Have You Contacted Your City Council Member Yet?

Last week we asked you to connect with your City Council member. This week, we’re giving you something to talk about.

Last week, we asked: Do you know your Denver City Council member? We shared their contact information and talked about why those local relationships matter to Denver Sister Cities International.

Now we have another question: Have you contacted yours?

If not, perhaps we made it too complicated. You don’t need to explain everything DSCI does or make a formal presentation. Just tell them your story.

DSCI is really a collection of stories

For decades, Denver residents have built friendships around the world by hosting exchange students, welcoming delegations, opening their homes, organizing cultural events, traveling to our Sister Cities and forming friendships that sometimes last a lifetime.

Some of our members have been doing this work for decades. Jim Wagenlander and Myrna Ann Adkins have a long history with Mongolia and Denver’s relationship with Ulaanbaatar. Susan Weller has spent more than 17 years involved with DSCI, first through Mongolia and later Takayama. Judy Constantine and Jeanie Johnson have helped sustain our Kunming relationship, including this year’s 40th anniversary celebration. Linda Dee, Purnima Voira and Kitty Comstock also represent years of DSCI history, along with Fred Kaplan, James Aubrey, Susy Osorio Kinsky, Pietro Simonetti and many others.

We’re also seeing new people step forward. Emmett Kaplan jumped into the Kunming anniversary effort and helped with sponsorship outreach, while Jory Zhang helped welcome the delegation and participated in several activities. Anissa Madrill, our new Potenza Committee Vice-Chair, represented DSCI at Italian Heritage Day and collected 32 expressions of interest from people who want to become more involved. RJ Fernandez, Michael Frank, Greg Ursetta and Paige Yungstrom have helped bring the Denver–Potenza relationship to life through cultural celebrations, community outreach and the enormously successful Farm-to-Table Dinner. In Takayama, Jonathan, Kevin and Chihiro are bringing energy to community activities, City of Takayama Park and the upcoming exchange with Japan.

Whether you’ve been involved for 30 years or three months, you have a DSCI story.

What could you share?

Maybe you attended the Potenza Farm-to-Table Dinner, celebrated Ashenda, welcomed the Kunming delegation, became involved with Dnipro, participated in a Takayama exchange, traveled to Ulaanbaatar or visited one of Denver’s Sister City parks.

Share a photograph and explain what was happening. Tell your council member about someone you met, a visitor your family hosted, a trip you took, a committee you joined or a friendship that lasted.

It can be as simple as: “I’ve been involved with Denver Sister Cities for ___ years, and here’s why it matters to me.”

Why we’re asking now

Due to City budget reductions, Denver Sister Cities International received no City funding in 2026 and will receive no City funding in 2027. Yet our volunteers kept going—welcoming delegations, organizing cultural programs, maintaining international relationships and creating new ones.

We’re not asking you to send your council member a funding request. We’re asking you to help Denver’s leaders see DSCI through the eyes of the residents who make it happen.

Here’s your challenge

Find one photograph. Write three or four sentences. Send them to your City Council member.

You might begin:

Hello Councilmember ______,

I’m one of your constituents and I’m involved with Denver Sister Cities International. I thought you might enjoy seeing one example of what Denver’s international relationships look like in our community.

I’d like to tell you about…

I hope we’ll have an opportunity to welcome you to a Denver Sister Cities event sometime soon.

One photograph. One story. One connection.

Ready? We made it easy. Like, really, really easy.

Find your council member below and just click their email address. The email will open with their name, a subject line and the beginning paragraph of an email already filled in. You add the story.

Longtime members—we want to hear from you too

Much of DSCI’s history lives in people’s memories, photographs, boxes and scrapbooks. If you’ve been involved for years, tell us what you remember. What was your first exchange? Who did you meet? What delegation still stands out? What friendship lasted?

Your story is part of Denver’s story.

And if you’re new to DSCI…

Maybe you don’t have a 20-year Sister Cities story yet. Come make one. Become a member, join a committee, attend an event, welcome a visitor or travel with a delegation.

Citizen diplomacy can sound like a big idea, but it is built in small ways: one visitor, one dinner, one student, one trip, one photograph and one friendship.

And now, perhaps, one email to your City Council member. Tell them your story—and then tell us, too.