At the tail end of a five-day delegation trip to Mexico, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Chihuahua Mayor Marco Bonilla signed an agreement to establish a sibling-esque partnership between the two North American cities.
The partnership is intended to promote an exchange of ideas, public policies and support in the development of Aurora and Chihuahua. City sisterhood has been around since President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded the Sister Cities International nonpartisan, nonprofit in 1956 as a way to unite global leaders and resources across the world.
In an opportunity to promote economic and cultural cooperation, Coffman and a team of city leaders, business leaders and members of the Aurora-Mexico sister city working group met with Chihuahua's mayor, representatives of local chambers of commerce and the state tourism industry. They also toured and met with representatives of Chihuahua's Ford Motor Company engine plant, automotive manufacturer Fawn Mexico and an aerospace production facility.
Efforts to establish city sisterhood with the Mexican city began in the summer of 2022 that led to the formation of the Mexico Working Group chaired by Ana Valles under Aurora Sister Cities International.
Aurora's City Council approved the initiative back in March with some pushback by conservative council members Francoise Bergan and Danielle Jurinsky. Despite the concerns, Mayor Coffman saw this partnership as an opportunity to recognize the sprawling Mexican community living in Aurora.
"This sisterhood between our cities is very important to me," Coffman said in a press release. "Beyond the economic, cultural, or trade and business development benefits that may arise from this relationship, it was vital to me that a sister city be established in Mexico, the country where most of our immigrant residents come from, and specifically within Mexico, in Chihuahua."
This is not Chihuahua's first partnership with a city in Colorado.
Pueblo has held an 18-year relationship with the Mexican city that had led to exchange efforts in sports, education and performing arts industries.
For nearly a decade students in Chihuahua and Pueblo have participated in a student exchange program between CBTis 122 and Colegios de Bachilleres in Chihuahua and Centennial, Central, East and South High Schools in Pueblo.
Additionally, faculty members from Colorado State University-Pueblo, Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua and Universidad Regional Del Norte have lectured on each other's campuses. Dr. Jacob Chi, professor and director of the Pueblo Symphony Orchestra, conducted the Chihuahua Symphony Orchestra and served as the artistic and music director of the Chihuahua State Philharmonic from 2005 to 2007.
Pueblo and Chihuahua have hosted athletes who participate in city marathons, exchanged police officers and firefighters for brief periods and donated statues, fire trucks and medical supplies over the years.
Chihuahua joins a short list of cities that Aurora has historically partnered with. Denver partners with 10 of its own.
Adding Mexico to the lineup, Aurora maintains sisterhoods and friendships with Adama, Ethiopia; Ilopango, El Salvador; Jaco, Costa Rica; Zielona Gora, Poland; and Seongnam City, South Korea.
Denver has also been an active participant in efforts of city sisterhood, currently partnering with 10 cities across the globe in countries such as Ethiopia, France, India, Israel, China, Kenya, Italy, Japan, Mongolia and Mexico (all of which have a city park named after them).
The Aurora-Mexico Sister City Committee meets every third Tuesday of the month at the Aurora Central Library with their next, and first meeting since the agreement became official, being scheduled for Dec. 19.
