Sister Cities of Nashville

City partnerships - the organization enjoys Sister city and friendship partnerships with belfast, northern ireland; caen, france; edmonton, canada; erbil, kurdistan, iraq; kamakura, japan; magdeburg, germany; mendoza, argentina; taiyuan, china; tamworth, australia and chengdu, china. The organization's members were able to enjoy and participate in a variety of in-person, civic, professional, and cultural exchanges with most of its partner Cities including visits to and/or from belfast, northern ireland; caen, france; magdeburg, germany; mendoza, argentina; tamworth, australia; taiyuan, china and erbil, kurdistan, iraq.student exchanges - the student ambassador program involves area public and private high school students in hosting or traveling abroad to Sister city partners. In 2023 and 2024, Sister Cities of Nashville coordinated reciprocal student exchanges between Nashville and mendoza, argentina; caen, france and magdeburg, germany in june of 2024. These exchanges impacted dozens of students through in-person travel or in-person visits from students from Sister Cities in argentina, france, and germany. These exchanges partnered with students, teachers, and classrooms in mendoza, argentina; caen, france; and magdeburg, germany. Sister Cities of Nashville visited and worked directly with 19 different schools through presentations and classroom visits in an effort to introduce and inform students about the programs through educational outreach and programming. Additionally, the organization has an academic ambassador program that involves approximately 19 public and private high schools. There are 18 educators serving as academic ambassadors in schools across the Nashville area who are actively promoting Sister Cities' programs and exchanges in their schools and participate in programming focused on connecting students and educators to counterparts in other Sister Cities. The organization plans to welcome students once again from mendoza, caen and magdeburg in 2024, and hopes to work closely with partners in kamakura, japan; tamworth, australia; and possibly even erbil, kurdistan, iraq to create new avenues for collaboration and connecting students through virtual classroom exchanges and both inbound and outbound on-the ground student exchanges.nashville partnerships - the organization engaged in partnerships during the 2024 fiscal year with a variety of cultural, educational, art, government, and non-profit organizations and institutions in Nashville. These included public and private high schools; vanderbilt university, Tennessee state university, belmont university, Tennessee language center, Nashville public library, society of Nashville's artistic photographers, frist art museum, cheekwood botanical gardens, Nashville zoo, Nashville predators, Tennessee world affairs council, Nashville bar association, metro parks & recreation, Nashville healthcare council, Nashville chamber of commerce, Nashville area hispanic chamber of commerce, Nashville metro council, Tennessee state museum, country music hall of fame, Nashville farmers market, national museum of african american music, community foundation of middle tn, and many, many more.during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the organization presented many opportunities and experiences for nashvillians that showcased their programs with various Sister Cities. These events included celebrate Nashville cultural festival, Nashville cherry blossom walk and festival and the chinese new year festival featuring kite flying activities, highlighting chinese culture. The organization hosted in person events for the annual membership mixer, annual world of friendship gala, and held their first ever fundraiser raffle, giving away a trip to argentina and raising scholarship funds for Nashville students.