CYSCA History

Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association, Inc. (CYSCA) was the brainchild of a group of concerned citizens of Cambridge, MA, who believed they could help promote world peace by organizing a grass roots movement through a partnership with a city in a Soviet republic.

In May 1986,former Mayor and then City Councillor Frank Duehay led a mission of eleven Cambridge citizens to Yerevan, the capital of the Republic of Armenia, to present a formal proposal to the Mayor of Yerevan expressing the desire of the city of Cambridge to become a sister city with Yerevan.

Following an exchange of official delegations and signing of protocols, a formal agreement was executed between the two sister cities in 1987, during an official visit by a Yerevan delegation to Cambridge.

Soon thereafter, CYSCA joined Sister Cities International (SCI), an umbrella organization that supports over 1000 U.S. sister cities and their foreign partners. Through its association with SCI, CYSCA has obtained funding support for many of its important projects.