Sister Cities of Nashville improves Music City's International presence | Opinion
Since its creation in 1990, Sister Cities of Nashville has helped strengthen the city's global consciousness.
- Jim Shulman is Nashville vice mayor and a board member of Sister Cities of Nashville (SCN).
- Heather Cunningham is executive director of SCN. Marieta Velikova is SCN board president.
What if someone had the vision to create an entity that brought people of different cultures together to not only celebrate and appreciate their differences but also build lasting partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts.
When President Eisenhower created Sister Cities International (SCI) in 1956, that is exactly what he was trying to do. He envisioned an organization that could create peace and prosperity by forming bonds between people from different cities around the world.
Today, there are more than 500 U.S. cities with 2,000 partnerships in more than 140 countries. Our Nashville chapter of sister cities was formed in 1990 and today we have nine sister city partnerships on five continents. With our partners, we work to create unique relationships based on cultural, educational, informational and business exchanges.
Our partnerships create lasting friendships and build professional and personal connections. We build bridges among citizens of the world based on common humanity and common purpose. We recognize differences and celebrate similarities.
An organization that enhances the youth
Sister Cities of Nashville builds a continuum of opportunities for Nashvillians to engage as citizen diplomats at all ages – being a host family to a visiting high school student, university exchanges and adult delegation trips to our sister cities.
Our student ambassador program provides leadership opportunities and introduces teens to unique experiences of international travel, living with a host family abroad as well as hosting international students in Nashville.
We offer financial aid to deserving students for whom often going abroad is the first time they fly and leave their home.
The Youth Advisory Board comprises students from public and private high schools, giving them opportunities to build their own personal connections, broaden their global mindset and volunteer in the community through Sister Cities’ activities.
Showcasing Music City
At the recent Sister Cities International conference in Houston, Sister Cities of Nashville won two major awards in its annual awards competition, open to over five hundred cities. We won the Innovation Award in Arts and Culture for our first “Nashville in Belfast” program showcasing all-things Nashville: music, Southern soul food, education, entrepreneurship, arts and law.
Additionally, our own Nashvillian – Olivia Connor - won the Youth Leadership Award. She is a 2019 graduate of Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet who volunteered with Sister Cities throughout high school and served as our Youth Advisory Board’s President and Volunteer Coordinator.
At the SCI conference, Assistant Secretary of State Marie Royce (Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs) met with the award winners to congratulate them on their outstanding work. In her keynote speech to conference attendees, she remarked that the conference theme “Cities Mean Business” gets to the heart of how strong networks help cities build a competitive edge in a global economy.
You have to move people to move ideas
She also noted that the missions of the State Department and Sister Cities overlap and stressed how the best diplomatic strategy depends in part on having dedicated citizen diplomats.
Nashvillians can all contribute to this mission. They can join Sister Cities of Nashville, participate in one of our exchanges either by traveling or hosting, attend one of our events, and volunteer with us. Sister Cities of Nashville gives us the opportunity to enrich our lives and better our city through people to people connections and exchanges. Our work today builds the future of our city and also our world.
Three co-authors of the piece are Nashville Vice Mayor and Sister Cities of Nashville (SCN) board member Jim Shulman, Executive Director of SCN Heather Cunningham, and SCN Board President Marieta Velikova.
