REPORT TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION

City of Owensboro, Kentucky, USA

Calendar Year Activities 2003

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Owensboro Sister Cities, Inc. encourages global understanding between our community and other world communities. The Owensboro Sister Cities Program will assist government entities with the proper reception of foreign visitors and dignitaries by serving as the community’s Office of Protocol; pursue an ongoing mission to inform and educate our community concerning our area’s international cultural and business ties and their effects on our community; initiate exchange programs in education, business, professional groups, and the arts; assist government and its agencies in promoting our community’s cultural heritage through our Sister City(ies) relationship; encourage development and expansion of international trade relationships and assist with foreign trade missions; assist community organizations in direct relationships with similar organizations in our Sister City(ies) and elsewhere in the world, where possible.

Introduction

During 2003 the City of Owensboro, through its Sister Cities program participated in seven exchange visit subjects and two planning visits encompassing the involvement of fifty-one people. Of these, 17 persons were incoming visitors to Owensboro and 34 were outgoing visitors to Olomouc. We will need increased financial, logistical and manpower help if the program is to grow further to encompass further numbers of exchanges and engaging other world communities to learn about our community.

As Executive Director, I will continue to promote the idea of establishing an “Owensboro International Center”. This Center could serve the needs of government, secondary and higher education and the Chamber of Commerce efforts to project an international presence for Owensboro and serve new incoming foreign national residents. The ideal would be an umbrella center, which could serve to give support for international programming throughout the community. Support should be a consortium in order to enjoy broad community financial and program support.

Please take the time to review this report and reflect on our ability to project the image of the City of Owensboro positively in the international community. We believe that we have the most active of the eleven U.S. - Czech Sister City relationships and that the breadth of our program reflects well on Owensboro with any national and international contacts the city makes.

The Owensboro Sister Cities program touches the lives of several hundreds of people involved annually in our exchange activities on both sides of the Atlantic. The program does an exceptional job of carrying out its charged mission. While this program is dependent on support from the City of Owensboro, as an official international link with the Sister City of Olomouc, the overwhelming financial support for the program comes from individuals, businesses and donations from those institutions participating in the programs. We can demonstrate in excess of $20.00 of community support for each city budget dollar allocated.

Our thanks goes to our area colleges: Kentucky Wesleyan for scholarship support allowing Marketa Mylkova to continue her study in Owensboro, Western Kentucky University in Owensboro for encouraging student and main campus summer study participation, and Owensboro Community and Technical College for granting reassigned faculty time which allows direction of this Community Partnership program. We also thank the families who opened their homes, to the hotels for assistance in housing and employing our international visitors, and to the three area school systems for support of our exchange of students and teachers. There are just too many people and entities to mention but the program draws on that which the community is known, a shared caring to make visitors feel welcomed.

We are very appreciative of the City of Owensboro, Owensboro Community and Technical College support for our efforts. The program represents a wonderful community partnership combining the efforts of many community institutions, businesses and individuals. There can be little doubt for the need to educate our Kentucky citizens concerning our place in the global community. Whether for citizenship, student growth or workforce development, there is an ever greater demand for providing an international education component for the communities we serve.

As representatives of the citizens of Owensboro, we request your continued encouragement and active increased financial support for Owensboro Sister Cities and our international efforts.

 Year 2003 Exchanges and Activities

 Secondary Exchange Student – Academic Year 2003-2004

 Marketa Mylkova , after completing her high school education, took a Diploma from Daviess County High School and passed her examinations at Hejcin Gymnazium in Olomouc. Kentucky Wesleyan College has made scholarship funding available and she is aided by Dr. Padgett and his family in opening their home as a host family allowing her to continue her studies in Owensboro. Owensboro Sister Cities continues to reimburse Marketa for her textbook costs.

Young Artist Program, March

The Owensboro Sister Cities Young Artist Program is coordinated by Ms. Rhonda McEnroe a well-known local artist and Owensboro Sister City Board Member. The competitive program is open to all youth, ages 13 – 18. Ms. McEnroe visits the local secondary schools encouraging art teachers to have their students participate in the program. Small amounts of prize monies are awarded to the local Sister Cities winning compositions. The top winner’s composition is entered into the international competition with winners announced from ten Sister Cities. In 2003 the program enjoyed a grant of support from Unilever - Best Foods, in addition to, Owensboro Sister Cities funding.

In addition to our local prize funds, our winning entrant is eligible to win a $300.00 prize if they are one of the ten international SCI winners. The program both supports youth artists and is a terrific opportunity to draw attention to our city internationally.

KCTCS New Horizons Conference

The Kentucky Community and Technical College system annually hosts a “New Horizons Conference” to highlight various programs and instructional topics. Our Owensboro Sister Cities Summer Study Program was presented as an example of a successful Community Partnership between the local college and Owensboro Sister Cities.

Other KCTCS institutions are encouraged to utilize our experience in designing such international summer study programs for their students. (more info. under the Summer Study entry).

Summer Planning Exchange, May 27 – June 18, 2003

Mr. Larry Mayfield, Owensboro Sister Cities Board Member and Mr. Charles Ralph, a long time supporter of our program, accompanied our Executive Director to Olomouc to visit our Olomouc friends and help establish contacts for future exchanges. This included visits to the Olomouc Rotary Club, which is our partner organization for the “Wheelchairs for Peace” program. Both Mr. Mayfield and Mr. Ralph are members of the Owensboro Rotary Club.

Owensboro Sister Cities Summer Study Program, May 37 - June 29, 2003

This higher education partnership is designed to provide a summer overseas study opportunity for our community’s students. Credit courses and instruction is supplied through Owensboro Community and Technical College. During the summer 2003 session there are twenty-five students enrolled.

Instructors were: Associate Professor Pam Wilson from Owensboro Community and Technical College and Dr. Roger Murphy of Western Kentucky University. In addition to the instructors,  Mr. Michael Middlebrooks, instructor of the Culinary Arts Program at OCTC also accompanied the students to learn of opportunities for future exchanges. In addition to their study of History, Political Science and Psychology, the students are able to travel to Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; Krakow , Poland; Bratislava, Slovakia and Prague, Czech Republic. The summer program works closely with the Olomouc secondary schools teaching the English language and provides both American and Czech students the opportunity to learn cross culturally.

2003 Summer Study Participants:

Josh Armstrong, Western Kentucky University

                        Rebecca Brown, Western Kentucky University

                        John Burke, Western Kentucky University

                        Stephen Burnette, Western Kentucky University

Michael Burrell, Western Kentucky University

Jessica Clark, Owensboro Comm. & Tech. College

Katie Chappius, Western Kentucky University

Jared Dunn, Owensboro Comm. & Tech. College

Candice Durbin, Owensboro Comm. & Tech. College

Erin Greunke, Western Kentucky University

Sarah Holley, Western Kentucky University

Jason Hodges, Western Kentucky University

Stephen Hopper, Western Kentucky University

Elizabeth McKinley, Western Kentucky University

Janie Metcalf, Western Kentucky University   

Emily Moore, Western Kentucky University

Joe Morgan, Gateway Comm. & Tech. College

Abbie Poelhuis, Valparaso University

Andrew Ratliff, Western Kentucky University

Lakeya Richie, Western Kentucky University

Audrey Roach, Owensboro Comm. & Tech. College

Valerie Shankland, Western Kentucky University

William Wilson, Western Kentucky University

Jim Winn, Western Kentucky University

Jack Wright, Western Kentucky University

 In 2003 we continued to build on our partnership with Western Kentucky University. Immediately following our Summer Study Program, students are able to take advantage of WKU’s study program going into Russia for an additional two-week stay. The WKU program is a separate program of the Department of Political Science and is planned and directed by Dr. Roger Murphy. Owensboro Sister Cities assists in the planning of this program.

General Trip Open to Interested Citizens, May 27 – June 9, 2003

While this trip took considerable planning time, we did not have a minimum number of people contact us interested in making this trip. Some of those who had previously asked for such a trip, open to the public, cited the war in Iraq and growing concerns about terrorism as the reason for not traveling during the planned time.

Czech Scout Summer Camp Staff, June 12 – July 21, 2003

This year we worked with the Shawnee Trails Council, BSA, serving 35 counties in Western Kentucky, 3 counties in Illinois and South Fulton, TN to arrange to have two Czech Scouts from the Olomouc District come and work as members of the Camp Manchester summer Scout staff. The Council normally participates in the BSA International Camp Staff Program, which seeks to allow a foreign Scout to work in an American Boy Scout Camp for the summer. Owensboro Sister Cities agreed to pay the cost of processing the Visa for a second Czech Scout so that both girls could come for the summer.  Hana Pavlu and Eva Konarova, worked as International Scout Summer Camp Staff at Camp Manchester on Kentucky Lake.

Student Summer Workers, June 20 – October 9, 2003

Two Olomouc area university students and two university students from the neighboring city of Brno came to Owensboro to work during their summer vacation. Summer employment was arranged at the Executive Inn in Owensboro.  Owensboro Sister Cities provided limited transportation,  an orientation to the city and served as a community contact. This year Robert Krenek, Jaroslav Jakubicka, Petr Krcmar, Katerina Jureov had the opportunity to improve their American English language skills, learn of American life and culture and do some traveling in the U.S. before returning to their studies in the Czech Republic.

Multicultural Festival, August 23, 2003

Owensboro Sister Cities participated, once again, in the community wide Multicultural Festival held on the grounds of First Presbyterian Church on Griffith Avenue. Our display naturally supplies information about the Czech Republic and Czech culture. Both Robin Joska and Marketa Mylkova participated in “manning” the booth, along with Sister Cities Board Members, for part of the festival time.

As native Czechs, Marketa and Robin are invaluable to aid us in encouraging our citizens to learn about our Sister City relationship. As a result of this activity and exchange publicity there is a growing public desire to have us sponsor a general public trip to our Sister City.

Governors of the Czech Republic

We were contacted by the Louisville International Visitors Center to see if Owensboro was interested in helping with one of their international exchange hosting programs due to visitors coming to Louisville were from the Czech Republic. While the Louisville schedule only allowed for our hosting the Czech government officials for one day, we believe they gained a positive impression of our city. Certainly, they are now aware of Owensboro’s official connection with Olomouc.

Unfortunately, the Olomouc region Governor came down ill before leaving to participate in this program and so he did not get to visit Owensboro.

We were honored by having Senator David Boswell, Representatives Tommy Thompson and Brian Crall, as well as, City Commissioners Davis and Mattingly join us in welcoming the Czech Governor’s delegation.

While the Czech delegation had its own interpreters, Mayor Morris pleased our Czech guests by surprising them by having Robin Joska translate his greetings.

Czech Officials:

Mr. Petr Bendl, Governor, Central Bohemia Region

Mr. Josef Pavel, Governor, Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republic                    

Mr. Milos Vystrcil, Deputy Governor, Vysocina Highlands Region

Mr. Zdislav Wantula, Deputy Governor, Moravia and Silesian Region

Mr. Petr Zimmerman, Governor, Pilsen Region

Czech Interpreters:

Mr. Michael Borek

Mr. Radovan Pletka

Louisville Visitor Program Host:

Ms. Ruth E. Meers

Czech Secondary School Exchange, September 22 – Oct. 6, 2003

Four Czech students and their English language teacher were hosted by Owensboro Sister Cities in partnership with Apollo High School. The Czech students stayed in host homes of Apollo students, some of whom are involved in the International Baccalaureate Program. The schedule for this visit can be found in the appendix.

The Czech participants were as follows. All students are students at Gymnazium Cajkovskeho of Olomouc and had been involved with our summer study program students during the previous summer.

Olomouc Students

Vit Pernicka 

Martin Ivan

Veronika Hockova

Martina Hrabcikova

 Teacher

Ms. Eva Gabrielova

Kentucky League of Cities, October 1 – 3, 2003

The Kentucky League of Cities again promoted having Kentucky cities become members of Sister Cities International and begin community relationships with other countries. The Owensboro Sister Cities Executive Director presented the concept and acted as a resource to get any interested cities started in the program. The booth set up at the conference promoted the Owensboro – Olomouc Sister City Program.

December Planning Trip, Dec. 11 – 18, 2003

Annually the executive Director travels to Olomouc just previous to Christmas to make arrangements for the following year’s exchanges and most importantly confirm arrangements while making deposits for the Summer Study Program. As usual, this is a rushed trip and in addition to making the required deposits, meetings where held with several groups or individuals having to do with the upcoming exchanges or preliminary planning for proposed future exchanges.

Planning for 2004:

At present, we have the following events and exchanges planned for 2004.

Olomouc Mayoral Delegation, April 17 - 25, 2004

Mayor Martin Tesarik will lead a delegation of six people to Owensboro in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the Owensboro – Olomouc Sister City relationship. Participating in the exchange will be:

Deputy Mayor Martin Novotny - responsible for economy

Councillor Petr Konecny - a lawyer, keen on soccer

Marek Lach - Member of the city assembly, he is in the construction industry

Ms Jana Schwarzova - Member of the city assembly, assistant to an MP

Ms Yvona Kubjatova - Member of the city assembly, a social worker at Olomouc City Hall

Ms. Silvie Malinovska - Translator and Olomouc City Hall International Department liaison to Owensboro Sister Cities

Olomouc Student Summer Workers

The Executive Inn of Owensboro has again agreed to supply up to four summer positions for hotel “utility workers”. The students are to be assigned to work in any operation of the hotel where their labor is required. Student workers make application through a Czech agency approved to process the “Work USA” Visa. We fill out the form guaranteeing a position in Owensboro and provide an orientation to the city.

Czech Scout Exchange, June 23 – July 18, 2004

Continuing the Czech Scout Exchanges begun in 2000, we will again host Scouts of the Olomouc District. Eleven Scouts and their leaders are scheduled to be hosted between June 23 and July 18, 2004. Plans call for home stays in Owensboro Scout host families, a week of summer camp on Kentucky Lake and then touring around Kentucky. Four Scout Councils are supporting this exchange.

Summer Study Program, May 27 – June 29

The Owensboro Sister Cities sponsors the Summer Study Program in Olomouc, scheduled for May 27 – June 29, 2004. Arrangements have been made for the students to be housed at the Hotel Gol in Olomouc. Study travel is scheduled again for Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; Krakow, Poland; Bratislava, Slovakia and the final three nights of their stay will be spent in Prague, Czech Republic.

Western Kentucky University will again offer an added excursion into Russia following the conclusion of our program on June 29th. The extension covers two weeks and allows students to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg. Students can also earn college credit for participating in this opportunity.

Wheelchairs for Peace, continues

Owensboro Sister Cities Vice President, Pam Wilson is directing this project, which was presented to the Owensboro Sister Cities Board of Directors in 2003. She has limited success in raising the $18,000.00 necessary to send a container of wheelchairs to Olomouc region citizens in need of these chairs.

Multicultural Festival, August

We plan to continue to participate in the annual Multicultural Festival in order to educate our community about our Sister City relationship and encourage international education.

Kentucky League of Cities, October 3 – 5

We plan to continue to participate in this annual conference of Kentucky cities. The purpose is both to encourage more international connections throughout Kentucky and to have the opportunity to highlight Owensboro’s premier ongoing official international link.

Library Exchange

At a meeting in December 2003, the Executive Director met with the Olomouc Regional library. They requested a continued opportunity to have exchanges with the Daviess County Library. No definite proposal has been put forth at this time.

There will, no doubt, be more activities as the year progresses. This activity projection should not be seen as a comprehensive listing.

BACK