REPORT TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION 1995

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Owensboro Sister Cities, Inc. encourages global understanding between our community and other world communities. The Owensboro Sister Cities Program will assist government entities with the proper reception of foreign visitors and dignitaries by serving as the community's office of protocol; pursue an ongoing mission to inform and educate our community concerning our area's international cultural and business ties and their effects on our community; initiate exchange programs in education, business, professional groups, and the arts; assist government and its agencies in promoting our community's cultural heritage through our Sister City(ies) relationship; encourage development and expansion of international trade relationships and assist with foreign trade missions; assist community organizations in direct relationships with similar organizations in our Sister City(ies) and elsewhere in the world, where possible.

Summary

Owensboro Sister Cities has had an outstanding year of activity and community promotion this past calendar year. This was a pivotal year for our program as Owensboro and Olomouc have now received their official Sister Cities Charters. These charters hang in the public reception areas of both City Halls for all to see the official link between Owensboro and Olomouc. Our program has received both statewide and international recognition for our year long efforts.

The major focus during the calendar year was to stimulate interest in exploring mutually beneficial commercial dealings. These efforts resulted in three related visits within the Sister Cities and the beginnings of a cautious exploration on both sides to see if mutually beneficial trade can be built. While commerce received a good deal of attention, our Owensboro Sister Cities program continued our participation in the Sister Cities International Young Artist Program and brought a visiting Fulbright Scholar to Owensboro from the Olomouc institution of higher education, Palacky University. As a result of our efforts and your support, Owensboro had an International Winner in the SCI Young Artist Program and Owensboro Sister Cities was given recognition at the Kentucky League of Cities Conference as having the most outstanding new program in the state by Kentucky Sister Cities.

Actions taken on behalf of our Sister Cities Program during 1995:

1. Several local organizations were addressed concerning our program and our Sister Cities visits to Owensboro. Our visitors addressed both the Breakfast and Noon Rotary Clubs during the visits. News media articles were generated in the Messenger-Inquirer, on local and Evansville radio and television stations and the Czech regional press in Moravia. The Czech press articles were written both to report on our business visit to Olomouc and articles written as a result of the visits to Owensboro by our Czech friends.

2. We researched to locate a Fulbright Scholar from Palacky University studying in the United States. During March, Dr. Milada Hirschova, Director of the Department of Slavonic Studies, as a visiting scholar to Ohio State University, was contacted and agreed to come to Owensboro to encourage student and professor exchanges between the three Owensboro institutions of higher education and Palacky University in Olomouc. She was the guest in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Rice. Palacky already has had ongoing relationships with Hofsra and Georgetown Universities and Northwestern ran a semester long Honors Program this past semester at Palacky. We have an agreement, in principal, with Palacky as a result of our past visits. Two Owensboro professors have expressed interest in participating in a teaching exchange. What is still needed is an umbrella agreement between the Owensboro colleges to work together under the Sister Cities arranged exchanges. Dr. Hirschova wrote to the Moravian regional newspapers after her visit with us and her articles about Owensboro were published and were reported to us by Olomouc City Hall. Her visit was jointly sponsored by Brescia College, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro Community College and Owensboro Sister Cities.

3. As a result of (then) Mayor Pro Tem Morris' visit to Olomouc in 1994, during the month of May, we were able to have Mr. George Kvidera come to Owensboro to consult with us on potential trade between the two Sister Cities. As part of Mayor Pro Tem Morris' delegation we were fortunate in having both Hugh Hayden from Industry, Inc. and Ondra Edds from the Chamber of Commerce be able to address business concerns with Mr. Kvidera. Mr. Kvidera has been in Olomouc several times with the purpose of helping Olomouc City Hall in the transformation of their economy. As a Czech-American businessman he was in a position of being knowledgeable of both countries economies, languages and cultures. In order to seek out potential business collaboration, Mr. Kvidera was invited to Owensboro under joint sponsorship of the City of Owensboro, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., and our Sister City program. Mr. Kvidera spoke to several of our targeted businesses, addressed business groups and submitted his recommendations as to where he saw real commercial potential. His recommendations were the basis for a business focus group from Owensboro to visit Olomouc during June.

4. Following up on our correspondence with Olomouc City Hall and the visit by Mr. Kvidera, four representatives from Owensboro visited Olomouc during June. Olomouc City Hall arranged a schedule to visit not only many of the businesses suggested by Mr. Kvidera as having trade potential but also with some smaller companies who wished to make contact and explore potentials. In all candor, our efforts were met by cautious curiosity on both sides. There is much similar in both communities, each curious about possibilities but hesitant to trade in unknown areas. More time is needed to build and broaden our familiarity. As a result of the Owensboro groups trip, it was decided to encourage three or four potentials. The Owensboro group included two members of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Director of the Green River Area Development District, as well as, the Sister Cities Executive Director. Invitations to the Olomouc businesses were made to visit their Owensboro counterparts. Another purpose of this trip was to present Olomouc with their Sister Cities International Charter and reaffirm our relationship with their new Mayor and city administration.

5. During the month of October four businessmen from Olomouc traveled to Owensboro to meet with targeted business leaders. These talks were productive but left many unanswered questions. All parties agreed to seek answers to each others questions and establish an ongoing dialogue. It was also decided that perhaps the easiest route to begin demonstrating the potential for trade in the Czech market would be capital investment. There are now four independent initiatives being pursued or being discussed in Owensboro directly as a result of our initiatives. Any resultant business will, of course, be between the principals but both City Hall programs are eager to help aid in promoting contact and hopefully mutually beneficial trade.

6. Owensboro again participated in the Sister Cities International Young Artist Program under the direction of local artist, Ms. Rhonda McEnroe. While it is most unusual, Owensboro again had its submission chosen as one of the international winners for a second year in a row. The winning artist was Kevin Koller from Daviess County High School. Kevin's entry and Owensboro's name were displayed during the Eisenhower Invitational Golf Tournament in Tyler, Texas and at the Sister Cities International Conference the year in Indianapolis. The winner's name and sponsoring Sister City is prominently shown in the following year's Young Artist Program announcement booklets. As a result, the name of Owensboro will be promoted in the program booklets now being sent to the over 2,000 Sister Cities worldwide. Unfortunately, we lost Ms. McEnroe to marriage and Evansville this year. The good news is that The Museum of Fine Arts has agreed to oversee and promote this local art competition in our secondary schools and colleges. Students eligible to participate are aged 13 - 18.

7. We were contacted too late to be able to sponsor a student exchange with Olomouc during the summer of 1995 but the groundwork was laid for the program to run during the summer of 1996. Dr. Ivana Mrozcova in Olomouc and Mr. Nick Brake in Owensboro will coordinate our Student Leadership Development Program. This program is co-sponsored by of Prague Embassy U.S.I.A. office. The students (from both Owensboro and Olomouc) will be at Palacky University for two weeks at the end of July and will have opportunity to travel during the third and final week of the program. The program is will draw on all the area high schools and colleges. Owensboro Community College was the first higher education institution in our community to receive a student from the area of Owensboro's Czech Republic Sister City. That student has now continued his studies in New Mexico. We are hopeful that we will have increasing numbers of exchange students between the Sister Cities in the years to come. The Owensboro Community College TV station is advertising our summer exchange program and showing pictures of Olomouc during the Western Kentucky University basketball rebroadcasts here.

8. Owensboro hosted the visit by Dr. Roman Nogol, City Manager of Karvina, Czech Republic during August. This visit was arranged by U.S. Agency for International Development directly with our City Manager Mr. Ted Smith. Dr. Nogol spent a week at City Hall learning about the responsibilities of the City Manager and make comparisons to his experience. Owensboro was one of three U.S. cities that Dr. Nogol was to visit. The Owensboro Sister Cities program was able to lend assistance during the visit. Dr. Nogol told us that he chose to ask to visit Owensboro due to our having Olomouc as a Sister City, he sings in a chorus in Olomouc. Karvina is to the northeast of our Sister City. We look forward, as a result of promoting Owensboro internationally, to having an increased number of foreign government sponsored visitors come to Owensboro. Dr Nogol has invited us to visit Karvina on our next trip to Olomouc.

9. For all our ongoing efforts during the year 1995, Owensboro Sister Cities was presented an award for having the most outstanding new program in Kentucky. The presentation was made at the Kentucky League of Cities Conference with city mayors and government officials from across the state in attendance. The award was accepted on behalf of the city by Mayor Morris and the Sister City Executive Director.

10. The Owensboro Sister Cities Listserv which was begun last year to serve the needs of Sister Cities around the world came to an end in 1995. Housed at Owensboro Community College this Internet Listserv had attracted subscribers from thirty eight states and over a dozen foreign countries from Australia to Russia. Our Listserv lost much of its purpose when Sister Cities International began an effort at their headquarters to establish and fund a Sister Cities Listserv and Wide World Web page. With the cutback in funding and personal at OCC we were also limited on what we could achieve for the future.

11. We have been in contact with Palacky University in Olomouc. They are building a Wide World Web Page for the City of Olomouc and we have arranged to have a Sister City link from their Web Page to the Owensboro Wide Web Page being built at OCC. We will arrange to have a Sister Cities International Web link which will also attract online visits from those around the globe to learn more about our community.

PLANS NOW IN PROCESS:

We have worked with Olomouc City Hall to have a packet of materials provided to each of our four major travel agencies concerning Olomouc and the Czech Republic. These materials will be presented during a reception for the travel agencies to report to them on the purpose and progress of our Sister City relationship and its potential for them and our community. On a later return visit we will take materials concerning our area and Kentucky to promote travel in our area. Olomouc has approached us to produce a joint travel booklet which they have already produced with their Dutch Twinned City. We are open to the idea but the cost would take our budget entirely. Olomouc is budgeting to send a Tourism Representative to Owensboro and Kentucky during their next fiscal year.

Put together materials emphasizing our areas' international connections to be used to introduce our area to potential Sister Cities and for tourism and industrial development projects. (Video, magazine, brochure,etc.)

An invitation to attend the International Bluegrass Festival in September has been extended and accepted by the Olomouc Bluegrass band, Hermanek. If the Brno band, "Second Grass" returns we will have two Czech Bluegrass bands in attendance this year. Brno is only forty miles from Olomouc and Dallas, Texas is its American Sister City.

Our first Owensboro Sister Cities Newsletter is ready for publication. It will be sent to many community organizations and individuals who have expressed an interest in or have a potential link to our program. We will continue to promote connections between any similar community organizations that we can.

We hope to begin the exchange of video tapes between our Middle Schools with student classes with the same age students in Olomouc. The Czech students have already begun by sending us a tape of their city, classrooms, downtown area, etc. We will ask our students to do the same and send it to Olomouc.

Aid in the exchange of foreign language teachers in our community with teachers of English in our Sister City. Organize materials to be used in our local schools to introduce our Sister Citys' culture to our students (enhancing the teaching of cross cultural perspectives).

We need to have a successful student program this summer. Once this first group comes home our continued student exchanges should be assured. Along this line, we still need an umbrella agreement between our colleges to participate in building an ongoing exchange program with Palacky University. During the summer exchange we would be in a good position to begin arranging a summer job exchange for a local college students - not only would they have their summer job, but through Sister City arrangements we could allow these youths from our respective communities to be exposed to another culture in the process.

The timing is good to begin our Young Professional Exchange sometime this year. The way this has been approached in other Sister Cities is to bring a fire or police department officer, a bank employee or perhaps someone in tourism into the Sister City to be exposed to the other culture's approach to the same problem faced by both Sister Cities employees. This would necessitate cooperation with a local business and logistical help from the Sister Cities program. The sending institution continues the salary of their exchanged employee.