AFFILIATIONS

GUIDELINES FOR A NEW CITY

(GUIA PARA UNA NUEVA CIUDAD)

Cities or community organizations interested in becoming involved in the Sister City movement are invited to fill out the form in the MEMBERSHIP SECTION and submit it to our President, Gil Garcia, can assist you with a roster of cities in Mexico wishing to establish such a program. Also, he will be glad on making the initial contact.

A list of sister city affiliations and cities needing affiliations follows is desirable to select a city in Mexico with whom you have something in common, i.e., similar geography, population, individual or commercial interest: is it farming, manufacturing, are you near the ocean or on the river or lake? US/MSCA's list can give you that information.

Remember, this is "people-to-people", and before undertaking the establishment of an affiliation you should have an organization of citizens in your community willing to fully support the effort. Your city government can play a definite and important role in this endeavor but first and foremost, people in your community should be behind the plan.

The strained relations between Mexico and the United States is obvious to all of us as we read the newspaper headlines about problems of immigrants, drug imports, trade barriers, etc. More than ever, the role that Sister Cities can play to bring people of both countries in a better mutual understanding is evident. As members of Sister Cities, we are, perhaps, in a unique position to build bridges between the people of these two countries at a time when it is most needed. We all know that Sister Cities in a People-to-people organization. We can help each other, not only in providing various types of assistance, but through better understanding of the situation in Mexico and the problems they face on a day-to-day basis. By building an even stronger Sister Cities organization and focusing on new projects, hopefully we can build more enthusiasm among the membership and more accomplishments in the people-to-people bridge-building that we all so anxiously want to do.

LIST OF AFFILATIONS:

• USMSCA President

Connie Goertz

President USMSCA

• Press Releases