“How can you expect us to come up with solutions for revitalizing our community when we just lost everything?”

This year, fifth grade students at Verde Elementary School in North Richmond, California, took on a local “real world” challenge: How can we beautify the public spaces in our neighborhood while celebrating our community history and pride? Professional architects and planners engaged the students in a series of hands-on studio workshops using the Y-PLAN 5-step methodology in the spring. Then over the summer, 100 TOMODACHI Y-PLAN Japanese students also engaged in the Y-PLAN process as they focused on North Richmond. Inspired by the work of the younger local students, they generated a set of long-term and short-term recommendations about how the community might become more vibrant, creative, and connected. Within the framework of their long-term proposals, four groups of 25 students each also generated a plan to build out one small component of their vision during a Day of Action. Read more about the exciting connections made and actions students took in North Richmond!

This summer, CC+S hosted the seventh class of Y-PLAN Japan students from the TOMODACHI Softbank Leadership program at UC Berkeley. New to this year was a day of action in North Richmond.

Hi everyone! My name is Nao Sagawa and I am currently a global student intern at CC+S. Five years ago, I was one of the first students to come to UC Berkeley through a summer program called TOMODACHI, where I participated in Y-PLAN research and activities. I returned this summer as a Teacher’s Assistant (TA) to help out with the program. In today’s post, I would like to share my personal story and connection with Y-PLAN.

This summer, Y-PLAN Japan welcomed 100 high school students from Japan to the Bay Area for the TOMODACHI Softbank Leadership Program.

Tohoku Rising: Showcasing Five Years of Youth Action For Change

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that devastated the Tohoku coastal region of Japan. CC+S's Y-PLAN Initiative has been honored to host over 600 students from this region at UC Berkeley to participate in a Y-PLAN Summer Leadership Studio in community revitalization for the last 4 years as part of the TOMODACHI initiative.