One hundred youth and adult allies, from the Tohoku region in Japan, have arrived this week at Wurster Hall for a three-week experience in community development, social entrepreneurship, and cultural exchange.

Sponsored by the Center for Cities and Schools, the TOMODACHI SoftBank Youth Leadership Program is in its third year. The program was created, in the wake of the devastating 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan, as part of a larger effort by the US Embassy in Japan and the U S-Japan Council to strengthen cultural and economic ties between the two countries.

The students have traveled to UC Berkeley to engage in the Center for Cities + Schools award-winning Y-PLAN (Youth – Plan, Learn, Act, Now!) methodology and studio-based course. The program is specifically designed to partner young people and civic leaders in authentic city planning and community transformation. The goal is to encourage young people to develop their leadership capacity and to make a difference in the places they live, learn, and play.  It is also designed to engender a sense of hope, power and vision for young students so that they can be effective agents of change. In that spirit, the students are developing skills in urban planning and community development through an initial Y-PLAN project focused on the revitalization of the Adeline Corridor in Berkeley.