Lafayette's Historic Sister City Partnership with Iquitos, Peru

Bridging Two Worlds: A Journey of Connection, Youth Empowerment, and Global Citizenship.

Lafayette, Colorado—a community of 30,000—has taken a bold step toward building bridges across continents. The city's Sister City Partnership with Iquitos, Peru, represents something far more significant than a ceremonial agreement. It's a commitment to our youth, to global understanding, and to the transformative power of cross-cultural connection.

Lafayette and Iquitos could hardly seem more different at first glance. Lafayette sits in Boulder County, where the prairie meets the mountains. Iquitos, meanwhile, is the largest city in the world that can only be reached by air or water—a vibrant metropolis of over half a million people nestled deep in the Peruvian Amazon, where the jungle meets the mighty Amazon River. Yet these differences make this partnership extraordinarily powerful. Where Lafayette students can teach about sustainability in a mountain ecosystem, Iquitos students can share lessons learned from life in the world's most biodiverse rainforest. Where Lafayette's tech-savvy generation can offer digital literacy, Iquitos youth can demonstrate resilience and creativity born from unique challenges. This is mutual enrichment.

THE Road TO Partnership

The journey toward this historic partnership began taking shape in early 2025, championed by the nonprofit organization One Voice for Change and its Executive Director, Felicity Muench. At the Lafayette City Council meeting on June 17, 2025, Felicity presented a compelling vision: connecting Lafayette's youth with their peers in Peru through educational exchanges and collaborative projects that would foster global citizenship.

The response from council members was immediate and enthusiastic. Councilor Gallegos highlighted the partnership's potential, envisioning students engaging in joint projects and sharing cultural experiences through virtual meetings—creating connections that transcend geographic boundaries.

What made this initiative particularly appealing was its grassroots, volunteer-driven approach. Operating through One Voice for Change, the partnership would require minimal city resources, primarily staff coordination time. This sustainable model ensures the partnership can focus on what truly matters: creating meaningful experiences for young people on both sides of the equator.

By June 2025, the council had reached consensus to initiate a formal proclamation, setting in motion the wheels that would lead to this groundbreaking partnership. If completed, Iquitos would become Lafayette's first-ever sister city—a milestone in the community's 135-year history.

Why This Matters Now

In an increasingly interconnected world, the ability to understand, empathize with, and collaborate across cultures isn't just valuable—it's essential. This partnership offers Lafayette's youth something that can't be learned from textbooks: the lived experience of building relationships across vast differences in geography, language, and life circumstances.

Consider the educational possibilities:

• Language learning that goes beyond vocabulary to cultural fluency

• Environmental science projects using CubeSats to study water and air pollution.

• Arts and cultural exchanges that celebrate both Andean and American traditions in music, art, and dance.

• Problem-solving collaborations where students tackle shared challenges, such as sustainability and community development.

• Teacher and student exchanges for professional development and global learning programs.

• Virtual classroom partnerships that make global citizenship tangible and personal.

For students in Iquitos, this partnership opens doors to educational resources and global perspectives that can be challenging to access in the remote Amazon. For Lafayette students, it offers the irreplaceable gift of understanding that the world is both vast and intimately connected.

How You Can Make a Difference

Our Sister City Partnership thrives on Community support. Here's how donors and community members can contribute:

Direct Support for Educational Exchanges

Your donations can fund:

• English learning programs for Peruvian teachers and students, collaborating with ESL teachers in Lafayette and the University of Colorado, Boulder

• Arts and collaborative music programs to foster cultural understanding and creative expression.

• Developing programs that use songs to teach English.

• Educational materials and supplies for joint projects

• Scholarships for student travel when in-person exchanges become possible

• Collaborative Science projects between high schools in both cities.

One Voice for Change operates on a volunteer basis. Professionals in education, technology, translation, and cultural programming can offer invaluable support. Spanish speakers, educators, and those with international experience are particularly needed.

Participate in Cultural Events

As the partnership develops, Lafayette will host cultural events celebrating Peruvian heritage, arts, and traditions. Attending these events and bringing your family helps build community awareness and shows our Iquitos partners that Lafayette is genuinely invested in this relationship.

Connect Schools and Classrooms

Teachers and school administrators can reach out to explore how their classrooms might participate in exchange programs and joint projects.

A Vision for the Future

This partnership represents Lafayette's evolution as a global community. In a world often divided by borders and differences, sister city relationships remind us of our shared humanity. They show our children that the world is larger and more wonderful than they imagined, while simultaneously demonstrating that they have the power to make a difference in it.

The Lafayette-Iquitos Sister City Partnership isn't just about two cities signing an agreement. It's about Lafayette students forming friendships with peers who live where pink river dolphins swim, and macaws fill the skies. It's about Iquitos students connecting with young people who ski in winter and hike mountain trails. It's about all of them learning that despite different landscapes and languages, young people everywhere share dreams, challenges, and the desire to build a better world.

Join Us

As this partnership continues to develop and grow, we need champions—people who believe in the power of education, cultural exchange, and global citizenship to transform lives. Whether you can contribute financially, volunteer your time, or simply spread the word about this initiative, every bit of support helps build bridges between Lafayette and Iquitos.

This is Lafayette's first sister city, but it represents a vision that extends far beyond one partnership. It's a vision of a community that looks outward as well as inward, that invests in global understanding, and that believes our youth deserve every opportunity to become engaged citizens of both their local community and the wider world.

Together, we're not just building a partnership between two cities. We're building the foundation for a generation that sees no borders to understanding, no limits to compassion, and no end to the possibilities that emerge when diverse communities choose to connect.

To learn more about supporting the Lafayette-Iquitos Sister City Partnership, contact OneVoice for Change or reach out to the Lafayette City Council. Your investment in this partnership is an investment in our community's future and in the next generation of global citizens.

OneVoice4Change.org