About SISCA
Mission
Empowering Connections: Bridging Seattle and Isfahan through Cultural Exchange and Collaboration.
Who We Are
SISCA is made up of citizen volunteers – Iranian-Americans and allies – from the greater Seattle Area who seek to reverse decades of hostility between the United States and Iranian governments. We aim to build a community in Seattle that supports and incubates nonpolitical, people-to-people collaborations with Iran.
Our Goal
The long-term, aspirational goal of Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy is for Isfahan and Seattle to become official sister cities. In the meantime, we work to increase awareness and friendship between the people of greater Seattle and the people of Iran through events such as SISCA Nowruz (the Persian New Year) and joint projects in both countries.
Our aim is to dissolve animosity and replace it with understanding and respect by emphasizing our common humanity and shared aspirations and by finding practical roads away from confrontation and war. We are and will remain non-political. We will neither promote nor defend the policies of the governments of either Iran or the United States or engage in partisan political advocacy.
We seek to develop collaborations between students, teachers, city government and business leaders, artists, writers, poets, musicians, athletes, professional people, workers, religious leaders, and other groups with shared interests.
Our History
In April 2015, a group that included five Seattle citizens traveled to Isfahan and informally proposed to the Isfahan mayor’s office that the two cities work to establish a Sister City relationship, using as a model the sister city relationship built between Seattle and Tashkent during the Cold War.
In June 2015, the Seattle Times printed an Op-Ed submission proposing such a relationship. That article led to an outpouring of expressions of support and offers of help. Supporters of the idea initially formed a “Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Organizing Committee,” which was open to anyone willing to work toward the goals described above. We named a Board in 2016 and became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Our Action Model
SISCA thrives on robust and enthusiastic volunteer initiative and participation. Anyone interested in supporting SISCA will be able to find a way to participate through the Join Us, How You Can Help, and Donate pages of this website. Visit and like us on Facebook. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.
