Counties partner with sister cities, expand economic opportunities
When it comes to expanding economic and cultural opportunities, counties have been looking further than state borders. County governments have found that building international sister city relationships provides opportunities for economic development and cultural exchange.
Many sister city programs are organized by Sister Cities International (SCI), a nonprofit organization which serves as the official organization linking jurisdictions from the United States with communities worldwide. SCI represents more than 2,500 communities in 126 countries.
According to SCI Communications Director Ami Neiberger-Miller, individual counties can decide what they want from a relationship and SCI will help partner them with a compatible community. SCI currently assists 29 county or city-county governments maintain their relationships with international communities. Some counties have one relationship while others have multiple ones. Maui County, Hawaii has 19 sister cities.
"It can really vary a lot. It just depends on what they want to do, which is one of the beauties of the sister city networks - it’s completely tailored to the county’s needs," Neiberger-Miller said.
Dakota County Minn. has built a relationship with Chengde, China since becoming formal sister cities in 2001. The county entered the partnership, organized by a volunteer association called Dakota Future, Inc., for three primary reasons: economic development, cultural exchange and education.
"From our perspective, we’ve looked at this as a collaborative effort to benefit our communities," said Taud Hoopingarner, Dakota County economic liaison. "It’s been a very positive experience."
According to Hoopingarner, a local machine shop partner has struck a deal with shop in Chengde to produce simple, high volume machine parts to be assembled into more sophisticated parts for hydraulic applications back in the United States.
"[After visiting us] they [Chengde officials] have a better understanding of how our government operates, how separate public and private organizations are," Hoopingarner said. "There are many more opportunities now for private ventures. They are moving in a very capitalistic direction. Now they’re moving into a market-based economy."
Delegations from each community have visited the other. Recently, a 20-member delegation made up of a commissioner, councilmen, businessmen and educational representatives visited China.
"[The partnership] opens up opportunities at a time of globalization. The more opportunities we can make from a local government perspective with the international community, the more opportunities there are for local businesses," Hoopingarner said.
Dakota County is exploring the possibility of partnering with another city in Ireland.
Miami-Dade County has 27 sister cities, with its oldest relationship, with the Dominican Republic, dating back to 1959. The county, which is a member of SCI, offers a number of ways to form relationships with the international communities, including organizing economic delegations to visit the countries as well as funding a student exchange scholarship program.
A recent delegation to the Dominican Republic brought 16 business representatives to the country. These delegates came on behalf of business offering foodstuffs, office supplies, engineering services, construction services and medical equipment distribution.
The county recently sponsored an art show entitled "Miami-Dade Celebrates the Art of Its Sister Cities" to benefit the scholarship program. The show included art from Italy, Venezuela, Peru, Sweden and Mexico.
"I am proud that Miami-Dade Sister Cities Program is engaging in a cultural activity such as this art exhibit. This will strengthen the cultural and commercial relations with our sister cities and showcase Miami-Dade County as an international community," said Jose Diaz, chair of the Jay Malina International Trade Consortium.
Santa Clara County, Calif. maintains a relationship with Florence, Italy. While the county has several ways of sharing cultures, ranging from exchanging professors and students to sharing governmental styles, the county also seeks to use the relationship to draw tourism.
"Where we see the opportunities are in piggybacking on culture for economic advantage," said Gwendolyn Mitchel, director of public affairs, the office that oversees the county’s sister county commissions.
The county is currently developing a plan to bring a museum exhibit to the United States which would feature major pieces of art. In addition, Florence’s Polimoda Fashion Institute will have a fashion show in Santa Clara that would serve as a fundraiser for the commission.
"It would develop a stream of tourists from the North San Francisco Bay area and the South Bay for activities they wouldn’t have up there," she said.
In addition to increasing economic opportunities, Mitchell says they have been able to relate valuable best practices to their sister cities, which also include Moscow and Hsinchu County, Taiwan.
"One of the important aspects of our sister county relationships is the sharing of best practices," said Mitchell. "The Florence Delegation visited our green waste management facilities, Lake Calero, a public-private partnership between the county and the Silicon Valley Water District, and they received an extensive briefing from county staff on immigration practices and policies."
In addition to economic and cultural opportunities, the sister-city relationship extends goodwill to other nations. During the aftermath of Hurricane Frances, Miami-Dade has reached out to its hard-hit sister cities.
"As a good business partner you help people in good situations and bad. We’ve provided assistance for several countries," said Manny Gonzalez, director of the Miami-Dade County Sister Cities Program. The county has held food drives and provided medical assistance.
Neiberger-Miller adds that programs work best when citizens are involved.
"Programs tend to be sustainable when there is a strong volunteer effort. The programs tend to do very well when there are people in the government and people in the community collaborating to make the program a success," she said.
(For more information on partnering with a sister city, visit Sister City International at www.sister-cities.org.)
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