Bethlehem partners with sixth sister city in Puerto Rico

Bethlehem welcomed its sixth sister city, Patillas, Puerto Rico last month. 

The partnership’s establishment was commemorated with a flag-raising ceremony attended by representatives from both cities. 

According to Sister Cities International, a sister city relationship is a long-term partnership between two communities in two different countries. The relationship is recognized when the highest appointed representative or official of both communities signs off on the agreement. 

Janine Santoro, the director of equity and inclusion for the office of Mayor J. William Reynolds, said since last year Patillas and Bethlehem have been working to become sister cities. 

“Everyone understood that this (relationship) is going to be something meaningful moving forward and that they were going to be a part of that,” Santoro said. “It was a full house, and I was overwhelmed with emotion.”

Santoro said Bethlehem released a survey to the community in May 2023 to determine what city in Puerto Rico would be established as the new sister city because they wanted the search to be intentional and community-led. 

“We wanted the community to decide what they wanted the (sister city) relationship to look like and what cities they were thinking about,” Santoro said. 

Santoro said Bethlehem received 60 surveys from Patillas community members who wanted to create a sister city relationship with Bethlehem. 

Bethlehem has a history dating back to the 1940s-1950s with Patillas when Puerto Ricans immigrated to the city to work at the Bethlehem Steel Factory.

Aurea Ortiz, a longtime resident of Bethlehem, is heavily involved in the Latinx community and was a key contributor in forming a relationship between the two communities. 

She said the Patillenses created the Hispanic Center, so recognizing them as a sister community is important.

“They created a beneficial society and were able to make a foundation for us, the people that came after them,” Ortiz said. 

She said she hopes the partnership will connect young people with both cities and help them learn how to navigate community outreach and continue the Patillenses’ legacy.

Guillermo Lopez Jr., vice president of the Hispanic Center of Lehigh Valley emphasized the importance of forming a relationship with a city in Puerto Rico.    

“It’s a new journey this time,” Lopez said. “Instead of cheap labor, it’s people who are coming over (from Puerto Rico) with PhDs, people from higher education, people with well-meaning jobs like politicians and mayors, that show Puerto Ricans here that we belong in those kinds of spaces.”

Lopez said Bethlehem is a true suburb of Puerto Rico because of its close ties to Latinx community members. 

According to Statistical Atlas, 27.2% of the Bethlehem population is Hispanic and 72.8% of the Hispanic population is Puerto Rican. 

Bethlehem already has relationships with Patillas non-profit organizations and the Abrazo Patillense baseball team. 

Santoro said the team from Patillas is a recreational organization that visits Lehigh County and other states to organize sports competitions and advocate for Puerto Rican climate migration. 

She said the nonprofit organization, Los Buenos de Patillas, has also met with Lehigh and surrounding schools to discuss climate mitigation strategies. 

Ortiz said now that the sisterhood has been established, the real work begins. 

“We have to focus on a commission,” Ortiz said. “We have to focus on how we are going to make it happen.”

Lopez said Bethlehem is in the process of creating a committee that will oversee the city’s relationship with Patillas.

Santoro said there’s no requirement for Sister City Committee members to be Puerto Rican and anyone interested can be involved. 

She said both cities also hope to see workforce development opportunities between the two cities and educational exchange programs in the future.