LYNN — The Office of Mayor Jared Nicholson is working alongside City Attorney James Lamanna to create an International Relations Committee aimed at partnering Lynn with its “sister city” abroad.
Once finalized, the program, in which American municipalities exchange resources and policy-making decisions with a foreign city or town, will add Lynn to the 45 Massachusetts municipalities participating in the Sister Cities International program.
City Council approved Ward 3 City Councilor Coco Alinsug’s proposal to create the committee at last week’s meeting after Alinsug noted that even smaller communities in the region, such as Salem and Marblehead, have sister cities in Tokyo, Japan, and Grasse, France, respectively.
“The goal of the sister city program is just to support goodwill and friendship with a foreign city. A lot of these cities are connected due to a common interest or common goal,” Alinsug said. “It’s really important because we can share with other countries and we can learn from other countries. We don’t have to spend money because some other countries will send some of their programs or people to our cities to visit out of goodwill.”
In December, Alinsug accompanied Ward 2 Councilor Obed Matul, the first Guatemalan city councilor in the Commonwealth, and Ward 1 City Councilor Peter Meaney on a goodwill trip to Guatemala.
In Sololà, Guatemala, the councilors handed groceries and other supplies to residents on a nonprofit mission, and in the City of Escuintla, Meaney, working alongside a team of Lynn dentists, provided free dental care to residents. Alinsug said the idea of putting Lynn on the world map by partnering with a sister city popped into his head when the councilors met Guatemalan officials at a press conference in Guatemala City.
“We met people who had never seen a dentist in their life, and we provided that service. The officials there wanted to honor the City of Lynn with a citation but couldn’t because we were there on our own,” Alinsug said. “We don’t have that partnership built into our system, so that experience opened up our eyes.”
Throughout the years, Alinsug said the City of Lynn attempted to partner with its namesake, King’s Lynn, England, but the program did not materialize. Now, Mayor Nicholson’s Office is trying to revitalize the program.
Although the city has yet to decide which sister city it will partner with, Alinsug said he envisions Lynn uniting with a community that resembles its own diverse demographics, such as a city or town in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, or the Philippines.
“We appreciate Councilor Alinsug bringing forward the Sister Cities Program,” Nicholson said. “We look forward to working with the Council on this initiative and exploring new ways to strengthen our community and build new relationships.”
