The city of Riverside has had International Connections ever since we established our first sister city relationship with Sendai, Japan over 60 years ago.  Riverside has been a leader in Sister City programs ever since.

The Sister City Sign was placed in front of White Park during the Sister Cities International Conference which Riverside hosted in October of 2011.

We have a total of eight sister cities currently.  They are:

• Sendai, Japan (1957)
• Cuautla, Mexico (1968)
• Ensenada, Mexico (1976)
• Jiangmen, People’s Republic of China (1997)
• Gangnam, Republic of Korea (1998)
• Hyderabad, India (2000)
• Obuasi, Ghana (2008)
• Erlangen, Germany (2011)

The International Relations Council of Riverside coordinates and works with our sister cities to plan exchanges of people, technology, information and talent.  In 2010 the committee created a brochure to let cities know of all the features our City has to offer which is also a great resource for new residents and visitors to the city.

This year Charlotte’s son participated in a sister city exchange program with our sister city, Erlangen.  Currently her family is also hosting a student from Erlangen.  This is the third year we have had students travel from Erlangen for an exchange program, and this year is by far the largest.  We have 15 German students who all arrived to our fair city last night. They are looking forward to exploring Riverside and Southern California, as well as attending school at North, Poly and King High Schools once school starts at the end of the month.

For more information on Riverside’s International Relations Council, visit the City’s Webpage here.   If you’re interested in hosting a foreign student, be sure to let us know!  We’re excited about this wonderful opportunity for all of our students on both sides of the exchange.