Regular Grant Summaries 2018:
Chicago Sister Cities International, Chicago, IL
2018 Global Youth Ambassadors Leadership Summit (Year 2)
Project Director: Adrienne Tongate
$15,845.00
The 2018 Global Youth Ambassadors Leadership Summit will be taken place again to build the next generation of global leaders. It will be open to girls ages 14-16 from Chicago and 28 international sister cities. Osaka being the second sister to have relations established will support this program to share Japanese culture with girls from around the world to cultivate a global mindset.
Japan America Society of Hawai’I, Honolulu, HI
Membership Development Project (Year 1)
Project Director: Lila Fisbie
$30,000.00
In order to address the steep decline in their membership, the Japan America Society of Hawaii ams to address this decline in 3 ways: attracting young professional with relevant programming, engaging new corporate memberhsip, and restructing membership packages. In order to achieve this, JASH will hire a Membership Director to develop and execute a membership development plan during this project.
Japan America Society of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
JASM Outreach and Capacity Building Project – Toward Healthy Organizational Sustainability (Year 1)
Project Director: Rio Saito
$18,293.00
In order to expand their vision as a resource for US-Japan relations within the Upper Midwest region, the Japan America Society of Minnesota will attract new and younger members to the organization, as well as expand programming through partnerships with various contacts in communities within the Upper Midwest region.
Japan America Society of Oregon, Portland, OR
Capacity-Building Project (Year 2)
Project Director: Graham Morris
$15,000.00
In this single year project, the Japan America Society of Oregon will continue on the previous successes of their 2016 JAS Initiative grant; through the continued support of the Assistant Director the Executive Director will continue to develop membership, fundraising, partnership and planning, as well as the establishments of a fully sustainable annual financial plan.
Japan America Society of the State of Washington, Mercer Island, WA
Grow Membership based on the Strategic Plan and Leveraging the Grassroots Summit in 2018 (Year 1)
Project Director: Dale L. Watanabe
$30,000.00
To hire and train staff to grow and improve JASSW organizational capacity through a membership initiative leveraging the outreach to communities and companies during the 2018 Japan America Grassroots Summit and the follow up with the Grassroots participants to encourage membership and continued participation with the Society
National Association of Japan-America Societies, Washington, DC
JAS Network Support through NAJAS (Year 1)
Project Director: Makiko Murotani
$80,000.00
Japan America Society network support through National Association of Japan-America Societies is looking to strengthen its society by combining structural and program supports. Structural as in holding annual meetings and workshops and to develop leadership skills. Program support is encouraging the interest in public affairs and providing outreach.
United States Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme Alumni Association (USJETAA), Washington, DC
Developing Next Generation Leaders in the U.S. – Japan Relationship through USJETAA (Year 2)
Project Director: Laurel Lukaszewski
$30,000.00
USJETAA wants to strengthen the network of the JET alumni, mentoring local JETAA chapter leaderships and building upon their foundation. They will provide JET alumni’s to engage and interact and have webinars to use for programs, plan meetings, and use as an outreach tool. As an outcome, they want to be a strong effective point of contact in the U.S and JETAA chapters.
Japan Society, Inc., New York, NY
Resilient and Vibrant Communities in Japan and the U.S. (Year 2)
Project Director: Betty Borden
$69,999.00
The goal of this project is to catalyze the revitalization of rural areas and small towns experiencing economic stagnation and declining population through the sharing of best practices that build back community resilience and vibrancy. Specifically the project will arrange for exchanges from US and Japan participants from community NGOs and nonprofits to inspire and gain new insights with one another as well as document best practices in small communities in the US and Japan. There will also be post-exchange workshops to help nurture new projects and ideas to increase the impact of the work of the participants.
Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, OR
International Japanese Garden Training Center Expansion (Year 2)
Project Director: Kristin Faurest
$61,600.00
Year 2 of this project will continue to develop an internationally revered institute for the learning and exchange of the knowledge and skills of Japanese gardening and its related art forms. The project also aims to train future generations of Japanese gardeners to care for and maintain the thousands of Japanese gardens around the world. For Year 2 of the project, Portland Japanese Garden will create a new workshop seminar for beginner-level as well as continue its seminar for intermediate level gardeners. The workshops will continue to consist of hands-on training, classroom teaching, lectures and field work.
University of Colorado Foundation, Denver, CO
Olympic Friendships: Elementary Education for Global Competency in Japan and the United States (Year 2)
Project Director: Catherine Vail Higbee
$ 37,853.00
The Program for Teaching East Asian at the University of Colorado-Boulder will collaborate with the University of Tokyo Center for Excellence in School Education to conduct teacher professional development and school partnerships in this project. Supporting the expectations of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic/Paralympics, the project will develop a network of Tokyo elementary schools studying about the United States with partner classrooms in the US that have a unit of study about Japan. The project’s overarching objectives are to provide elementary teachers and their students with academic, practical, experiential and interpersonal learning opportunities to deepen their knowledge of each other’s culture and to develop “global competency” skills as well as to develop an educational exchange and professional development model that features a network of Japan-US schools partnerships, teacher training, educational research and the use of digital media.