Hosted by Sister Cities of Durham 

In-Person Festival, 11 - 5, Oct. 3,

Durham Central Park, 501 Foster St

                         And

Virtual Festival, Sept. 25 - Dec. 31.

Free Admission, Donations Accepted

Plan to join us for our Festival as we focus on Durham's international community -- cultural booths, food trucks, musicians, dancers, raffles, souvenirs, games with prizes.

We focus on Durham's nine Sister Cities and the 22 other nations represented in Durham by restaurants and businesses. Durham is truly an international community.

All of our Sister Cities of Durham partnerships around the world are signed by the Mayor of Durham and the other respective Mayors.

Durham's Sister Cities:
All of our Sister Cities of Durham partnerships around the world are signed by the Mayor of Durham and the other respective Mayors.

Check out our Sister Cities with the tab above, or click the City to go to their page on this webpage.

Arusha in Tanzania

Celaya in Mexico
Durham in England, UK

Kavala in Greece

Kostroma in Russia
Sibiu in Romania

Tilaran in Costa Rica

Toyama in Japan
Zhuzhou in China

 Durham also has two Friendship Cities in China:

    Kunshan and Xianning                                             

       Save the Date
    4th Annual Festival of Nations
          Durham Central Park
                  11 - 5, Oct. 3 

Pictured below is Randy Griffin, Chair of our Kavala, Greece City Committee, welcoming attendees to a recent Festival of Nations.  

Durham connects world wide with cities on almost all continents.  Our Festival of Nations introduces you to Durham's international links

Sister Cities of Durham participates in many city wide events, including Library Presentations, City Hall displays, and pictured above -- participating in Durham's Annual Holiday Parade.  

Our Board of Directors:

Board of Directors Meetings, 2021, Locations TBA

President:

Vice President:

Secretary:

Treasurer:

At Large:

At Large:

At Large:

At Large:

At Large:

At Large:

Arusha:

Celaya:

Durham, UK:

Kavala:

Kostroma:

Sibiu:

Tilaran:

Toyama:

Zhuzhou:

Non-Voting:
Non-Voting:

Sue Mathias

Guillermo Solares

Chris Boyer

Mark Goodwillie

Bob Ashley

Gwenn Bookman

Connie Gomez-Joines

Tom Harris

Rich Jaworski

Vivian Wan

Ronda Pierce, Gwenn Bookman

Guillermo Solares, Elsa Jimenez

Nancy Proia

Randy Griffin

Anne Berkley, Ann Evangelisto

Mitch Scurtu

Melissa Perez

Chris Boyer, Yuki Temma

Mark Goodwillie, Lusia Li
Dot Borden, Honorary Director

Executive Director, Brady Surles

10 am, Jan 30, Planning Retreat, Zoom

7 pm, February 18, Zoom

7pm, April 15, Zoom

7 pm, June 17, Zoom

7 pm, August 19, TBD

5:30 pm, October 22, Annual Meeting

7 pm, November 18

City Committees usually meet monthly or bi-monthly.

If you are interested in participating in any of these meetings, please contact SCD Executive Director Brady Surles [email protected]

Consider volunteering to help with the Festival of Nations:

 -- Help with planning during this summer
 -- Help the day of the Festival, 11 - 5, Sunday, Oct. 3.

Coming Events:

Peace Grove at Durham Central Park:

In partnership with Durham Central Park, nine Oak trees were planted in January to represent our nine Sister Cities.

We will have a dedication ceremony with signage recognizing Sister Cities at a later date. 
Pictured below:  Our Trees Committee which has worked for several years to see this developed:

L-R:  Chris Boyer, Brady Surles, Dot Borden, Dick White

Pictured above and left is our sign at Durham Central Park.

Our Vision:

We strive to develop a peaceful world, with mutual understanding and cooperation, one person and one community at a time.

Our Mission:
We partner with the City of Durham to organize and promote Sister Cities activities for Durham residents and to establish international Sister Cities relationships.

At our Annual Meeting, Oct. 22, we will present a summary of the activities and programs of our City Committees and the general organization during this past year. 
 We also present 2 Awards:.
-- The Annual SCD/Mayors Award for "Promoting International Understanding" to both individuals and organizations in the Durham community.

-- The Annual "Dorothy Borden" Award to SCD members for long term contributions to Sister Cities. 

Note: Some of our programs have been postponed because of the Coronavirus.  Hopefully our in person programs will resume in the near future.  However, we still maintain our conversations with our friends around the world -- Come join us!   Zoom enables us to link globally in more meaningful ways than ever before.

What do we do ?   Join us in these activities.

-- Educational Exchanges with high schools, college students, educational professionals.

-- Exchanges with artists and musicians.

-- Exchanges with medical personnel.

-- Annual Festival of Nations.

-- Peace Grove at Durham Central Park.

-- Sister Cities Quilts displayed in City Hall.

-- Hosting virtual meetings with our Sister Cities to develop friendships, better understanding.

-- Participating in Durham's Holiday Parade.

-- Presentations in the Library's Public Forums.

Plans are developing for trips to:

Greece, Japan, Romania, when COVID recedes.

The trips will be open to the public.

Check back later for updates as plans develop.

We appreciate the support of our partners:

City of Durham and the Mayor's Office

Durham Public Schools

Center for the Global Learner at DTCC 

Durham County Public Library

Durham Central Park -- Peace Grove
Duke Garden - the Asiatic Arboretum
Sister Communities of San Ramon, Nicaragua
Duke Homestead and Tobacco Museum
Carolina China Council
Triangle Community Foundation -- Sister Cities of Durham
        Endowment Fund for International Understanding

Pictured:  Durham students welcome visiting students from our Sister Cities at RDU airport.

                      MEMBERSHIP

We invite you to join us in Sister Cities of Durham to promote a greater understanding of Durham's international connections.

Annual Membership Dues per Calendar Year:

-- Family Membership $35

-- Individual Membership $20

-- Student Membership $10

Also Life Time Membership $300

Payment can be made:

-- on our PayPal button on this page;

-- or Mail checks to:

Sister Cities of Durham

PO Box 767; Durham, NC 27702

Thanks for supporting Sister Cities of Durham