2022 Spring Online Workshop
June 24, 2022 - Online
On June 24, 2022, CJSCN held its annual online Spring Workshop by Zoom, in partnership with the Consulates General of Japan in San Francisco and in Los Angeles.
The workshop’s theme was Reignite the Sister City Community! Over 100 people participated, representing 27 cities from California and 11 cities from Japan.
This time again, the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco acted as the Zoom host and emcee for the event, and we are grateful for all the support they provided, as well as the support given by the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles.
The event began with words of welcome from San Francisco Consul General Hiroshi Kawamura, Los Angles Consul General Akira Muto, and CJSCN Board President Meg Mizutani. CJSCN acknowledged our sponsors, including our founding sponsor Teraoka & Partners. We were honored to show a video message from Lieutenant Governor of California Eleni Kounalakis. Touching on the history and the power of citizen diplomacy, especially the strong tie between California and Japan, she encouraged us all to continue our work for building peace through sister city activities.
Following the opening presentations, we went straight into our first breakout session for basic networking. The participants were divided into breakout rooms based on the geographical regions.
After the breakout session, there were two presentations. First, we welcomed Ms. Pat Fallin, Co-Chair of the Sister Cities International Membership Committee. She explained the mission of Sister Cities International and the member benefits.
Second, CJSCN board member Frank McAuley made the featured presentation about fundraising: a common challenge for all the sister city organizations. He broke it down into different types of funding sources with diverse and creative fundraising examples CJSCN collected from the network organizations, including the cities in Japan. The presentation file can be viewed from the link under Resources below.
Following the presentations, we held a longer breakout session where participants could share information about their program with each other in depth and discuss how they could continue meeting in their region for collaboration and mutual support.
The workshop finished at the end of the breakout session but the participants were encouraged to stay for additional networking. This time, it was a self-select style session, with breakout rooms with 4 topics that they could choose from: youth engagement, travel update, fundraising, and Japanese speakers networking. Engaging conversations in each room continued until the very end!
CJSCN would like to once again express our deep gratitude to the fantastic consulate staff from San Francisco and Los Angeles who made this online workshop possible; to our fabulous sponsors who continue to support our mission; and to all of the sister city stakeholders from both California and Japan. We believe together we make our network strong and look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event!
Resources
Recording of the CJSCN 2022 Spring Virtual Workshop