Sister Cities Commission

SISTER CITIES COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2026 AL LARSON PRAIRIE CENTER FOR THE ARTS / CONFERENCE ROOM A NOTES MEMBERS PRESENT: Caren Chisesi Tom LaMantia Kazuko Mino Annie Miskewitch Kiran Nuthulapaty Suzanne Poeschel Bob Schmidt Jose Skrobot Ally Zinck MEMBERS ABSENT: Vandana Jhingan Neil Khot STAFF PRESENT: Tiana Weiler, Director of Cultural Services Katie Langston, Assistant Event Coordinator CALL TO ORDER: Suzanne Poeschel called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made by Kiran Nuthulapaty to approve the Sister Cities Meeting Minutes from February 10, 2026. Tom LaMantia seconded. MOTION CARRIED. NEW BUSINESS: A. Germany Subcommittee Report - SDAG visit to Schaumburg, IL No report. Ms. Poeschel reminded committee members to express their interest in visitation dates between November 20 to December 24. If there is no interest during this time frame, then other dates may need to be considered. Dr. Steinbeck would still like to have three Germany mayors visit in October. Ms. Poeschel also reported Dr. Steinbeck has offered us “Tracht Cultural Dresses” from Germany to display at Spring Valley. Bob Schmidt will check with Spring Valley to see if this is something they could display. Caren Chisesi will follow up with Dr. Steinbeck to see if we can get more information about the dresses for display purposes. B. Japan Subcommittee Report No report. Ms. Mino reported that she talked with Mr. Niwa about having a group of 20 people to visit in late April or early May. Mr. Niwa said we could have 20 people visit, but we will need to find accommodation in the nearby city of Toyama as Namerikawa is too small. Ms. Weiler and Ms. Poeschel talked with a travel agent from JTB USA Inc, and the agent is very familiar with the Toyama area and suggested a 7-to-10-day trip. The travel agent also advised us to not travel between April 28 to May 5 as it is the “Golden Week” in  Japan and many businesses may be closed. Ms. Mino will work with Ms. Weiler to coordinate a call with Mr. Niwa and our travel agent to discuss further details. C. South Asia Subcommittee Report No report. Ms. Weiler reported that Trustee Patel was able to provide Ms. Jhingan with the Vadodara leadership’s contact email to coordinate a possible time to meet during her visit. Ms. Jhingan will follow up at the April meeting. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: CONTINUING ITEMS: 1. Sister City Facebook Page Ms. Weiler was able to get good photos of Ms. Poeschel presenting at the Northwest Women’s Club event hosted at the Schaumburg Library. These photos were shared on the Sister Cities Facebook page. Jose Skrobot reported that he will be posting information about the Scholarship to the Facebook page. Tom LaMantia reported that he found a few CDs with pictures from the 2003 Germany exchange trip and will send any good pictures to Jose to post on Facebook. Ally Zinck suggested we do a post about Japan Golden Week. 2. Proposal for Use of Sister City Funds Mr. Skrobot will be reaching out to D211 Foundation President to see if he can help with advertisement for Sister Cities Scholarship. Kiran Nuthulapaty suggested that we leave flyers at Dooley to promote the Scholarship as well. The Scholarship will be extended to April 30 to gather more applications. Discussions were had about potential fundraising ideas. Annie Miskewitch mentioned that the library can assist in coordinating any future programs that we would be interested in having. Ms. Weiler said she would ask if Sister Cities could have an information booth at Schaumburg’s Farmer’s Market. 3. Brochure Ms. Zinck brought in a completed Brochure for the committee to review. The new brochure has been approved, and Ms. Zinck will pass along digital copies to Ms. Weiler and Ms. Langston to print. Kiran Nuthulapaty would like to have a stack of brochures to bring to Dooley by the Japanese Cultural Night on April 24. DEFERRALS: No deferrals. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: No Comments. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made at 6:17 pm by Tom LaMantia to adjourn. Jose Skrobot seconded. MOTION CARRIED. NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 5:30 pm