Winning an international award will energize the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission to help it weather the current economic crisis and plan future exchange programs, commission chair Teri Simmons told GlobalAtlanta.

Ms. Simmons will accept the “Innovation: Sustainable Development for Population Greater than 500,000” award on behalf of the Atlanta commission during the Sister Cities International 2009 Annual Awards Program in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on July 31.

The award was given to the Atlanta commission for serving as a model to other Sister City programs, demonstrating excellence and innovation on sustainable development issues including public transportation and green space, and fostering international cooperation and understanding over the past year through its volunteer organization. Atlanta’s commission will also receive a one-year paid membership to the Sister Cities International organization.

Ms. Simmons thinks the award reflects the 18 Atlanta Sister City Committees’ dedication to community improvement and hopes it will fuel increased participation in the commission’s future business, educational, cultural and medical exchanges, despite financial challenges.

“We believe that by coming together and sharing best practices among our Sister Cities, we can support each other to tackle the challenges brought on by the economic downturn,” said Ms. Simmons, who is a partner in law firm Arnall, Golden & Gregory LLP. She has served as the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission chair for three years.

Each of Atlanta’s 18 Sister City Committees is headed by volunteers who have cultural or business ties with their partner city or country.  Some committees have foundations that work to raise funds to sustain the relationship. Some rely on their foreign partner city’s paid staff for support. Others operate purely on volunteers’ efforts.

During the current global economic downturn, as Atlanta and many of its partner cities are cutting back spending, Sister Cities Committees are trying to mobilize their volunteers and rally support for their activities. Many have relied on direct sponsorship from Atlanta business and cultural communities.

“As an organization of volunteers, we are naturally inhibited from expanding our projects as we would like,” Ms. Simmons said. But she expressed hope that the City of Atlanta would soon be in a financial position to resume funding of the Sister Cities Commission, as well as reinstate an international relations department to support the commission’s activities.

Atlanta had been expanding its Sister Cities program up until this year, when Mayor Shirley Franklin announced it would not be able to add additional Sister Cities due to budget concerns exacerbated by the ongoing economic recession. The city was forced last year to close its international affairs office, whose two-person staff oversaw the Sister Cities program in an official administrative capacity.

Since last year, the program has been overseen by Greg Pridgeon, the mayor’s chief of staff, and the city’s Advisory Committee on International Relations, headed by City Councilman Jim Maddox.

Ahmedabad, India, and Ningbo, China, were recommended last year by the commission to become Sister Cities of Atlanta, but Ms. Franklin said she would not official approve them during her administration, which ends in December.

Such budget constraints have forced the 18 existing Sister Cities Committees to redouble their efforts to attract volunteers and corporate sponsors, according to Noah Downer, an intern in the mayor’s office who is working on Sister Cities issues.

“These economic times have made things more difficult with the reduced staff at the mayor’s office, but we have always counted on the tenacity of the committees’ volunteers for the Sister Cities program,” Mr. Downer told GlobalAtlanta.

Ms. Simmons added that Sister City relationships continue to encourage investment in Atlanta, despite the current challenges.

“Based on our friendship and exchange with our Sister Cities, we have seen a great amount of investment in Atlanta originating from our relationships,” she said. Ms. Simmons noted that in 2008 alone, two major German companies, IK Hofmann and NuernbergMesse, both based in Nuremberg, established subsidiaries in Atlanta. “Both had engaged in Sister Cities activities for years,” she said.

Establishing long-term economic ties is one of the goals of Sister City Committees. The Atlanta Sister Cities Commission helps to foster these relationships by organizing events and applying for grants from donor institutions.

The commission is currently planning its third economic development conference, which is expected to take place this year. These conferences are attended by delegates from Atlanta’s international sister cities to address specific challenges facing each. The upcoming conference, yet to be announced, will likely concentrate on affordable housing, an issue of major importance during challenging economic times, according to Ms. Simmons.

In addition, the Atlanta commission expects to host a reception for Atlanta's international university students, and it plans to apply for grants through the Gates Foundation for projects in Africa, she said.

“All of our Committees are actively planning exchange at all levels,” Ms. Simmons added. 

Wilma Kruger, head of the Atlanta-Rio de Janeiro Sister City Committee, for example, told GlobalAtlanta she is excited about the committee’s new foundation, which has offices in Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The foundation is working to secure corporate support for its new activities, which include a scholarship program with the Atlanta Regional Housing Authority and an educational exchange program with Troy University and the University of Rio de Janeiro.

The Atlanta-Daegu Sister City Committee has been active in supporting Korea-Georgia relationships, including economic development projects like the $1.2 billion Kia Motors Corp. investment in West Point, Ga. The relationship is especially important because the company is “almost the only employer hiring now during the economic crisis,” according to John Lee, the committee’s current chair.

“We want to promote (more) economic development exchanges.  We need to help each other and grow together,” he said of the Sister City relationship.

He added that the Atlanta committee has requested booths for Atlanta companies to display merchandise and information at the 2011 World Athletic Competition in Daegu, Korea. The event is the third-largest sporting event in world following the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. A Daegu delegation will visiting Atlanta to promote the event, Mr. Lee said.

John Hall, chair of the Atlanta-Tbilisi Sister City Committee, said he is enthusiastic about the upcoming U.S. Department of Commerce economic development forum that his committee is supporting that will teach business skills in the Republic of Georgia.

A group of some 20 scientists from Atlanta Sister City Toulouse, France, attended the BIO International Convention in Atlanta May 18-21 and planned to meet with representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about potential collaboration, according to John Lyons, the Sister City Committee chair.

The Atlanta-Lagos committee chair will be traveling to Nigeria to participate in a Clean Water Project supported by a grant from Sister Cities International. The Atlanta-Lagos partnership was selected as one of three sister cities organizations to participate in the pilot program that will distribute 250,000 Procter & Gamble Co. water purification kits throughout Ethiopia and Nigeria to purify more than 2.5 million gallons of drinking water.

Medical exchange programs to offer medical supplies and disaster relief are being planned by the Atlanta Sister Cities Committees for Lagos; Cotonou, Benin; Ancient Olympia, Greece; Salcedo, Dominican Republic and Bucharest, Romania.

The Fukuoka, Japan; Nuremberg; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Ra’anana, Israel and Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, Sister Cities committees in Atlanta are in the process of planning and executing programs for international educational exchange this year.

Atlanta’s 18 Sister Cities are: Ancient Olympia, Brussels, Belgium, Bucharest, Cotonou, Daegu, Fukuoka, Lagos, Montego Bay, Jamaica, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Great Britain, Nuremberg, Port of Spain, Ra’anana, Rio de Janeiro, Salcedo, Salzburg, Austria, Taipei, Taiwan, Tblisi and Toulouse.

The Atlanta Sister Cities Commission was created in 1974 as an affiliate of Sister Cities International, the association of sister city, county and state programs in the U.S. There are more than 2,100 Sister Cities programs in more than 100 countries worldwide.

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