Mayor's Welcome
Mayor Brandon Whipple
Honorary Chair of Wichita Area Sister Cities
Message from Mayor Whipple (click here)
(316) 268-4331
Mission
To promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation - one individual, one community at a time.
Purpose
Wichita Area Sister Cities (WASC) pursues exchanges with its sister cities in the following areas of interest:
Diplomatic - Mayor and City Council delegation visits
Cultural - group and individual exchanges
Educational - university programs for language development
Professional - ballet, music, chef, etc.
Tourism - group and individuals
Economic - searching business opportunities
Strategic Goals
Consistent with Sister Cities International, our strategic goals are:
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Cultural Exchange
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Partnership Building
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Business & Trade
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Community Development
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Youth & Education
More information from Sister Cities International
Sister Cities International
Notice Board
Click the following links to visit the WASC Facebook page or the pages for Mexico , China or France
WASC participating in the Wichita Riverfest Sundown Parade - Oct 1, 2021:
Entre Nous - event sponsored by the France Committee was held on June 26th. See France committee page for details.
Sister Cities represented at the Friends University HALO Cinco de Mayo event on April 31, 2021
WASC picnic on October 3rd, 2020 was fun for all!
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Click the following link to print your membership form and mail it in with a check or click the link at the top of the page.
35th Anniversary of our Sister City relationship with Kaifeng, China
Cities (click arrows to scroll through cities)
Kaifeng 开封, Henan 河南, P.R. China 中华人民共和国 Early in 1985, Wichita Mayor Robert Brown appointed a task force to study the desirability of establishing a Sister City relationship with a city in the Henan Province, a sister state to Kansas, People's Republic of China. The relationship became official on December 3rd and in September 1986, Mayor Brown led the first delegation to visit Mayor Zhu in Kaifeng.
On April 16th, 1944, the 137th Infantry of Kansas 35th Division liberated Orléans from Nazi occupation. In 1949, 1 1/7th Scale train was sent to Orléans as a gift. Orléans and Wichita became sister cities in 1974. That year, they exchanged statues of Joan of Arc and Blackbear Bosin's Keep of the Plains.
Wichita and Tlalnepantla de Baz, Mexico, became Sister Cities in 1973 when the Presidente Municipal (Mayor) Joaquin Rodriguez Lugo visited Mayor James Donnel in Wichita. A replica of Black Bear Bosin's Keeper of the Plains was presented to Tlalnepantla de Baz in 1975.
Kaifeng 开封, Henan 河南, P.R. China 中华人民共和国 Early in 1985, Wichita Mayor Robert Brown appointed a task force to study the desirability of establishing a Sister City relationship with a city in the Henan Province, a sister state to Kansas, People's Republic of China. The relationship became official on December 3rd and in September 1986, Mayor Brown led the first delegation to visit Mayor Zhu in Kaifeng.
See our Riverfest page for more details.
Economic Value of Sister Cities
Recently, ValueIdeas LLC published a report, "Measures that Matter," for Sister Cities International on the economic value of Sister Cities nationally and for particular cities. It is well worth reading.
Meet visiting delegates from China, France or Mexico and participate in official visits to our Sister Cities; make business, cultural or educational contacts; stay informed about visits and scholarships; practice your Spanish, French or Mandarin; and much more.
