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2006 will see nationwide celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Sister Cities Program. Racine became one of the founding members of Sister Cities when we twinned with Montélimar, France—which gives us a double reason to celebrate as the program's 50th anniversary approaches.

The Sister Cities program in the United States began in 1956 when President Eisenhower established the People-to-People program to help promote international understanding among people of the United States and other nations. Eisenhower's program led to the creation of Sister Cities International, a non-profit international membership association.

The cultural exchange fostered by this program has been so beneficial that, over the years, we have embraced four more sister cities: Aalborg (Denmark), Bluefields (Nicaragua), Fortaleza (Brazil), and Oiso (Japan).