CEW 2010

nihonmachiROOTS invites all youth and young adults concerned with the future of SF Japantown to attend the Japantown Community Engagement Workshop.

The Planning Department of the City of San Francisco is currently working with members of the Japantown community to re-draft the Japantown Better Neighborhood Plan in the next year. This plan will have a lasting impact on the state of Japantown in the years ahead. As members of the generation that will inherit the results of the Japantown Better Neighborhood Plan, we have the most at stake in the outcome of this planning process. Whether or not you are a resident or visitor to San Francisco’s Japantown neighborhood and community, we encourage everyone, especially young people, to raise their awareness and their voices regarding the future of our Japantown.

Through nihonmachiROOTs’ Community Engagement Project, our goal is to engage 600 people in 60 days around improving the Better Neighborhood Plan and begin to develop new leaders within the community to organize around issues a­ffecting Japantown for the future. It all starts with the Japantown Community Engagement Workshop on March 27th.

At nihonmachiROOTS’ Japantown Community Engagement Workshop, you will:

• Learn how the Japantown Better Neighborhood Plan will affect neighborhood development, residents, businesses and community organizations in the years to come
• Connect with other young people engaged in the Japantown community who are also concerned with the outcome of the planning process
• Strategize on how we can educate others and ensure that the voices and interests of the community are represented in the Japantown Better Neighborhood Plan
• Build a foundation for youth and young adults to make a difference in San Francisco’s Japantown’s future

We hope you can make it to the workshop! Please help us spread the word and forward this to anyone you think would be interested in getting involved!

Register for the nihonmachiROOTS Japantown Community Engagement Workshop online!

Questions? E-mail us at nihonmachiroots@gmail.com

Learn more about nihonmachiROOTS at: http://www.japantownnow.com/about/

nihonmachiROOTS is supported by our fiscal sponsor, JCYC. The Japantown Community Engagement Workshop is made possible through a generous grant from the San Francisco Japantown Foundation.

The grant program is a MATCHING PROGRAM. That means that if you donate anytime from now until April 30, 2010, the Foundation will match your donation dollar-for-dollar up to $2000! In other words, if you donate $1, you are really giving $2 to nihonmachiROOTS to work on projects that engage the Japantown community.

You can donate online or by check. Visit this page for the online donation link or a downloadable form that you’ll need to send in along with your check: http://www.sfjapantownfoundation.org/donate, Donations must be made directly to the San Francisco Japantown Foundation and designated to our organization, nihonmachiROOTS. The web page tells you how to do that.

Again, donations must be received by the Japantown Foundation by April 30, 2010, so please don’t forget to donate soon!

You can read the official grants announcement here.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The nihonmachiROOTS team