Welcome to the Sausalito-Viña del Mar program.
The purpose and mission of the Viña del Mar Sausalito Sister City program is to promote a cross-cultural and economic exchange between the two cities.
We are exploring opportunities to re-establish a pen pal program between school children in both cities and we are exploring an artist exchange program.
About the Program:
7 Days, 7 Women, 7 Dreams
The cornerstone of the Viña del Mar Sister City program is the women in business mentoring program. In 2013, a group of Sausalito women entrepreneurs, led by the Mayor, traveled to Viña del Mar in conjunction with International Day of the Woman celebrations. At that time, we connected with AGEP (Asociación Gremial de Empresarias y Profesionales), a group of women business owners in the Viña del Mar/Valparaiso region. The Sausalito group held seminars and workshops for AGEP where they exchanged information and ideas on such topics as leadership, business growth and development.
Later that year, a delegation from AGEP came to Sausalito. Since dubbed “7 days, 7 Women, 7 Dreams”, the program will soon see its third group of women from Viña visiting Sausalito, where they stay with resident hosts. In the first two years, their itinerary included a wide range of business and cultural programs including a private meeting with Isabel Allende, touring the California wine country and workshops on such topics as marketing, financial responsibility and empowerment.
Program and City Histories:
In 1960, Sausalito and Viña del Mar became sister cities. To honor this relationship, Sausalito’s main square was named Viña del Mar Plaza. Viña del Mar in return, named its soccer stadium Estadio Sausalito. The huge stadium is adjacent to Parque Sausalito, in the neighborhood called Sausalito. In 1968, renowned Chilean sculptor Sergio Castillo, a native of Viña del Mar, donated a sculpture to Sausalito called “La Hermandad” which means sisterhood in Spanish. It was recently refurbished and stands today in Gabrielson Park along the Sausalito waterfront.