On Saturday, January 30th, the Southern and Northern Chapters of Sister Cities International held its first joint meeting in 20 years.

For the first time in 20 years, the Southern and Northern Chapters of Sister Cities International held a joint meeting on Saturday, January 30th, 2016 at the historic Mission San Miguel in San Miguel, California. For early arrivals on Friday evening, a special reception was held with Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin welcoming the members to their community and the La Quinta Paso Robles General Manager Victor Pop giving an overview of the expanded tourism in the Paso Robles area. The reception was followed by dinner at Paso Terra in Paso Robles.

Over 60 sister city representatives from across California joined the joint meeting, which featured a number of special guest speakers including Sister Cities International (SCI) Chairman Bill Boerum, SCI President Mary Kane and SCI Vice-Chairman Tim Quigley.

Norman Mineta, who was the first Asian American to serve in the Presidential cabinet and served the government as the longest-serving United States Secretary of Transportation as well as the United States Secretary of Commerce and Mayor of San Jose, was the keynote speaker who spoke about the value of sister cities.

SCI President Mary Kane gave an overview of SCI and the 60th Anniversary while SCI Chairman Bill Boerum provided an update on SCI activities.

Andrea Press, daughter of SoCal Sister Cities Co-Founder Thelma Press, entertained during lunch with an a cappella version of the song “Sister Cities – We Are One”, which was originally written by John Denver for Sister Cities International. Click here to see a video.

Wade Nomura, who was Past District Governor of Rotary International, spoke about the value of joint relationships between Rotary International and Sister Cities International.

SoCal Sister Cities President Gil Garcia and NorCal Sister Cities President Bill Hinkle spoke about successful alliances in Mexico and the Pacific Rim, while Meg Mizutani and Kathleen Kimura from NorCal presented a proposal for establishing a California – Japan Association.

SoCal members Jeanette Avila and Judy Maculsay talked about connecting SCI with local sister city groups, while Jennifer Avila from SoCal and AJ Chahal from NorCal explained about the importance of supporting Youth Leadership in sister city projects.

SoCal President Gil Garcia thanked Japan Airlines, La Quinta Inn Paso Robles and Paso Terra Restaurant for their support of SoCal Sister City activities and this event and announced the next SoCal Sister Cities meeting will be held on May 7th, 2016 in Anaheim, California.

Click here to see photos from the Friday night reception and dinner.

Click here to see photos from the Saturday SoCal – NorCal Sister Cities Joint Meeting

Click here to download SCI CEO Mary Kane’s presentation on an overview of SCI’s 60-years of activities and “Measures that Matter”