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Atlanta - Ra'anana Sister City
Committee
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MISSION STATEMENT |
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The Sister Cities Program was launched in 1956 by President Eisenhower to further international understanding and friendship at all levels of the community on a continuing basis. In theme with Sister Cities International's slogan, "Peace Through People", the City of Atlanta has entered into sister city relationships with cities in eighteen countries. Ra'anana, Israel, approved by the Atlanta Sister City Commission (ASCC) on November 10, 1999, is Atlanta's newest and first sister city in the Middle East.
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The spirit of the Sister Cities Program is expressed in the purpose of the Atlanta - Ra'anana Sister City Committee: To facilitate increased contact and exchanges between the cities of Atlanta, Georgia and Ra'anana, Israel. This aim is based on a belief that greater interaction between the two cities will build on feelings of mutual good will. |
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Our mission is to foster a wider measure of friendship between the people of Atlanta and Ra'anana. Our belief is that this goal is best achieved through the sponsorship of educational, cultural and athletic exchanges, and friendship and trade delegations focusing on economic development with an emphasis on high technology.
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STORY |
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Background
In 1972, Mayor Sam
Massell began promoting Atlanta's push towards international city status by
initiating the City's participation in the Sister City Program. A Board of
Aldermen's resolution extended an invitation to three cities to twin with
Atlanta. By April of 1998, the Atlanta Sister City Commission (ASCC) had grown
to seventeen sister city programs located on every continent.
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On May 8, 1998, Dr. Arnold Heller, Social Studies Chair at North Atlanta High School, sponsored the Atlanta-Ra'anana, Israel, Sister City Committee application. Dr. Heller also directs an International Business Program (IBP) that focuses on involving students in enterprise and international trade. |
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IBP students manage their own company, the Atlanta Caribbean Trading Company (ACTCo), operate the Warrior Warehouse School Store, and maintain a web site, http://www.actco.org/, that features an e-commerce division to be officially launched during the Spring Semester, 2000. | |
The IBP mission is to establish a standard of excellence for global business education at the secondary level. The two year curriculum includes courses in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Economics, East Asian Studies with a Modern Japan focus, and an internship with an international corporation. North Atlanta has entered in to educational partnerships with secondary schools in thirteen countries. Dr. Heller, as Secretary of the Atlanta Sister City Commission and for three years Chair of the Atlanta-Rio de Janeiro Sister City Committee, has developed five joint programs with fellow ASCC Chairs: Montego Bay, Jamaica; Port-of-Spain, Trinidad; Salcedo, Dominican Republic; Newcastle, England, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Discovery
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In April of 1997, Dr. Heller believed that North Atlanta's IBP students would also benefit from a joint program with an Israeli secondary school and began a search for a viable and interested partner. Heller approached the Consulate of Israel for assistance; Mr. Scott Crothers, Informational Officer for Educational Programs, directed him to the Vanlere Institute in Jerusalem. Mrs. Nirit Roessler, Director of the Global Learning and Business Enterprise Program, recommended the Young Entrepreneurs Program of Ostrovsky High School in Ra'anana, Israel. On Feb. 15, 1998, Mrs. Rachel Peled, Young Entrepreneurs Coordinator, and Dr. Joseph Bar-El, former Program Consultant, invited North Atlanta to develop a joint business education program. Ra'anana, located in Israel's Sharon District about fifteen minutes north of Tel Aviv, is a garden city of about 70,000 highly educated people. The convergence of abundant technical and entrepreneurial skills has led to Ra'anana's becoming one of Israel's centers for high technology companies and business startups. |
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The Birth of a Friendship
From Nov. 22 to Dec. 2, 1998, Dr. Heller chaperoned a student
exchange group that was hosted by Ostrovsky High School, one of Israel's best
public high schools. The mission's objectives were to form a sister school
relationship, develop an educational partnership between the IBP and Young
Entrepreneurs, involve students in international trade, facilitate increased
intercultural understanding, and hopefully foster mutual friendship between
North Atlanta and Ostrovsky students.
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Seven North Atlanta IBP students were hosted by Ostrovsky's Young Entrepreneurs and stayed with their families. Mrs. Peled and her students provided tours of Ra'anana, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem as well as many opportunities for IBP students to purchase Israeli goods for resale in their School Store. An exchange highlight was a conference between North Atlanta, Ostrovsky, and Nazareth Junior Achievement Program students during which a spirit of pronounced good will was shared by the three teen groups; Nazareth's Arab students, both Moslem and Christian, and Ostrovsky's Jewish and North Atlanta's Christian students. |
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Birth of a Sister City Program
On Nov. 24, Mayor Zeev Bielski invited the combined
exchange delegations to a reception at City Hall. Dr. Heller was impressed by
the Mayor's approachability, the professionalism of his administrative staff,
Ra'anana's general attractiveness, the high quality of life, civic mindedness,
and surprising international reach. Aware that Atlanta did not have an Israeli
sister city, Dr. Heller suggested to Mayor Bielski the possibility of Atlanta
and Ra'anana entering in to a sister city relationship. Mayor Bielski was
excited by that prospect and directed his staff to begin preparations for an
application package.
Ra'anana officially submitted an application to the Atlanta Sister City Commission on May 8, 1999. The approval process was almost derailed in August by discovery of a previous (1985) twinning initiative between Ra'anana and Margate, Florida that fell short of completion but was erroneously listed in the Sister Cities International Directory. Intensive research turned up the mistake in September and the application was officially submitted to the Commission for Approval on Oct. 13, 1999.
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Dr. Heller with wife Sue in San Diego
receiving |
The application was endorsed by the Mayor's Office, Consulate of Israel, American-Israel Chamber of Commerce and the Atlanta Jewish Federation. The Development Committee Report presented to the Commission important issues that produced considerable discussion; eventual ASCC size, most strategic global locations, and a concern about Ra'anana's small size. Unable to fully review the issues at hand, the Commission postponed further discussion until the November 10, 1999 Meeting. Mrs. Glenda Minkin, Assistant to Mayor Campbell, assisted the Commission in resolving the issues and the application was approved. |
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On 3 January 2000, Atlanta City Councilman Derrick Bozeman referred the
resolution to the Committee on Council for City Council approval.. On 18
January 2000, the Committee on Council adopted the resolution. Mayor Bill
Campbell approved the resolution on 26 January 2000. On 23 January 2000
Ra'anana Mayor Zeev Bielski invited Mayor Campbell to visit Ra'anana for
the first signing ceremony. Mrs. Maria Pease, International Affairs
Coordinator, Atlanta Mayor's Office, informed Dr. Heller on March 20 that
all that remained in completing the process was the reciprocal signing
ceremonies. The Committee held its first meeting on 24 May 2000 at North Atlanta H. S. and approved the following official business: 1- Committee will meet monthly at a rotating location. 2- General officers were elected but subcommittee positions would be filled in later as the Committee grew. 3- Arnold Heller was elected Chair, Aaron Bernstein - Vice Chair, Sherry Shemtov - Treasurer,Myrna Bernstein and Aaron Bernstein will share the position of Secretary in recording official minutes. 4- The priority projects for 2000-2001 are: | |
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Building a Model Sister City Committee Dr. Heller's goal for the new committee is to become a model for developing a successful sister city committee: large and diverse membership, effective networking with Atlanta and Atlanta Jewish Community institutions and organizations, developing and growing effective joint programs in the area of economic development, education, culture and athletics.
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American-Israel Chamber of Commerce President Tom Glaser with Mayor Bielski during Governor Roy Barnes' Mission to Israel, June 2000. |
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Ra'anana Airport Display: August - October, 2000
The Atlanta Sister Cities Commission collaborates with Airport Art to provide quarterly exhibitions highlighting two of Atlanta's eighteen sister cities in display cases located in the Hartsfield International Atrium. Ra'anana, for the August - October 2000 quarter, was teamed with Taegu, South Korea. The people of Ra'anana produced a beautiful and informative display that describes their city's growth and development through a presentation involving text, photos, and cultural artifacts. The Atlanta - Ra'anana Committee coordinated the presentation as a public information and education project.
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In order to inquire about membership, please contact Dr. Arnold Heller.
Dr. Arnold Heller 
aheller@mindspring.com
5133 Foxwood
Court
Atlanta, GA 30360 USA
Office Phone 404-351-0895, FAX- 404-351-8763
or
Home Phone 770-394-2323
