Title
Authorization to Enter into Three-Year Agreement with Phoenix Sister Cities, Inc. (Ordinance S-47575)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute a new three-year agreement with Phoenix Sister Cities, Inc., beginning July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024, to support program coordination in youth and education, municipal and technical cooperation, business, and arts and culture with Phoenix's 10 Sister Cities. Funding for the three-year contract will not exceed $220,000.
Report
Summary
Phoenix Sister Cities, Inc. (PSC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1972. It is responsible for coordinating exchange programs in youth and education, municipal and technical cooperation, business, and arts and culture with Phoenix's 10 Sister Cities. Currently, the City of Phoenix has Sister Cities relationships with Calgary, Canada; Catania, Italy; Chengdu, China; Ennis, Ireland; Hermosillo, Mexico; Himeji, Japan; Grenoble, France; Prague, Czech Republic; Ramat-Gan, Israel; and Taipei, Taiwan.
PSC exists to create people-to-people relationships between the residents of Phoenix and its Sister Cities through commercial, educational, cultural and artistic exchange programs and events that create and sustain global, long-term, international partnerships and business opportunities for Phoenix. The City of Phoenix has contracted with PSC since the mid-1980s. The organization is administered by a Board of Directors composed of PSC Commission members, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council, and the chairpersons of the 10 Sister Cities committees and the Disability Awareness Committee. Currently, four other community members serve as at-large Board members.
During the last contract period, July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2021, PSC coordinated:
- A 41-member delegation of Phoenix elected officials, business leaders and residents to Taipei, Taiwan, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of our Sister Cities relationship. Led by Mayor Gallego, the delegation itinerary included more than a dozen meetings with Taiwanese businesses representing the biotech, robotics, high tech, semiconductor and airline industries. Officials also participated in tours of Taipei's state-of-the-art Emergency Management Operations Center, a business incubator, and the Jianking Public Housing Development. Officials met with Taipei's "Go Smart" Smart Cities initiative staff, resulting in a continuing partnership around Smart Cities projects between the two cities.
- An exchange of youth ambassadors with nine Sister Cities in Fiscal Year 2019. During June, 26 Phoenix sophomores and juniors were home-hosted by families in Phoenix's Sister Cities to experience everyday life in that city. In July, these youth returned to Phoenix with their international counterparts to learn about Phoenix efforts around public safety, Arizona government, and daily life in our community. They also examined the role of the media in society, including touring Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and participating in a Zine Workshop.
- A virtual exchange of youth ambassadors with ten Sister Cities in Fiscal Year 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 26 Phoenix sophomores and juniors engaged international counterparts through a Facebook group and online meetings, sharing perspectives on the pandemic, sharing their homes and neighborhoods via photos and videos, and talking about books, movies, and, being teens - favorite foods.
- A process to identify potential new Sister Cities relationships. PSC Board of Directors and community volunteers are exploring potential relationships with up to four possible sister cities, including Suwon, South Korea, which approached PSC about a Sister Cities affiliation.
- A Trilateral Trade Conference in April 2021 that brought together business and community leaders from Phoenix, Calgary and Hermosillo to explore opportunities presented by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade agreement for small to medium-sized enterprises. More than 30 panelists explored topics including emerging technology and supply chain management, financing, the "nuts and bolts" of Trilateral Trade, cross border trade and climate action, and changing labor markets. Breakout sessions addressed topics including e-commerce, biotech, commercial real estate, "physical" and cybersecurity, building a digital strategy, and COVID travel disruptions and visas.
These activities are accomplished by outsourcing the coordination of events and exchanges through a great number of PSC volunteers, totaling more than 100,000 hours and valued at more than $2.5 million over the last three years.
In March of 2020, Council approved an International Trade Strategy to advance the City’s economic development activities with multiple partners internationally. Described in the plan, amongst its many components, is the expansion of international inbound and outbound delegations to grow new international activity as well as partnerships with Phoenix hospitals to create a Destination Medicine/Healthcare Tourism program.
Beginning in FY 2021, PSC would like to expand its scope beyond its traditional role and provide support to the City’s International Trade Strategy. In order to meet this expanded role, funding for PSC will support:
- Youth and Education activities around Sister Schools (a project originally undertaken with Council Districts 1 and 3) and additional funding for Youth Ambassador scholarships to increase opportunities for youth/families unable to afford program costs (e.g., airfare, hosting);
- Staff support for the adoption of up to four new Sister Cities in the three-year contract period: Suwon, South Korea; one in India at the Mayor’s suggestion; Cape Town, South Africa; and Santiago, Chile (contingent upon City Council approval);
- Staff support for Business Development programs - Destination Medicine, Business to Business activities in sister cities in support of new business locates and increased foreign direct investment; and
- Support for programming associated with the 50th anniversary of PSC in calendar year 2022 (overlapping two fiscal years).
The PSC program has been recognized by Sister Cities International for its excellence, receiving the award for Best Overall Program in the United States (for a city with a population over 500,001) nine times in the last 24 years. Most recently, PSC received the Best Overall Program and Innovation in Youth and Education awards in 2015.
Contract Term
If approved, the term of this new three-year contract will be July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024.
Financial Impact
City funds pay for staff salaries and benefits. All PSC exchanges, events and travel are privately funded. The budget for the current three-year contract, ending June 30, 2021, totals $142,500. Funding for the new three-year contract period ending June 30, 2024 will not exceed $220,000.
Over the term of this contract PSC will take a phased approach to expand the program to meet the needs proposed in this report as well as other priorities of Council. Each year of the contract will utilize the currently approved base budget of $50,000 from the General Fund. In addition to the base budget, staff will utilize $70,000 from the Downtown Community Reinvestment Fund to initiate the expansion of the program in year one. If approved, staff will utilize the supplemental budget request process for additional funding for years two and three of the program.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
This item was recommended for approval by the Workforce and Economic Development Subcommittee at the April 28, 2021 meeting by a vote of 3-0.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer and the Community and Economic Development Department.