SanDISCA’s mission as the umbrella organization is to increase the visibility, effectiveness, efficiency and viability of the City of San Diego’s Sister City Societies and to guide the development of proposed Sister City relationships, thereby supporting their missions in the areas of cultural, educational, and economic relationships. To promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation – one individual, one community at a time.
Formed in 1993, SanDISCA was created as an umbrella organization for all Sixteen Sister City Societies of San Diego. SanDISCA works to maintain citizen–diplomat relations with each sister city while each individual sister society has its own membership, pursues its own mission and conducts its own cultural and educational programs.
If we are going to take advantage of the assumption that all people want peace, then the problem is for people to get together and to leap governments – if necessary to evade governments – to work out not one method, but thousands of methods by which people can gradually learn a little bit more of each other.
there is no more important work than that in which we are asking you to participate…the most worthwhile purpose there is in the world today: to help build the road to peace, to help build the road to an enduring peace.
1956
Sister Cities International was created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House conference on citizen diplomacy. Eisenhower envisioned an organization that could be the hub of peace and prosperity by creating bonds between people from different cities around the world. By forming these relationships, President Eisenhower reasoned that people of different cultures could celebrate and appreciate their differences and build partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts.
1957
San Diego’s sister-city affiliation with Yokohama began in 1955 following a trip to Yokohama by the then Mayor Charles Dail and then Port Director John Bate to attend the Japan – American Pacific Area Conference of Mayors.
On October 29, 1957 under Mayor Dail the City of San Diego approved an ordinance creating the San Diego Yokohama Friendship Commission governed by a board appointed by the City Council.
1969
Leon, Mexico July 29th
1969-
The San Diego-Cavite Sister City Society was formed on September 11th, 1969.
1976
On May 29th, 1976 the Sister City relationship between San Diego and Tema was officially formed under Mayor Pete Wilson.
1977
Edinburgh, Scotland
1982
Alcalá de Henares was chosen as a sister to San Diego based on our shared history and culture. The name of San Diego was given to our bay and city in November of 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno who declared the area to be named San Diego, both in honor of his flagship, San Diego, and for the feast of San Diego de Alcalá which occurred on November 12. And in 1769 Fray Junípero Serra established the first mission in Upper California and named it Mission San Diego de Alcalá in honor of the saint who spent the latter part of his life in Alcalá de Henares.
1983
The San Diego–Taichung Sister City relationship started in 1983 by then-mayor Roger Hedgecock.
1983-
Jeonju, South Korea
1985
San Diego – Yantai Friendship Society (SDYFS) was formalized in July 15, 1985 when a delegation from San Diego visited Yantai and signed the Sister City agreement. The SDYSFS’s mission is to foster educational, cultural, governmental and business relationships between the City of San Diego, California, and the municipality of Yantai, Shandong Province, Peoples’ Republic of China.
1986
Perth, Australia
1991
Found in 1991 the purpose of the San Diego-Vladivostok Society is to encourage the ideals of international goodwill and peace, and to seek understanding of each country’s traditions, customs, history, and community life through people-to-people contacts.
Our goal is to develop long-term cooperation between our two cities by promoting public awareness of each city through exchanges in education, business and technology.
1993
Tijuana, Mexico
1995
Campinas, Brazil
This Sister City Society has focused on enabling a network of citizens to carry out cultural, educational, charitable, and business exchanges between the two cities. With Brazil on the rise, our Sister City Society recognizes opportunities to rebuild strong relations.
1996
Warsaw Province, Poland
2004
The citizens of San Diego, California, USA, and Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, desiring friendship and goodwill became the 15th San Diego Sister City in 2004.
The cities agreed to collaborate for the mutual benefit of their communities by exploring educational, cultural, humanitarian and economic opportunities. Their shared goal: peace, prosperity, stability and justice.
2015
After 100 years of shared history, the City of San Diego and Panama City, Panama officially became Sister Cities on July 18th. The Sister City agreement signing was held at the Balboa Park Club and in attendance were Member Harkey’s District Director Jordan Marks, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, Assemblymember Jose Medina and sponsors of the Sister City Program San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Panama City Mayor Jose Blandon.
Vision
The San Diego International Sister Cities Association 501c3 foundation raises and invests funds specifically for programs, organizations and services that are deemed appropriate and are within the scope and mission of the association. The San Diego International Sister Cities Association promotes the empowerment of people and respect for cultural diversity globally while ensuring that quality educational; arts & culture, technology & innovation, scholarships programs, student, and economic exchanges and other programs are successful.
The San Diego International Sister Cities Association Foundation coordinates a variety of fundraising events and community activities to support our scholarship program and support our partner programs. Scholarships include: a $2,500 scholarship for Excellence in Academics for college bound students and a $2,500 scholarship for international student exchanges-educational travel abroad for high school and college students. (More information is provided on the website.)
The sister city societies manage and support programs in accordance with the needs of the individual 16 Sister Cities.
The San Diego International Sister Cities Association would not be possible without generous donations from the people in our community and our international partners.
FAQ
A sister city relationship is a long-term, cooperative relationship between two cities in different countries through which cultural, educational, business, and technical exchanges take place. It is formalized when two mayors (or highest elected/appointed officials) sign a memorandum of understanding establishing a sister city relationship. Activities are usually organized and implemented by volunteers, local institutions, and municipal employees. A city may have any number of sister cities.
Sister city organizations plan and implement cooperative activities and exchanges in cultural, educational, municipal/technical, business, and humanitarian fields. Thousands of inbound and outbound exchanges take place every year, as well as virtual exchanges and other remote, cooperative activities.
San Diego’s first Sister City Agreement was signed in 1957. In 1993, SanDISCA was founded as the umbrella organization for all 15 Sister City Societies of San Diego. SanDISCA works to promote the effectiveness of San Diego’s sister cities program.
Each individual sister society has its own membership, pursues its own mission and conducts its own cultural and educational programs. SanDISCA and the 15 Sister City Societies of San Diego invite and welcome new members to join!
SanDISCA’s mission as the umbrella organization is to increase the visibility, effectiveness, efficiency and viability of the City of San Diego’s Sister City Societies and to guide the development of proposed Sister City relationships, thereby supporting their missions in the areas of cultural, educational, and economic relationships. To promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation – one individual, one community at a time.
A relationship is formally created when the mayors or highest elected officials from two communities sign a memorandum of understanding establishing the sister city partnership. However, this is usually the result of a long process that involves the local sister city organization along with the municipality and other local institutions. Sister city relationships may develop from a number of sources, including but not limited to: preexisting mayoral relationships, trade relationships, historical connections, ancestral/demographic connections, expatriate communities, shared geographic/sector challenges, faith-based groups, and personal experiences ranging from study/work abroad to marriages.
Visit our online directory at www.sandisca.org/sister-cities The online directory includes sister city relationships, contact information, and website/Facebook information for all current societies.
