Blog

CIP and Cleveland-Volgograd Sister Cities are proud to partner with the Sister Cities Greater Portland, Maine, and Arkhangelsk, Russia on a new initiative entitled "4 Cities 4 Peace".  The goal of this collaboration is to strengthen U.S.- Russian relations through youth and community activities. Together we hosted the first of a series of workshops with Russian and American high school students from our four sister cities on Zoom. 

Kenneth Kovach facilitated a lively discussion with the students about Building Diplomacy.  The first step to diplomacy is a better understanding of the others' perspective, so the students were put into several breakout rooms that combined American and Russian students.  They were given the opportunity to get to know each other and to discuss their interests and ask each other questions.  

The feedback on this experience was very positive and the students discovered that they had much more in common than they thought they would. In addition, they commented that it was interesting to learn how each others' countries and schools are handling life with COVID. 

We look forward to our next session in May!

4 Cities 4 Peace was created through 4 Sister Cities partnering with each other to create pathways to peace and understanding between Russia and the United States. Portland, Maine and Arkangel, Russia are paired Sister Cities and Cleveland, Ohio and Volgograd, Russia are paired Sister Cities. Together we support activities that promote our Sister Cities’ relationships, events that celebrate each cities history, and collaborative efforts to create bridges of understanding between our great nations.

Next session: Wednesday, May 26th @8:00am U.S. Sister City time and 15:00 Russian Sister City time. Discussion - What is Peace?

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