Sister Cities

SISTER CITIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 03.14.2024 ACTION ITEMS 5:30 PM Roll Call and Confirmation of Quorum ● In attendance: Chloe Doucette, Lisa Armstrong, Jeremy Crook, Laura Combs, Charlotte Combs, Jake Durtschi, Jim Francis o Charlotte does not get the minutes, so Chloe added her email to the contact list on the google drive ● Absent: Amanda Logan, Cindy Ozaki Approval of February 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes ● Motion to approve by Jake, seconded by Lisa. None opposed. Motion passed unanimously at 5:40pm. Approval of Reimbursements ● No reimbursements DISCUSSION ITEMS 5:41PM Updates from City ● Jim is going to take on the reimbursements for the committee. Get all of the accounting and approval to Jim (invoices) by the 25th of each month and then he will bring that all to the meeting each month. City would potentially pay the companies directly rather than the associations paying them if it is more than $1000. Bills under $1000 will come out of the associations’ accounts and the city will reimburse as usual. o We could pre approve the bus expenses in a meeting if need be so that the city could make that payment. ● Heritage celebration on the greenbelt. The Idaho Falls African American Association wants to do something to celebrate Juneteenth. On the 15th of June, there will be a mini heritage festival on the greenbelt behind the farmer’s market. There will also be a small booth at the farmers market so that they can send them over to the event. JACL is going to have a booth, MOI will have a booth. Dave Snell wants to make sure that it isn’t just seen as an African American holiday, but rather, a US holiday and an event of inclusivity. The Sister Cities Associations/ Committee is invited to participate. We could potentially do the Goyutaku bags again. o Laura asked us to set aside 25 bags for visits. ● The city is in the budget stage. Think of needs for increasing the budget. We should request an additional 3k to pay for the sign at the Japanese Garden and PJ and his team will take care of installing it. PJ will pay for the design, but doesn’t think he can get it all done by July of this year. Not two signs. Just the one. Haven’t gotten into location yet. o What about putting a professional translation service into the Sister Cities Budget? o Could we use some admin costs for a website for youth?  ● Mayor wants to set aside three spots for the travel group. Don’t think it is in the ordinance that one of the committee members could not go. Maybe it would be appropriate to send Amanda or another committee member. Mayor and Jim are going. Report from Sister Cities Adult Association ● No representative of the adult association present. Report from Sister Cities Youth Association ● Two big fundraisers are coming up. o Snow Eagle Fundraiser. Thursday, April 11. If you go to eat there, mention the Sister Cities Association and they will give a portion of the proceeds to the association. o Cherry Blossom fundraiser- basically an auction basket fundraiser combined with a sushi making fundraiser. This will be May 10th at Empire Fitness. 6-8pm. Trying to get a rough idea of how many to expect. Hope to get some supplies donated for sushi. Thinking of charging something like $5/roll? They’ll likely wrap it up to go so they can get people through quickly. More American style sushi (as authentic as they can make it for an Idaho palate). ● Jes Carter was given the Youth Association’s plate and plaque from Tokai and so she is now switching out all of the displays. She is going to give their group a tour on Monday, March 25th at 7pm. All are invited. ● The group has been asked to do origami at the library and tours at the garden on Saturdays. o Would it help if we could maybe expand these responsibilities to the Adult Association and to the committee? JACL? o Chloe offered to take on writing out and formatting a tour if she could attend one that the youth group and the garden ambassadors lead. ● The Youth Association would like communication help for the fundraisers. o If we could get a digital version of flyers this committee could help share the info. ● Will not have a list of kids that will be visiting from Japan to give to the committee until late June. o The Youth Association has a need for 6 additional host families July 26 - August 5). Jake offered to be a host family. o Committee members should all commit to talking to one or two people to see if they are interested in being a host family. Give Laura’s email out for contact. Community Outreach Opportunities ● DRAFT Youth Association Social Media Marketing o Geofencing is a good idea- there are a lot of school events so we need to narrow down what events we are trying to target. Chloe will ask the Arts Council to send us a list of events for the Frontier Center because those audiences might overlap with interest in Sister Cities Associations. o Mountain America Center? Spud Kings? Chukars? Jeremy will talk to them so we can do a booth or sell concessions? o The Downtown Event CCenter is doing an arts festival that Jake is working with the Arts Council on. We may be able to have a booth there.  ▪ Laura wondered whether we could collaborate with a Mokuhanga art. Could we also maybe think about doing the Roaring Youth Jam? o Could there be a “sister cities day” made by the Mayor? Sign an Ordinance? She could sign a proclamation to bring more attention to the group. ● DRAFT Local Educator Grant Application o Lisa has a grant application rough draft. She shared with the committee. Committee discussed potential edits ▪ Would like to require that the teachers mention the Sister Cities Associations and share documentation of the materials created. ▪ City will need some kind of tax form from whoever is awarded a grant. Would that be a W-9? Jim will check. ▪ Describe Sister Cities a little more. Eisenhower’s words? ▪ Criteria? Does it demonstrate an expansion of understanding and interest in Japanese culture? ▪ Digital copies of the application can go to Lisa for now via Google Forms, Physical copies should go to city hall address attn: Jim. o Side note: if Sister Cities Youth Association will send Lisa what they want their posters to look like in the school, the admin will look at them. Pertinent information about the group, not advertising any particular thing. Could go in all of d91 if they approve it. ● DRAFT Friendship Garden Sign o Chloe provided the committee with a long version (about 400 words) and a short version (about 200 words). She still needs to take another pass at editing for reading level. ▪ She will upload the drafts to the google drive and everyone would be welcome to share comments or edits. ▪ She would like to share the committee’s edited draft with Judy and Clarke to get their comments as well since they were interviewed for the content. ▪ Always use term “Tokai-mura” ● Fall 2024 Museum of Idaho Minidoka Exhibit o No further information yet ● Potential Exhibit at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho o No further information yet ● Potential Sponsorships from and Involvement with Local Businesses  o Jake Talked to PaulBaker, the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce’s CEO. He was very enthusiastic. Would want to be looking for some really meaningful economic relationships…export and import? o Talked to Catherine Smith, the City’s Economic Development/Government Affairs Administrator. Very positive about it. ▪ Want to discuss how we create economically meaningful relationships on zoom calls and phone calls? ▪ Maybe businesses could pay for an actual delegation to visit to discuss in person? ▪ Could we ship potatoes back and forth to sell? Already a mayor to mayor conversation. o Many communities have multiple sister cities. Is there a way to create more strategic sister cities in addition to Tokai-mura? Date and Agenda Items for Next Meeting ● Plan out the Juneteenth booth and another Farmer’s Market booth ● Grant application edits and the Japanese Garden sign edits ● Can we meet at the Snow Eagle for the meeting?The meeting is on the 11th so we could be fundraising for the association while we are there. ADJOURNMENT 7:03 PM