Since 1960, Sausalito has been a ‘Sister City’ to Viña del Mar, Chile. Over the past 60 years the two cities on opposite sides of the world have worked together to share ideas, cultural experiences, entrepreneurial business activities and other important aspects connecting a common human link between them.
While this concept of a ‘sister city’ can be traced to before 1931 and even earlier, it was the Eisenhower administration that created the idea of “Sister Cities International” in 1956. It was President Eisenhower’s vision of promoting peace, understanding and prosperity in the world through citizen diplomacy.
Despite this very auspicious start, over the decades, the Viña del Mar sister city program languished with little attention, primarily due to the periodic social and political upheaval in their country.
As the 50th anniversary of the Chilean sister city relationship approached 2010, it prompted a revitalization of the program.
In 2011, a delegation from Vina del Mar, including Mayor Virginia Reginato, visited Sausalito and then Mayor Herb Weiner to renew the sister city relationship.
Since then, the program has been thriving thanks to the support of civic and business leaders and Sausalito residents. In 2016 Sister Cities International presented Sausalito with the ‘Best Overall Award for cities with a population of less than 25,000.’ The award was in recognition of the outstanding exchange work done by Sausalito in advancing the goals and mission of the sister cities program/movement.
The program is part of the non-profit Sausalito Sister Cities, Inc. and is run by a volunteer Operations Councils.
This relationship was especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic as the Vina Del Mar and Sausalito worked together to help one another recover from the unprecedented impact of the worldwide pandemic that was a setback to many economies. This work was also recognized by the Sister Cities International organization in 2022 in awarding the Vina Del Mar program with best practices in business and technology – largely due to the use of Zoom to continue business coaching and maintain contact with the members of AGEP.
This September 1 a delegation of eight women, all part of a business networking organization we know as AGEP, will be visiting Sausalito for more than two weeks. During that time an array of activities and events will be taking place in Sausalito, including an exhibition of Chilean art, culture and history showing at 675 Bridgeway.
The delegates from Vina Del Mar, Chile are: Carolina Arroyo, Maria Teresa Pasten Ceron, Rudith Catalina Escobar Iturra, Maritza Pasten Franco, Edith Arce Gonzalez, Maria Antonieta Allamand Arancibia, Britania Salinas Mayne, and Ximena Silva San Martín.
These accomplished business women will be visiting city officials and business owners, learning ways Sausalito and its citizens have met with post-pandemic challenges. They’ll be looking at how we have created collaborations between the arts, culture, education and entrepreneurship, and we’ll be sharing our plans for facing challenges in the future.
In addition to the business women’s delegation, 3 fire fighters (Bomberos) from the Region V in Chile, will be meeting with the Southern Marin Fire Department and will also be receiving best practices training in fire management, disaster preparedness and safety techniques. This sharing of information and skills was initiated by the tragic news of the October 2023 fire in Chile where 15,000 homes were destroyed and 35,000 residents were made homeless.
The AGEP organization has created an exhibition of important artistic and cultural significance to the women. The exhibit was inspired by the Chilean national artist Violeta Parra, who has rescued the folklore of Chile through oral tradition, music and art. Their exhibit will open this month in Viña del Mar, and will travel with the delegates to Sausalito. The exhibit will feature six Chilean women artists of all different mediums, and will be at 675 Bridgeway (the old Chase Bank/Sausalito branch office) September 3 to September 15 from noon to 5 pm.
For more information, visit www.sausalitosistercities.org and learn more about the two other sister cities: Cascais, Portugal, and Sakaide, Japan.
