Project: Community!
Project: Community! is a national JACL leadership development program for high-school students.  Originally started in Los Angeles as part of the local movement to preserve “Little Tokyo,” the program has since expanded to San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, and will be starting in Chicago in February 2010. 

The high-school program aims to recruit 15-20 local youth who are active in or interested in learning about the local Japanese American community. The program will comprise of seven separate sessions, held on weekday nights and Saturdays, over a three month period. Interactive workshops will explore participants’ individual identity as Japanese Americans and connect them to the larger Chicago Japanese American community and to the Asian Pacific American community as a whole.  Its goal is to develop and enhance the leadership skills of Japanese American high school youth, and promote their awareness of and engagement with their local Japanese American community. Ultimately, Project: Community! aims to identify and develop future leaders who will devote their time and talent to the Japanese American community. 

Applications for the 2010 program are available NOW! Click here to download an application.

Want more information?
Click here for the brochure.
Click here for more details on the sessions.
Or call (773) 728-7171 or email chicago@jacl.org with any questions.

Youth Leadership Project
Developed by former Ford Fellow, Brandon Mita, the JACL offers a comprehensive booklet to empower youth into becoming leaders of the community.