The 2008 Chicago/Hamburg/Birmingham, England Social Work Exchange Program, in Chicago July 26-August 2, celebrates the tenth exchange, and three sister cities learning from cultural dialogue to improve social services in our global community.

Since 1999, annual exchanges alternating between cities have bridged cultural and national boundaries to address common social challenges and “best practices”. Hundreds of social service professionals in these cities from two continents have participated to make sustainable changes such as: redesigning Birmingham’s Juvenile Offender Program; incorporating Hamburg’s ‘harm-reduction’ model into Chicago’s work with homeless; and exploring Chicago Court mediation strategies to involve children and cultural diversity techniques into Hamburg’s Family Court. Additionally, the last time Chicago hosted the exchanges in September 2005, Mayor Richard M. Daley invited the Hamburg and Birmingham political and social service exchange leaders along with the CSCIP Social Service Chair to dialogue about our common social ills and challenges.