WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Center for Faith-Based & Community Initiatives and Sister Cities International announced the launch of Community Connector (C2), a web-based platform that will pair U.S.-based organizations and communities with NGOs, nonprofits, and community organizations overseas in need of physical resources, services, and expertise. Funded by USAID, Community Connector promotes relationships between organizations and communities by providing an online resource for groups to promote their specific community needs for resources and expertise.

Potential matches through Community Connector linkages include a synagogue in the United States sharing crucial seed-growing information with a mosque in Benin or a Guatemalan-based NGO, paired with a U.S.-based civic organization, distributing school books or refurbished cell phones in rural Guatemalan villages.

Community Connector can be accessed globally at www.sister-cities.org/c2 and is open to both U.S.-based and international organizations. During its first year, C2 will focus on identifying organizations and projects in Africa, but any organization worldwide can enter their needs or search for a recipient. Requests for funding will not be accepted.

Sister Cities International is a citizen diplomacy network creating and strengthening partnerships between the United States and communities abroad. Begun in 1956 after a White House summit where U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower called for people-to-people exchanges, sister city partnerships are tailored to local interests and increase global cooperation at the grassroots level. Sister Cities International promotes peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation by focusing on sustainable and economic development, youth and education, arts and culture, and humanitarian assistance programs.

For more information about USAID and its programs, visit www.usaid.gov.