Belize City Youth Shadow Councilors Visit Sister City Miramar

Two young leaders from Belize City are getting an international spotlight this week. Youth Shadow Councilors Sanaa Rowland and Arthur Butler are in Miramar, Florida, taking part in a youth exchange program designed to give future leaders real‑world experience in local governance. They traveled on Saturday along with Councilor Stephanne Hamilton, who oversees Sister City Relations. And this morning, the delegation received an official welcome from Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam and the city’s leadership team, another step in strengthening the growing partnership between the two municipalities. The initiative gives these young Belizeans hands‑on exposure to civic engagement, education, and cultural exchange, all while proudly representing Belize City abroad. We caught up with Mayor Bernard Wagner today to learn more about what this program means for the city and its next generation of leaders.

 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City

“Miramar, I believe have a population about one hundred and fifty thousand. And Belize City has residents of about seventy to eighty thousand. So we are pretty small, so we have that sorta dynamics that is common to both of us. And so we went about really establishing that relationship and we settled the framework of how we will ensure that this becomes our lasting  sustainable relationship. And we look at key areas, which was economic development, cultural exchanges, and more importantly, youth. Youth development and I’m glad to see that we are progressing significantly  in that area in respect to youth development. Having two of our YSC members, the youth  shadow council being able to participate in this exchange with the city of Miramar. And so they left the country yesterday afternoon and have a pretty tight schedule for this entire week in Miramar. This morning they met the mayor of Miramar, Wayne Messam, and his team they’ll be visiting various Saudi. The city council there in Miramar, they’ll be looking at the meeting, the fire department. They were meeting the police because, city councils, unlike Belize City in different areas vary. In Miramar the mayor and his team are in control of the fire department as well as the police department. And so having the kids participate in these sort of exchanges over the next couple of days, they’ll be visiting various recreational areas to see how Youth development is spurned on in Miramar. And so we are excited they’ll be visiting as well, some of the recreational parks to see what works for them in Miramar. It’s a full full week.”