Tacoma sister cities | an overview

Tacoma is the third largest city in Washington state, after Seattle and Spokane. Tacoma is an urban port city with a population of 219,326, according to the 2020 census. Tacoma has a dynamic economy that includes maritime industry, health care, manufacturing, and military contracts. Despite its reputation as kind of a “blue collar” cousin to Seattle, Tacoma is also known for having a vibrant downtown core, with museums, bars, restaurants, and museums. As such, it should come as no surprise that Tacoma also participates in the Sister Cities International program and the city has built relationships with cities around the world.

Tacoma Sister Cities and Friendship Cities

Tacoma Sister Cities logo

Tacoma Sister Cities logo.

Today, there are 13 active Tacoma Sister Cities, 1 Emeritus Sister City (no longer active), and 2 Friendship Cities. The first sister city relationship with Kitakyushu, Japan was established in 1959. Tacoma’s newest sister city is Brovary, Ukraine, a relationship that started in 2017. For more information about Tacoma Sister Cities, see the City of Tacoma Sister Cities portal of the City of Tacoma website and Tacoma Sister Cities homepage and the Tacoma Sister Cities Facebook page.

Below is a list of Tacoma’s 13 active sister cities. I have noted when the sister city relationship was formed and provided external weblinks (when available).

Tacoma does in fact have an Emeritus Sister City relationship that is no longer active. A sister city relationship is retired into “emeritus” status when one or both of the cities has decided to end the active relationship. If you are interested in learning more about that process, please see the Sister Cities International Dormant Program Toolkit.

Tacoma also has two Friendship Cities. Friendship cities are formed on a more casual basis, when cities are first learning about each other but do not yet have the political will or inclination to formalize a sister city relationship. Some friendship cities may later become sister cities. Or they may also simply continue as friendship cities.

The History Behind Sister Cities International

In 1956 President Dwight Eisenhower started Sister Cities International as part of a White House conference on citizen diplomacy. The broad idea behind developing sister city relationships is to create a person-to-person exchange between Americans and citizens of other countries based on cultural, educational, information and trade exchanges. Americans can and should learn about and celebrate differences that we have with communities around the world, thus creating new friendships and hopefully playing a small role in making future world conflict less likely.

For more articles about Sister Cities International and other sister city relationships, please see:


ErikTomrenWrites is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. Your purchases on Amazon.com via our links will help support ErikTomrenWrites – at no extra cost to you!

2Shares

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *