Copley Connects Fall 2025 / Spring 2026

San Diego’s French Connection By Dennis-Michael Broussard , Night Supervisor

In September 2025, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and Benoît Payan, mayor of Marseille, France, signed an agreement connecting the two cities as Sister Cities — and Copley’s own Dennis-Michael Broussard joined the delegation. We asked Dennis-Michael to share a little bit about his work on the Sister Cities project.

I was on a boat coming back from Catalina Island in 2018 when I first had the idea. I was already a board member of the San Diego International Sister Cities Association (SanDISCA), and was asking senior members about how to create a Sister City: what it entails, what I needed to do, etc. I inquired about the history of each of the then 16 Sister Cities and asked why we didn’t have a French Sister City. My curiosity stemmed from my ethnic and cultural heritage, with my father’s lineage being of French descent. I had already been very involved with the Filipino community in San Diego, as that was my mother’s ethnic background, and I was looking for more ways to get involved with my other side, the French part. The senior members of SanDISCA told me that if I wanted to see a French Sister City, I would have to be the one to lead that initiative. I said, “Okay, but how?” The first step was to have an existing French organization be a “sponsor” or a host, to “champion” the cause. That is when I joined as a member of the House of France in the International Cottages in Balboa Park. I was welcomed as a member in 2019, then eventually joined the board, and let them know of my intentions and desire to create a Sister City relationship with Marseille. I still didn’t know how I was going to do it, but at least I had the vision. I started to ask questions on what I needed to do next. Find a host/sponsor organization — done. Fill out the application for consideration to first be a Friendship City — done. The next step was to make contact with someone in Marseille, France.

L to R: Congressman Scott Peters, Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan, Dennis-Michael Broussard, Dr. Michael McQuary, chair of the San Diego International Sister Cities Association (SanDISCA), San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria

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