From Exclusion to Inclusion:
Rethinking Infrastructure to Bridge Baltimore’s Divides

Location: 1100 Wicomico Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
Symposium: October 10, 8:30am-5:30pm, followed by a networking reception 5:30-7pm
Symposium info & tickets: Event page (Advance registration required)
Companion exhibits: October 7–15, 2019 | Open weekdays 9am-5pm (Free & open to the public)
Exhibits info: Exhibits page

A one-day symposium in Pigtown, that traces the impact of policies and design practices that reinforced segregation and disparity in Baltimore — focusing on infrastructure like roads, streetscape, and transit — and envisions a better way forward for the MLK, Jr. Boulevard corridor.

Several companion exhibits will be on display October 7-15 in the same building:

• Undesign the Redline by Designing the WE
• JUST Baltimore + JUST Rotterdam — Graduate student work from Spring 2019 studio by Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design (RAvB) and Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning (MSU SA+P), centered on the neighborhoods of Hillesluis in Rotterdam and Pigtown in Baltimore.
• International PARK(ing) DAY Designs — MSU SA+P student designs for an installation near MLK Boulevard

This event is part of AIA Baltimore’s Architecture Month.

Sponsor this event! Sponsorship opportunities (PDF)

Organized by Cristina Murphy, Assistant Professor, Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning (MSU SA+P) & Co-founder XCOOP; with assistance from Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee (BRSCC).

In the January 10, 2020 annual membership meeting of Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc., (BSC, Inc.) the following items will be submitted for approval by the BSC, Inc. membership (members of BSC board and the constituent sister city committees). The information has been posted on this webpage so that members have a chance to review it before the January 10, 2020 meeting.

A. 2019 ACCOMPLISHMENTS REPORT

(for BSC-level activities and activities for the constituent sister city committees)

View proposed 2019 Accomplishments Report (PDF, 3mb)

PDF last updated: 2020-01-06 10:00pm ET

B. 2020 PLAN

(for BSC-level activities and activities for the constituent sister city committees)

View proposed 2020 Plan (PDF, 1.4mb)

PDF last updated: Content updated 2020-01-06 10:00pm ET; date inside the PDF’s footer updated 2020-01-15 9:00pm.

C. AMENDMENTS TO OUR BYLAWS

The BSC, Inc. Board is submitting for approval by the membership 3 amendments to the Bylaws that will help the organization function more smoothly and efficiently:

1. AMENDMENT TO THE MISSION STATEMENT

Introduction to 1st amendment: This amendment adds a point of emphasis to the Mission Statement expressing that the activities that support the relationships with international sister cities are managed by the constituent Sister City Committees rather than by the Corporation, its board, or its officers.

Text for the amendment:

BE IT RESOLVED, that Article 1.3 of the Bylaws of Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. is hereby amended by inserting the italicized and underlined text, as follows.

ARTICLE 1.3. Mission Statement. Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. (“BSC, Inc.”) is a non-profit, volunteer organization that aims to promote mutual economic development, educational, cultural, health/environmental and other cooperation and exchanges between Baltimore City, Maryland, (“City”) and its international Sister Cities. BSC, Inc., is composed of Sister City Committees dedicated to managing these relationships. BSC, Inc. activities are designed to benefit the City, its residents and the business community by supporting the Mayoral Initiatives of the City and the goals of the Sister Cities International organization.

2. AMENDMENT TO ALLOW FOR ALTERNATE REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARD

Introduction to 2nd amendment: This amendment addresses the difficulty of obtaining a quorum of 50% of the voting Board members at each Board meeting of the Corporation (the 50% quorum is required by our bylaws).  The option of voting by proxy, introduced by amendment in 2018, is effective for general membership meetings, but can only be used for votes that have been announced ahead of time, and is thus not effective for most Board decisions. Therefore Article 4 is amended by adding an exception to the last sentence of section 4.3 and inserting a new section 4.4.

This new section allows for the approval of alternate representatives to the Board, but only by Board decision, and effective only for future Board meetings. i.e., not during the meeting where the vote is taken. 

Text for the amendment:

BE IT RESOLVED, that the bylaws of Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. are hereby amended by modifying the last sentence of Article 4.3, by inserting the italicized and underlined text, and by inserting a new Article 4.4 to read in its entirety as follows. Subsequent sections of Article 4 will be renumbered accordingly.

ARTICLE 4.3. Composition. The Board shall be composed of one Director representing each Sister City Committee, two Mayoral appointees, one of whom shall be the Sister Cities Liaison from the Office of the Mayor, one Director representing the Baltimore Development Corporation, one Director representing the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, and such other Directors as the board shall resolve to invite as representatives of other constituencies, such as organizations whose goals and activities can further the mission of BSC, Inc. All Directors will have voting rights in Board decisions. Each Associate Sister City Committee, as defined in Art. 6.2, will be entitled to designate a non-voting observer to the Board. The board may co-opt individual members of BSC, Inc., as non-voting observers, for a renewable one-year term. The composition of the Board of Directors shall reflect the diversity of the community being served, taking into account race, gender, economic status, age and other factors. Directors shall serve in a fiduciary capacity, and may not use proxies from their constituency to attend meetings or vote on issues in front of the Board, except as set forth in Article 4.4.

ARTICLE 4.4. Alternate Board members. If a constituency anticipates that its Director may not be able to attend all scheduled Board meetings during his/her tenure, it can request Board approval for an alternate Director to attend, with full voting rights, future meetings that its Director is unable to attend. Only one alternate can be designated by each constituency at any given time, and approval of an alternate Director can only be granted by a vote of the Board present at any meeting at which there is a quorum.

3. AMENDMENT RELATED TO THE DATE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING

Introduction to 3rd amendment: This amendment addresses the possibility that it may not always be feasible to hold the Annual Meeting of the membership in the month of January.  If the board foresees, in any given year, that it will be impractical to hold the meeting in January, it can postpone the meeting date by up to one month.  The decision to do so, and publication of the new date, have to occur no later than December 1 preceding the meeting date. 

Text for the amendment:

BE IT RESOLVED, that the bylaws of Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. are hereby amended by modifying Article 8.1.a, by inserting the italicized and underlined text, as follows.

ARTICLE 8.1.a. Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting of the membership will be held in the month of January, but can be postponed by up to one month by a vote of the Board present at any meeting at which there is a quorum. A decision to postpone the Annual Meeting has to be made and publicized no later than December 1st preceding the meeting. At the Annual Meeting the members will approve a report to the City summarizing the previous calendar year’s activities of the Corporation and approve a plan to be submitted to the City describing the proposed activities of the Corporation for the current calendar year. This meeting is to be the transition from the previous Board to the new Board. There will be a formal installation of the new Directors presided over by the President.
Nominations of Directors and Chairs of Sister City Committees and Associate Sister City Committees for the coming year will be made at a regularly scheduled Board meeting held no less than twenty-eight (28) days prior to the Annual Meeting. Nominations will be submitted to the Board Nominating Committee.

D. Board Elections

Below is the list of nominees. These nominations were made by the sister city committees and other organizations represented on our BSC, Inc. board. Opposing nominations, if desired, can be made at the January 10, 2020 annual meeting.

Directors of the Board

BSC	BCSCC Representative: Jin Dong Park *
	BGSCC Representative: Tambi Taylor
	BKSCC Representative: Kathleen Shiota
	BLASCC Representative: Tharwat Abouraya *
	BPSCC Representative: Diane Homberg
	BRSCC Representative: Gary Davison
	BXSCC Representative: Xin (Cindy) Wang
BDC	Larry Collins
BOPA	Shelia Goodwin
Mayor’s Office	Geri Byrd
MIMA	Catalina Rodriguez-Lima

* Persons with an asterisk are in the middle of their board term and therefore not up for reelection this year.

Sister City Committee Chairs

BCSCC	Michelle Lee
BGSCC	Tambi Taylor
BKSCC	Yoshinobu Shiota
BLASCC	Tharwat Abouraya
BPSCC	Diane Homberg
BRSCC	Rachel Sengers
BXSCC	Xin (Cindy) Wang

Note: Non-voting board members (Currently those are William Fontaine Bell, Hosea Chew, John “Chip” Graber, Will Hug, Karina Mandell, Federico Manno, and Nancy Taylor) do not represent organizations that are spelled out in BSC’s bylaws. The only way to bring them on as Directors is for the board to co-opt them; they cannot be brought on through our elections. Therefore they are not included in the list above for the January 10, 2020 meeting.

Also note that BSC Officer positions are elected in the BSC Board meeting that follows the annual membership meeting. That board meeting takes place on January 29, 2020. Currently, only the Chair position is up for election. The Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary positions expire in January 2021.

Date: Friday, May 31, 2019
Time: 5-9pm
Location: Brown Center, Maryland Institute College of Art, 1301 West Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217
Admission: Free (advance registration required)
Features: Music and dance performances; calligraphy, Asian food, and talks by leaders from the community. It will celebrate the commonality of the strong traditions of the drum in Asian and African cultures.
Hosted by our Korean, Chinese, and Japanese sister city committees.

More info and to register: apahm-event-2019.eventbrite.com

SISTER CITIES ANIMATED is an international screening of short animated films created by artists working and/or residing in Baltimore and in Baltimore’s Sister Cities, curated by award-winning animator and animation scholar Lynn Tomlinson, with help from assistant curator Safiyah Cheatam.

Date: Friday, April 5, 2019
Time: 1:00 – 2:50pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Baltimore, MD 21250. The building is located on Hilltop Circle near the intersection with Hilltop Road. Campus map | Directions & parking
Admission: Free. Limited seating (first come first served)

About the films

Films in the 2019 screening have been made in or have a close connection to these participating sister cities:

• Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Alexandria, Egypt
• Piraeus, Greece
• Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Xiamen, China

Format & themes: independent artist-directed or student-created short films, created in any type or style or technique of animation, including hand-drawn, stop-motion, under-the-camera, experimental processes, digital 2D or 3D animation, or any combination of these. The curators are especially interested in films with innovative artistic approaches and environmental and socially relevant themes that fit the Sister Cities’ mission to “promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation — one individual, one community at a time.”

About the organizers

CURATOR: Lynn Tomlinson is an artist and independent animator and Assistant Professor of Electronic Media and Film at Towson University. Tomlinson is a well established multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker, specializing in clay-on-glass animation. Her films have been exhibited in over 30 international festivals and has been shown in several prominent galleries and museums. She is a recipient of many festival awards and artist state artist fellowships. More at lynntomlinson.com.

ASSISTANT CURATOR: Safiyah Cheatam is an multidisciplinary artist and current graduate student in the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Intermedia and Digital Arts MFA program. She has spent many years as a teaching artist instructing media arts in non-profit spaces. She plans to continue in research and community arts by becoming involved in educational programming in museums and local non-profits. More at safiyahcheatam.com

UPDATE FEB 11, 1:30pm: The event will proceed as scheduled this evening, regardless of the weather.

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SISTER CITIES ANIMATED is an international screening of short animated films created by artists working and/or residing in Baltimore and in Baltimore’s Sister Cities, curated by award-winning animator and animation scholar Lynn Tomlinson, with help from assistant curator Safiyah Cheatam. This will be a one-night event on February 11, held at Baltimore’s beautifully restored historic Parkway Theatre.

Date: Monday, February 11, 2019
Time: 7 – 8:30pm
Location: Parkway Theatre, 5 West North Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Admission:
$10 General admission
$8 Maryland Film Festival members
$5 Students (with valid student ID)
Tickets are available for purchase at the event.

About the films

Films in the 2019 screening have been made in or have a close connection to these participating sister cities:

• Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Alexandria, Egypt
• Piraeus, Greece
• Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Xiamen, China

Format & themes: independent artist-directed or student-created short films, created in any type or style or technique of animation, including hand-drawn, stop-motion, under-the-camera, experimental processes, digital 2D or 3D animation, or any combination of these. The curators are especially interested in films with innovative artistic approaches and environmental and socially relevant themes that fit the Sister Cities’ mission to “promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation — one individual, one community at a time.”

For more information

• Visit the curator’s statement and filmmaker submission guidelines on the Parkway Theatre site: filmfreeway.com/SisterCitiesAnimated
• About the Parkway Theatre and parking: mdfilmfest.com/visit/
• Sister City Animated is a special edition of the ongoing Sweaty Eyeballs animation series at Parkway Theatre: sweatyeyeballs.com

Help spread the word! Share our image/flyer and our Facebook event page

About the organizers

CURATOR: Lynn Tomlinson is an artist and independent animator and Assistant Professor of Electronic Media and Film at Towson University. Tomlinson is a well established multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker, specializing in clay-on-glass animation. Her films have been exhibited in over 30 international festivals and has been shown in several prominent galleries and museums. She is a recipient of many festival awards and artist state artist fellowships. More at lynntomlinson.com.

ASSISTANT CURATOR: Safiyah Cheatam is an multidisciplinary artist and current graduate student in the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Intermedia and Digital Arts MFA program. She has spent many years as a teaching artist instructing media arts in non-profit spaces. She plans to continue in research and community arts by becoming involved in educational programming in museums and local non-profits. More at safiyahcheatam.com

SISTER CITIES ANIMATED will be presented as part of the Sweaty Eyeballs series, curated by Phil Davis, Associate Professor of Art at Towson University. Since 2012, Sweaty Eyeballs’ animation screenings have attracted viewers from all over Baltimore, MD including artists, critics, and art consumers from local universities such as Towson University, Maryland Institute College of Art, UMBC, etc. and art institutions such as the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Maryland Film Festival (MdFF). These screenings are now featured as a monthly events at the MdFF’s Parkway Theatre in Baltimore’s high-traffic Station North Arts District.

Date: Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 10:00am
Location: Port Discovery Children’s Museum, 35 Market Place, Baltimore Maryland, 21202
Admission: There is an admission fee for the museum

Celebrate the Year of the Pig as Port Discovery celebrates the Chinese New Year! Visitors of all backgrounds will learn, experience, and participate in traditions surrounding the Chinese New Year celebration. This annual event is co-organized by Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee.

Date: Friday, April 26, 2019
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Location: Montgomery College, Germantown
Admission: $40 regular fee; $25 member fee for attendees of MIEC member institutions and affiliates. (Baltimore Sister Cities is a MIEC affiliate, so board members and committee members qualify for the $25 member fee)

More info & to register: www.mdiec.org/developing-globally-competent-students-conference

About the conference

Maryland International Education Consortium (MIEC) is hosting a one day conference focused on “Developing Globally Competent Students” and the benefit of hiring globally competent employees in the Maryland workforce and beyond.

Highlights of the conference include:

• 24 presentations offered in 4 sessions by industry experts sharing research and practical knowledge on developing and assessing the soft skills needed for success in a global workforce
• Opportunity for free personal assessment of global and intercultural competency
• Networking opportunities with international educators, Maryland governmental connections and industry partners
• Luncheon Plenary: Tim Bradley, Minister-Counsellor of Industry, Science and Education in the Embassy of Australia focusing on the value and promotion of global competency as an economic engine
• Keynote Speaker: Christi Hunter, President of Global Competence Associates focusing on research defining and evaluating global competency

We held our annual meeting and holiday party at Baltimore City Hall on January 11, 2019. We had fun looking back on a great year of accomplishments with our members and friends!

Rotterdam, the Netherlands and Baltimore, Maryland have a sister city relationship since 1985. Both cities have many similarities, like their proximity to the coast, a large port, and the need to make the city climate-proof. As flood resiliency is a problem that cannot be tackled at the city level alone, planning in both Baltimore and Rotterdam is intertwined with regional resiliency strategies in Maryland and the Netherlands respectively.

A delegation of researchers, government officials, and businesses from the Netherlands, led by the city of Rotterdam, visits Baltimore in late March 2019. The Netherlands and the Maryland region will exchange best practices and challenges with regards to the role of flood resilience in adapting their cities to climate change. Additional focus is on how technology can contribute to making cities more resilient.

On March 29, there is a one-day invitation-only workshop on board of the historic Dutch clipper ship “Stad Amsterdam” in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor where Dutch and American flood management experts from the public and private sectors will meet to discuss challenges and solutions.

• Specific focus will be on initiatives regarding the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore city & port, and Annapolis. A number of Dutch experts will highlight present day resilience strategies in the Netherlands. Building on efforts already undertaken by various government agencies and parties in Maryland, the workshop will discuss a number of regional cases in Maryland. Workshop participants will be split up into 4 teams to discuss those cases.
• The event provides the opportunity to gather with leaders of the regional water resilience community, and share knowledge, ideas and best practices with local and international experts, e.g. on multiple benefit solutions, risk-benefit considerations and nature based approaches. As smart city applications are a subtheme of the program, the use of IT in flood resilience will be touched upon as well.
• Maryland Secretary of Environment Ben Grumbles and Ambassador of the Netherlands to the USA H. J. Schuwer will provide opening remarks.
• Rob Schmidt, Rotterdam’s Program Manager for Smart City and Digital Economy, and Ethan Cohen, Senior Project Coordinator, Strategic Alliances, Office of Mayor Catherine Pugh will welcome the workshop participants.

ATTENDEES

Local participants are expected to include reps from: Maryland Department of Environment, Maryland Department of National Resources, Maryland Port Administration, Maryland Department of Commerce, Maryland Emergency Management Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore Office of the Mayor, Baltimore Department of Public Works, Baltimore Office of Sustainability, Annapolis Office of Emergency Management, Annapolis Public Works, U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, local universities, relevant NGOs, and local businesses.

Dutch participants are expected to include reps from: Rijkswaterstaat (Delta Program – Rotterdam region), Rotterdam city government, Rotterdam Partners, Deltares (applied research institute for water and subsurface), Netherlands Embassy (reps from Ministry for Infrastructure and Water Management), Arcadis, IMG Rebel, Metropolder, One Architecture & Urbanism, Sempergreen/MoeringUSA, Strateq, and West 8.

ABOUT THE DELEGATION

The Baltimore event is part of a 4-city Smart Cities Dutch Clipper Tour in March & April 2019. More info: & en.rotterdampartners.nl/trade-mission-united-states

These events are a lead-up to the Smart Cities summit in New York City on May 13-15, 2019.

BACKGROUND

The city of Rotterdam and the Netherlands are world leaders in water management and flood resiliency. For more information about the Netherlands water expertise:

• Overview on NLintheUSA website
  
• New York Times: The Dutch Have Solutions to Rising Seas
  
• CBS “60 Minutes” TV segment: Lessons from Holland on fighting rising sea levels
  

Rotterdam is a member of 100RC (100 Resilient Cities) network and home of the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation, and the Global Commission on Adaptation.

EVENT ORGANIZERS

IN COOPERATION WITH

ABOUT THE SHIP

The “Stad Amsterdam” is a superb replica of a 19th century Dutch clipper ship. Although the ship is not open to the public, the public is welcome to walk by to view the ship when it is moored in the Baltimore Inner Harbor from approx March 28 to April 3.

More about the ship: stadamsterdam.com

Join Baltimore Sister Cities at the annual Global Gala, held by the World Trade Center Institute!

Date: Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 3:30-7pm
Location: Columbus Center (IMET), 701 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
Admission: Buy tickets on the WTCI site

About this event

Maryland Global Gala is an annual celebration of Maryland’s role as a center for global culture, food, and commerce, brings together our vibrant international community to connect, exchange ideas, sample food and drinks from Baltimore’s top international restaurants and breweries, and experience multicultural entertainment. . The event is hosted by World Trade Center Institute (WTCI).

Baltimore Sister Cities will have a booth at this event featuring Japanese tea tasting. Stop by and say hi!

Program

3:30 – Two Breakout Sessions:

1. Innovations in Sustainable Aquaculture
2. Baltimore as an International Hub of Social Good

4:30 – International Receptions featuring the area’s top international restaurants and Maryland’s best beers

6:00 – Cultural Performance Showcase

More information and registration

WTCI Global Gala