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I am an animal lover, and as such I don't do as much as I should or would like to support our local animal shelters. Even with the best intentions, like most of us with our favorite charities, there is just not enough time to volunteer, not enough room in the house to adopt more, and not enough money in the bank to give as much as I'd like. HOWEVER if someone said I could make a difference by making one quick phone call then I would squeeze it in with pleasure! And that is what I am asking of you today - those of us involved with this organization know the benefits it brings to our beloved city but those who make the funding decisions may not.
I would like to share with you below just a few highlights from the past year and ask that you please make a phone call to your council member today to tell them you support the work that Sister Cities does in your community and hope that they will continue to provide funding.
Sister Cities has created and developed partnerships around the world for the City of Louisville, its citizens, students and business community for 57 years. Our impact is clear, not just in terms of foreign relations, trade & economic development, education, arts & culture and humanitarian assistance, but through cold hard figures; just this past year the bang for the buck was staggering:
� $201,000 generated in tuition for local Universities from SCL incoming International students
- A projected $1.8Million over the next four years
� $160,000 in educational scholarships to both students and teachers
� $150,000 in sales revenue
� $15,000 on Hotel stays
� 200 international guests; 3,000 days spent in Louisville by these guests
Engaging Louisville's youth now and preparing a new generation of global leaders
Sister Cities works with all major local Universities and colleges to facilitate exchanges and scholarships for our next generation of citizen diplomats:
Twelve (12) Jefferson County Public Schools have signed Memorandums of Understanding for linkages and programs with at least one Sister City.
St. Xavier, Collegiate and Kentucky Country Day (KCD) all have active exchanges with Ghana, Germany, Argentina and China. "Sister Cities has helped KCD start a global studies program from scratch. We've gone from zero to sixty in less than four years with full exchange programs on three other continents. Without Sister Cities, we'd simply still be at the drawing table."
-Dexter Mahaffey
Unprecedented Opportunities
Last week Sister Cities put seven young extreme skaters on a plane to Perm, Russia. They will represent Louisville at the opening ceremony and competitions of the Perm Extreme Park - built from Louisville's blueprints. The Louisville-Perm relationship is revered in Perm as one of the most successful USA-Russia relations and as such this trip was fully funded by Perm, so great was their wish for our participation.
These seven young people would never have access to such a life changing opportunity without this Sister Cities relationship. The same could be said for the other 80 young Louisvillians who travelled to a Sister City in 2010. We are opening minds and encouraging our future leaders to think globally. This is a priceless impact: here is no price tag you can attach to that.
Humanitarian Assistance
Through our work in Africa and South America we are forging a positive image of the United States and Louisville abroad. We continue to attract medical and nursing students as our doctors are seen around the world providing medical assistance and best practices through Sister Cities. Our participation following the devastating 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in the rebuilding of the X-iang-E Elementary School has resulted in awards from the People's Congress of China and the Chinese counterpart of Sister Cities International. More importantly though JCPS students painted the 6x6 tiles that became the 'We Are Together' mural in the Art room, which the school describes as their "most precious treasure". | 
