With person-to-person diplomacy and community engagement, Duluth Sister Cities International promotes mutual respect and global understanding through cultural, economic, and educational endeavors.
About Duluth Sister Cities International
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the people-to-people diplomacy concept, believing that relationships fostered in this program would lessen the probability of future world conflicts.This concept grew and eventually led to the creation of Sister Cities International (SCI).
SCI is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that focuses on creating and strengthening partnerships between U.S. and international communities in an effort to increase global cooperation at the municipal level, to promote cultural understanding, and to stimulate economic development. SCI leads the movement for local community development and volunteer action by motivating and empowering private citizens, municipal officials and business leaders to conduct long-term programs of mutual benefit.
The Duluth Sister Cities Commission, established in 1986 as a City of Duluth commission broadened its scope in 2007 to become an independent non-profit 501(c)3 organization known as Duluth Sister Cities International.
Today, Duluth Sister Cities International continues to expand its relationships with its Sister Cities: Thunder Bay, Canada; Ohara -Isumi-city, Japan; Petrozavodsk, Russia; Växjö, Sweden; and Ranya, Iraqi Kurdistan.
Duluth Sister Cities International Accomplishments
Duluth Sister Cities International has participated, planned and developed a broad range of international projects and programs that have given Duluth a wonderful, unique global connection. Some of our top accomplishments are:
Sending and receiving official delegations with each of our sister cities since 1987.
Hosting several festivals with delegations and musicians representing each of our sister cities.
Sponsoring a trilateral program with Japan, Russia and the USA focusing on clean water and other global environmental issues.
Conducting annual student exchange programs with Ohara Isumi-shi, Japan, launched in 1992 and continuing to the present day.
Welcoming the Royal Swedish Opera to Duluth in cooperation with UMD.
Partnering with the Duluth Arts Commission to create an international sculpture exchange with "Water & Friendship" from Japan, "Green Bear" from Russia, and "The Stone" from Sweden. All three sculptures are located in Duluth's Gichi-Ode' Akiing Park. Sculptures from Duluth may be found in Ohara Isumi-shi, Petrozavodsk, and Växjö.
Collaborating on language camp exchanges between the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth and Petrozavodsk State University. Some 30 summer camps have been held.
Organizing the "Duluth-Petrozavodsk Domestic Violence Project in which six women from the Gender Studies Institute in Petrozavodsk traveled to Duluth and four women from the Duluth Women's Coalition spent time in Petrozavodsk. Continuing exchanges followed that dealt with at-risk youth.
Raising funds to create a Japanese Garden in Enger Park surrounding the Peace Bell from Ohara Isumi-shi.
Building a birch bark canoe in Petrozavodsk in collaboration with the Fond du Lac Reservation Cultural Center & Museum.