Sister Cities, UNH Join Forces

New Haven Sister Cities just got a whole school full of new ambassadors for the cause of peace thanks to a newly minted partnership with the University of New Haven.

New Haven Sister Cities President Shaundolyn Slaughter, along with Mayor Toni Harp, joined univesity President Steven Kaplan on campus Monday to sign a memorandum of understanding cementing that arrangement. The MOU officially puts the private university, which has faculty and staff that hail from 43 states and 45 countries, in partnership with New Haven Sister Cities.

New Haven Sister Cities was founded in 1982 as part of the national program established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to promote outreach and friendship between Americans and their fellow global citizens in the wake of World Wars I and II with the idea that it might lessen the chance of future conflicts. New Haven’s chapter has been recognized as the best in Connecticut and New England.

“I am so pleased to be among all of you for this very special and meaningful advancement of town-gown cooperation,” Mayor Harp said Monday. ​“Together we’re working to promote the historic city of New Haven and the greater New Haven region as a global destination and a messenger of peace in this 21st century.”

The partnership allows the university and the chapter to officially work together to promote humanitarian, cultural, educational and economic programs with New Haven’s eight sister cities in China, Israel, Italy, France, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Nicaragua, and Mexico. The idea for a partnership was the brainchild of city culture czar Andy Wolf.

Wolf said the idea grew out of a partnership established between Elm City Shakespeare and Southern Connecticut State University. He said he saw it as an opportunity to meet his challenge from Mayor Harp to expand the knowledge economy and grow the civic engagement among the future generation of leaders.

Harp noted that the New Haven Sister Cities fosters peace and goodwill through educational and cultural exchanges but also through responding to natural disasters. During the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, the chapter spearheaded the arising of over $200,000 to send medical supplies to Freetown. She said the partnership with the university will only enhance that work.

“That’s what makes our city and society strong, resolute — embracing Sister Cities international mission to promote peace, respect, understanding, and cooperation, one individual, one community at a time,” she said.

New Haven Sister Cities President Slaughter said that the partnership will allow the chapter to ​“take full advantage of resources and talents of this campus.”

“The UNH student faculty and staff will now fulfill the vision of President Eisenhower to achieve a global order that is predicated upon peace, prosperity, and an appreciation for diversity,” she said. ​“Our New Haven sister cities in partnership with the university promises to be an outstanding next chapter for our current eight sister cities.”

University President Kaplan said that the university is committed to advancing the cause of Sister Cities International and working with other local colleges and universities to foster cultural understanding and world peace.

“We’re not just doing this just to put it on our resume,” he said. ​“We’re doing this because we believe deeply in the work that Sister Cities does. We believe deeply in global international education and we see not only opportunities for our students and our faculty but we think through our students and our faculty we can create great opportunities in these wonderful countries and these wonderful sister cities.

“Again, we’re not just doing this because it looks good,” Kaplan added. ​“We’re doing this because its substantive and our commitment is going to be meaningful.”