The Sovereign Republic of Cranberry

Cranberry Township doesn’t have a Secretary of State or a U.N. ambassador, but it’s building the foundation for its own foreign policy. It’s a policy which was broadly outlined in the long-range comprehensive plan our Board of Supervisors adopted in 2009. In essence, it calls for taking steps to create a welcoming environment for the growing number of residents and visitors to Cranberry from around the world – a need underscored by the findings of the 2010 census.

The Westinghouse Electric Company’s 2006 decision to relocate to Cranberry was a major impetus for that push; the company’s multi-billion dollar business is global, so its worldwide outreach directly affects Cranberry’s local economy. In fact, it was the company’s selection by Chinese authorities to build a series of new power plants there that triggered the need for Westinghouse to expand its workforce into a new campus here in the first place. And other Cranberry-based companies are increasingly global as well. So Cranberry’s prosperity has become inexorably bound up with the success of our international commerce.

Earlier this week, a group of 30 area residents gathered at Cranberry’s the House of Chen restaurant to celebrate the first year anniversary of the Cranberry Township Sister City Association – an organization that actually extends beyond Cranberry to include Butler County Rotary Clubs, Slippery Rock University, the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, and various regional organizations concerned with international affairs, as well as a number of multi-national firms located in Cranberry.

Through that program, American Sister Cities are paired with corresponding cities abroad. In the case of Cranberry, that sister city is Haiyang, a coastal city of 670,000 on the Yellow Sea, which is also where two of the power plants that Westinghouse is building in China are located. Sister Cities typically work on projects to build understanding, goodwill, and personal contacts with the businesses and residents of their overseas counterparts.

Although it enjoys support from the Township government in the form of a resolution adopted by Cranberry’s Board of Supervisors last fall, the Cranberry Township Sister Cities Association is actually an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental institution open to businesses, individuals, and organizations that share an interest in China, in cultural diversity, or in travel abroad.

In its first year, the Association held a number of events, including a well-attended cultural fair at Sherwood Oaks. It also assisted with the Welcoming International Neighbor group, or W.I.N., which was another outgrowth of the Cranberry Plan. That group, which held its first New Neighbors Expo earlier this week, also enjoys support from dozens of Cranberry residents who make sure our new international neighbors are received in a warm and friendly manner.

So congratulations to the Cranberry Township Sister City Association  and to W.I.N.  They offer another demonstration of why Cranberry Township is becoming an even more awesome place to live, work and play.

I would welcome your feedback: jerry.andree@cranberrytownship.org