy Lynch, Executive Board Member
- Mícheál Lynch
- Liz Mazurik
- Anna Nguyen
- Juergen Rathgeber
- Philip Schwehm
- Barbara Shepard, Vice President
- Birgul Tuzlali
The Sister Cities of Cary are:
- LeTouquet, France, founded 1992
- Hsinchu, Taiwan, founded 1993
- County Meath, Ireland, founded 2001
- Markham, Ontario, Canada, founded 2002
Sister Cities of Cary Mission Statement
Through Sister City Association membership, we create a diverse community by promoting
and benefiting from cooperative international exchange programs among our sister cities.
We are part of an international community working towards world peace. We seek open
dialogues to find unique solutions for quality of urban life. We also hope to grow as
individuals and expand our understanding of international community. All sister city
relationships are built through support provided by individual members, business and
industry sponsors.
The Sister City Association meetings are open and all members are encouraged to
participate actively. Membership is open to any individual or business interested in
promoting and fostering the sister city relationships.
Role of the Sister Cities Association
The Sister Cities Association, from its founding in 1988,
strives to further global understanding and to encourage and assist sister city
relationships between citizens in U.S. communities and cities throughout
the world. The Sister Cities Association focuses on the following aspects in building its sister city relationships:
- Cultural Exchange
- Governance
- Economic Development
- Educational Exchange
- Athletic Exchange
The Goals of the Association are:
- Educate Cary citizens on foreign cultures
- Support exchanges to and from our sister cities
- Support the Town with protocol for international visitors
- Involve youth in our sister cities activities
- Increase participation in regional, national and international initiatives
- Bring an international component to the Lazy Daze Festival
- Encourage Economic Development
Additional goals of the Sister Cities Association are to:
- Exchange ideas and develop friendships with our counterparts in other cultures on a personal basis.
- Establish an identity as members of the international community involved in the process of building world peace.
- Develop a way for the diverse elements of our community to come together to enjoy and profit from a cooperative program.
- Open dialogues with the people of another culture to find unique solutions to improving the quality of urban life.
- Participate in a program with a real partner in another country so all members of the community can feel they are contributing to international understanding in a personal way.
- Better understand our own community by interpreting our way of life to the people of another culture.
History of the Sister Cities Movement
Sister city, county and state affiliations between the United States and other nations
began shortly after World War II and developed into a national initiative when President
Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the "People-to-People" program at a White House conference in
1956. Originally a part of the National League of Cities, Sister Cities International (SCI)
became a separate, nonprofit corporation in 1967 because of its tremendous growth and popularity.
President Eisenhower's intention was to involve individuals and organized groups at all
levels of society in citizen diplomacy, with the hope that personal relationships, fostered
through sister city, county and state affiliations, would lessen the chance of future world
conflicts. As a result, many cities have developed relationships with other international cities.
Under SCI, a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network also dveloped between U.S. and international
communities in an effort to increase global cooperation at the municipal level.
SCI is a leader in the movement for local community development and
volunteer action. It motivates and empowers private citizens, municipal officials and
business leaders to conduct long-term programs of mutual benefit.
