Earlier this month leaders from the Carlos Rosario School joined Mayor Muriel Bowser and other political, community and business leaders in El Salvador to mark the beginning of the new Sister Cities Agreement between the District of Columbia and San Salvador. This agreement, the first between D.C. and a Latin American city, is aimed at strengthening business and cultural ties between the two cities. The school’s participation in the visit was generously underwritten by The Raza Development Fund. This trip is building on a tradition of school staff and faculty traveling to El Salvador each summer in partnership with Voices on the Border to learn more about the culture of the country where many of our students hail from.

The three day delegation visit this summer included a trip to the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero, a local political hero; the signing of the MOU between the Carlos Rosario School and ITCA-FEPADE; and the signing of a sister-city agreement with San Salvador. The group also visited Intipucá, a small town along the country’s coast where many Salvadorans now living in D.C. emigrated from.

The partnership between the Carlos Rosario School and Instituto Tecnológico Centroamericano (ITCA-FEPADE), a technical school that has provided workforce training to Salvadoran students for more than 40 year, is a cornerstone of the sister city agreement. The MOU between the culinary arts programs at each institution includes teacher and student exchanges between 2018 and 2019 that highlight culture, cuisine, and culinary trainings.

Carlos Rosario School CEO Allison Kokkoros said, “Washington, D.C. is home to thousands and thousands of Salvadorans. In our current political environment it’s particularly inspiring that we’re creating this sister city agreement and the partnership with ITCA-FEPADE. Through this agreement and the partnership we’re strengthening our relationship with the country of El Salvador affirming the inextricable link between Washington, D.C. and the Salvadoran people and their culture.”