Six members of Waxahachie Sister Cities Partnership recently attended the U.S./Mexico Sister Cities International Association 2007 Annual Conference held in Laredo, Texas. The delegation included Waxahachie Mayor Joe Jenkins (Waxahachie Sister Cities Partnership Co-Chair), Waxahachie Director of Economic Development Doug Barnes, Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce President Debra Wakeland, Waxahachie Convention & Visitors Bureau Director Laurie McPike Mosley, Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board Teresa McNiel, and Waxahachie Sister Cities Partnership Co-Chair Jennifer Howell.

   While at the conference, the Waxahachie delegation attended workshops and a trade show and interviewed Mexican city representatives as potential Waxahachie sister city candidates, one representative being Jeronimo Santos, Economic Director of Sabinas, Coahuila, Mexico.

   In a Sabinas-Waxahachie teleconference held last week, Mayor Joe Jenkins and members of Waxahachie Sister Cities Partnership extended an invitation to our city to Sabinas Mayor Carolina Morales. Plans are now being made for such a visit to take place sometime during the next few months. In addition, plans are underway for mayors from both cities to sign an official agreement confirming our sister city relationship at the Sister Cities International conference in El Paso, Texas in August 2007.

   Peace among nations being the primary goal, the U.S. Sister City program originated in 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a people-to-people, citizen diplomacy initiative. The Mission Statement of Sister Cities International is to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation – one individual, one community at a time.

   Some 30 years later, President Reagan supported the ideal in a speech he made just prior to the Geneva Summit (referring to the U.S. and the Soviet Union): “Imagine how much good we could accomplish, how much the cause of peace would be served, if more individuals and families from our respective countries could come to know each other in a personal way.”

   Currently, Sister Cities International represents over 2,500 communities in 126 countries around the world.

   “Through Waxahachie’s participation in the Sister City program, we’ll be promoting peace, while enjoying the endless possibilities of benefits and opportunities to our community that come with membership of Sister Cities International,” said Waxahachie Sister Cities co-chair Jennifer Howell.

For more information on the Sister Cities program, go to www.sister-cities.org.

first photo, l-r:  Waxahachie Mayor Joe Jenkins; Sabinas Director of Economic Development Jeronimo Santos; and Waxahachie Sister Cities Partnership Co-Chair Jennifer Howell. 

Second photo, l-r:  Waxahachie Convention & Visitors Bureau Director Laurie McPike Moseley and Waxahachie Director of Economic Development Doug Barnes.