A nonprofit organization in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, is raising funds from businesses and individuals to help teenagers, mainly from Latin America, find better jobs.
The NPO, called Yumeiku Project (Dream Education Project), will use the funds to help the teens learn basic Japanese, so their communicative skills will improve sufficiently to drag them out of menial jobs into employment that is more technically demanding.
Under the projected program, the teenagers will be instructed about information technology skills required for the workplace and be given a grounding in Japanese corporate culture.
About 15,000 foreigners currently live in the city, home to Toyota Motor Corp.'s headquarters. They are largely from Latin American countries--about half of them from Brazil.
Most of them stay in apartment complexes in the Homi district on a hill in the city.
"We hope to educate Latin American teenagers to get along well in Japanese society," said Ushio Hamada, leader of the Dream Education Project.
The group was launched last April after Hamada received an inquiry from Torcida, another nonprofit organization based in the city, that wanted to know if it could help foreign teenagers find well-paying jobs.
Torcida has been teaching Japanese to foreign children in the Homi district for 10 years.
"We were afraid most of our students would end up doing odd jobs offered by temp agencies. It's difficult for them to set their life's goals very high," a Torcida member said.
"We asked [Hamada] if he had any idea about to how help them brighten their future," the member added.
The NPO hopes to collect a total of 4 million yen from businesses and individuals. It will ask recipients to return 10,000 yen a month over a one-year period once they find suitable employment.
All repayments will be used to replenish the group's funds.
(Apr. 16, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070416TDY19003.htm
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