Sister Cities
In 1956, President Eisenhower established the Sister Cities program as a nonprofit initiative to foster global understanding and peace through trade, education and cultural exchange. Mayor Richard J. Daley jumped on board in 1960, establishing our first sister city relationship with Warsaw, Poland. Over the years, Chicago has taken to it like no other, and now boasts the most active such organization in the world with twenty-eight sisters, ranging from Paris, France to Accra, Ghana to Bogota, Colombia. The five-person Chicago staff keeps itself busy with a range of trade and cultural activities, including a five-day Chicago International Sister Cities Festival in Daley Plaza each summer.
Best of Chicago 2012
