Hands On Tokyo Youth Impact Project

Thank you for your continuous support of the Youth Impact in 2017. Without your donations, we would not be able to achieve our goal of creating socially conscious young adults. Your generosity allows us the flexibility to invest resources and time to causes our students care deeply about. Since the beginning of 2018, the students have come together to decide on possible projects that we would like to engage in and that we hope to put into action before the close of the year.

With the rapid increase of Youth Impact volunteers, it has become a major challenge to meet the demand for volunteer opportunities. Therefore the Youth Impact team will create a new model that we are excited to share with you.

Part of what makes Hands On Tokyo volunteers unique is that they have a strong understanding of how to work with variety of different demographics, whether that be visually impaired young adults, special needs individuals, or vulnerable children. This experience and knowledge allows them to work in different sectors, and we have been speaking with several NPOs who seek to integrate Youth Impact volunteers into their programs. What this means is we will outsource our volunteers to other NPOs. We believe that there are two benefits to this model: 1. The students will have more opportunities to volunteer and expand their knowledge 2. NPOs will get the assistance they need. The ultimate goal is to create a network of NPOs that all seek to empower and educate youth. The core idea is that NPOs are stronger together, versus when we are all competing for donations and volunteers. Our students have also responded well to this model and are eagerly waiting for this system to be finalized.

Some example of collaborations with other NPOS are: support for homeless and poverty ridden communities, digital literacy programs and English lessons at children`s homes, beach cleaning in Fujisawa, creating a food truck that is run by special needs people and supported by high school and college students. Besides these collective projects we will offer, youth will continue to volunteer at the 27 community projects posted on the Hands On Tokyo website.

We wanted to make you aware of our most important collaboration with the LIVES, which we are working hard to fully fund and implement as early as fall 2018.

In 2017, Hands On Tokyo launched the LIVES Project, a one day event that focused on opening up dialogues about how to empower people with disabilities and how to create inclusive working and living environments for all people in Japan. The program was held in Tokyo Midtown Roppongi and thousands of people attending, spreading the word about tolerance and creating accessibility in Japan.

In 2018, Hands On Tokyo wants to carry this mission one step further by creating a food truck that will circulate between campuses. The food and beverages sold on this truck will be created by special needs people, and high school and college student will support the workers. We hope that through exposure and collaboration, our young volunteers will learn how to empower and assist special needs individuals. Change is achievable when the next generation has knowledge about how to shape an inclusive working and living environment. To learn more go to the global giving page for the LIVES food truck: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/lives-food-truck/

Finally, in an effort to increase awareness and volunteer participation, the Youth Impact team has been speaking primarily with Japanese campuses and trying to incorporate them into this program. Our current Youth Impact volunteers are mostly bilingual, global students; many of them have lived abroad or attended international schools. We feel fortunate to have people of this type of background, but we also want to make sure the Youth Impact program is accessible to native Japanese speakers as well. Therefore, we will be organizing several bonding experiences for our current members and potential new Japanese members. We will be sure to tell you how it all unfolds in the next report!

Thank you again for your interest and investment in the Youth Impact program. We hope that we can continue to peak your interest and hope that you will consider making another contribution to this program. We look forward to updating you again soon about all of these developments. Should you have any questions, feedback, or require more information, please reach out to us at youthimpactjp@handsontokyo.org.

Thank you for your generous support of our Youth Impact program. Your contributions are helping us to create meaningful volunteer and personal growth opportunities for high school and college students in Tokyo.

 The Youth Impact program has continued to expand. Before the office closed on December 23rd, we were able to reach 195 students, visiting 2 new schools in December. The demand for volunteer projects has never been higher. In 2017, we had 130 students affiliated with the Youth Impact project volunteer at Hands On Tokyo.

 There are many NPOs that offer programs for youth. What makes Hands On Tokyo unique is our accessibility. Young people can immediately sign up to volunteer without being subjected to prolonged process. We offer 27 projects that range from athletics with down syndrome, education for visually impaired, and tango therapy for senior citizens and our young volunteers have taken full advantage of the wealth of programs we offer.

 Our young volunteers` favorite projects are teaching English to visually impaired individuals, institutionalized children, and athletics with special needs individuals. They continue to return to these projects and develop relationships with the recipients of services. Some are even in the process of becoming volunteer leaders. Our volunteers have remarked that there is nothing quite like the feeling of being recognized by a community partner despite months of being away and being responsible for positive outcomes of projects.

 Another way Hands On Tokyo is meeting the demand for volunteering opportunities is by creating new projects that students have requested.

 We had a very positive start to the project creation program with the English lesson with down syndrome students at Shinagawa Aquarium. Every volunteer was able to build a one on one relationship with a down syndrome recipient, as they taught vocabulary about the colorful fish and playful dolphins at the aquarium. The Youth Impact volunteers were delighted to see a program they had created come together so smoothly, and they gained confidence in their ability to lead a project. In addition, our high school volunteers were deeply moved by the experience and loved spending time with their partners. The day ended with volunteers and their down syndrome students walking back to the station hand in hand, chatting and laughing together. It is moments like these that linger with our volunteers and the reason why their commitment to volunteerism becomes deeper.

 In 2018, Hands On Tokyo wants to empower young volunteers to become agents of positive change in their communities. Our volunteers are not just getting experience working with individuals with variety of different needs; they are also learning about how to become advocates for people who are overlooked because of their disabilities. Ultimately the main objective of the Youth Impact program is for young people to use their experiences with us to begin a dialogue about how to empower people with special needs and institutionalized children. With your support, we will continue to create more projects that young people can lead and get in the field experiences with.

 Thus far, we have organized two projects for Youth Impact volunteers: a theater project with a children`s home and providing assistance to students at special needs public high school in Tokyo. We are also hoping to have spring related projects with special needs and children as well. We will be sure to discuss how the projects turned out in our next report.

 Thank you again for supporting Youth Impact. This project has moved forward because you believe volunteerism is most impactful at a young age and we need to invest in educating high school and college students now. We hope that you will consider another donation to creating a socially conscious generation at Hands On Tokyo.