Illinois Sister Cities Association
April 22, 2013
PRESS RELEASE
The Illinois Sister Cities Association held its Annual Conference and Annual meeting in Rockford, Illinois April 19 and 20, 2013. The Rockford Sister Cities organization hosted the event. The ISCA is a member of Sister Cities International. Mary D. Kane, President and CEO of Sister Cities International was the Keynote speaker at the event. Elections were held for new Board Members. Randy Russell of Naperville, Samuel Smith of Urbana, Ellen Mumford of Dixon and Josephine Wittenauer of Columbia were all elected to the Board of Directors. New executive officers were elected by the Board. Paula Randant was elected President, Dennis Roberts was elected Vice-president, Melissa Birch was elected Secretary and Randy Russell was elected Treasurer.
The Mission of the Illinois Sister Cities Association is to “Promote peace through mutual Respect, Understanding and Cooperation, One individual, One community, at a time”.
The ISCA provides information, collaboration and assistance to local Sister Cities organizations and towns looking to start or maintain a Sister Cities program in Illinois.
Founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sister Cities International serves as the national membership organization for individual sister cities, counties, and states across the United States. This network unites tens of thousands of citizen diplomats and volunteers in programs in 136 countries on six continents.
Sister Cities International helps advance peace and prosperity through cultural, educational, humanitarian, and economic development efforts, and serves as a hub for institutional knowledge and best practices to benefit citizen diplomats. Sister Cities International empowers individual citizens to become diplomats and represent their community and their country in new and meaningful ways.
We also strive to strengthen the sister cities network through strategic institutional partnerships, grants, programs, and support for our members. We motivate and empower private citizens, municipal officials and business leaders to conduct long-term, mutually beneficial, sister city, county or state relationships.