Sureya Melkonian/Staff

High school students, teachers and administrators from eight cities gathered at UC Berkeley’s Alumni House last week for a three-day national summit for Y-PLAN, an initiative that invites youth to engage in city planning for struggling neighborhoods.

Participants from high schools in areas ranging from Richmond, Calif., to Tohoku, Japan shared their community projects with each other before working on the redevelopment of Telegraph Avenue. The event culminated in participants presenting their ideas to a panel of judges, including a representative from Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates’ office, UC Berkeley professor emeritus David Stern and Moe’s Bookstore owner Doris Moskowitz.

Deborah McKoy, director of the UC Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools, first created Y-PLAN as part of her dissertation when she completed her doctorate in educational policy at UC Berkeley. Y-PLAN stands for “Youth – Plan, Learn, Act, Now!” and is a five-step program that gives youth the opportunity to collaborate with each other and educators to present ideas for change to city officials.

“I was frustrated because we do so many school reforms that are great for adults but don’t make learning particularly relevant for kids,” McKoy said. “Y-PLAN is really about getting young people at the planning and policymaking table.”

Recent Richmond High School graduates Melissa Avalos and Jose Castillo presented ideas to integrate the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory campus into the Richmond Bay neighborhood as part of their high school senior project. Avalos introduced a farmers market to help diversify the community around the new Berkeley Lab campus, and Castillo worked on ways to make transportation efficient around the campus.

On Friday’s summit meeting, participants used Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue as a case study of an area that could benefit from redevelopment.

After a 45-minute visit to Telegraph and a 15-minute brainstorming session, small groups presented their findings to a panel of judges.

Some ideas that came out from the workshop included replacing the street’s uneven pavement with cobblestones, closing it to traffic during the weekends for festivities and replacing empty storefronts with artwork representative of Berkeley’s history.

Moskowitz said she was excited to see some of the ideas applied to Telegraph, which, in recent years has seen some of its businesses struggle financially.

“If teenagers really cared about this street, it could come back in a minute,” Moskowitz said.

Moskowitz said the ideas were judged not solely on their feasibility but also on the innovation and dedication behind them. All suggestions for Telegraph Avenue redevelopment will be sent to the mayor’s office for consideration.

“We’re incredibly grateful for all of the ideas and the time that the youths have provided to us,” said Sbeydeh Viveros-Banderas, senior aide to the mayor.

Contact Lydia Tuan at ltuan@dailycal.org.

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Ayusa/Courtesy

The Tomodachi Summer 2013 SoftBank Leadership Program will bring 100 Japanese high school students affected by the 2011 earthquake to UC Berkeley this summer in an effort to equip them with the skills needed to help rebuild disaster areas.

But bringing fewer than half as many students as last year, the program comes in a drastically reduced form.

Tomodachi began in 2012 in the aftermath of the 2011 Japanese earthquake as a one-time arrangement aimed at teaching Japanese high school students from affected regions the skills in leadership and development needed to rebuild disaster zones.

The three-week program was developed in partnership with the nonprofit organization Ayusa International and Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank Corp., which has decided to fund the program for at least another summer in light of last year’s success.

Mariko Osada, a SoftBank spokesperson, said that the reduction in numbers is about making the program more efficient as well as attempting to foster better communication among participants.

“With 300 people taking part the students were not able to get to know each other,” Osada said.

Nevertheless, entrance into the program is set to be competitive. Last year more than 2,100 students applied for 300 positions. With only 100 places this year and more recognition, David Beiser, the director of grant programs at Ayusa, believes the program will become even more competitive as a result of the increase in applicants.

Hazuki Inoue, a program assistant with Tomodachi last summer, has called the program a “good cultural exchange.”

“(The program) was about the students bringing what they have learned back to their homeland to help those who have been affected by the earthquake,” Inoue said.

A SoftBank press release highlighted Haruna Shiraiwa, a former participant who has since started a sight-seeing program in Iwate with the travel agency H.I.S. in the hopes of bringing more tourism to the area.

Faculty members with the Center for Cities and Schools, the campus organization administering the program,  will be involved in educating students in areas related to housing, business, jobs, public spaces, energy and sustainability. The CC&S curriculum seeks to encourage young people to engage and help make positive changes in society, said Deborah McKoy, executive director of the CC&S.

More information on the Tomodachi program for summer 2013 will be made available at Wurster Hall at 6 p.m. on March 11 at an art opening celebrating the works of former Tomodachi participants.

Contact Eoghan Hughes at ehughes@dailycal.org.

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