The briefest of explanations about sister cities:

•Alameda can theoretically have one sister city from every country, as long as each of those cities doesn’t already have a sister city elsewhere in the US.
•This same exclusivity rule applies to cities in other countries too. When two cities can’t technically become sister cities with one another because one or both are already “spoken for”, they can instead become informal friendship cities. There is no limit on the number of friendship cities that can be made.
•ASCA is comprised of many sister city committees, reporting to the Board of Directors. Each committee exclusively organizes and operates the activities of a single sister city relationship, in concert with their counterparts in the other country.
•These sister city committees are constituted prior to establishing a sister city relationship. In a formal screening process, each committee must demonstrate to the ASCA Board of Directors that the group is large enough and skilled enough to successfully: run longterm fundraising campaigns; organize and operate public events; be culturally competent; be organizationally disciplined to stay on course with the non-political mission; and demonstrate organizational longevity.
•The committee must be willing to work alongside all other sister city committees towards common goals, and to be accepting of one another in sisterhood, respect and unity.
•The guidelines that describe the partnership between the Alameda City Council and ASCA with regards to establishing and operating sister cities was codified in a 2017 Resolution.
 
Why these cities and not others?

Even if the proposed ASCA committee meets all of our criteria to establish a new sister city, sometimes a preferred city is already somebody else’s sister city; or that city may not be interested or capable of partnering with Alameda at this time. Sometimes the off-shore city picks us, where the first overture was made between Mayors. The focus of initial exchange is often on education and culture, and commerce exchange normally appearing in more longterm, mature relationships. The relative physical and population size of our sister cities compared to that of Alameda is wildly erratic. Sometimes the committee will focus on similar characteristics such as seaside communities; island communities; or even communities from which our residents draw ancestral heritage.
 
Our Sister Cities:
Friendship Cities:
​Project Cities: