OREANDA-NEWS. Sumitomo Corporation, in cooperation with the Civil Society Initiative Fund, has begun inviting grant applications for FY2015 new activities and research projects to be pursued under the Sumitomo Corporation Youth Challenge Program for the Revitalization of East Japan, a long-term earthquake reconstruction assistance program underway since FY2012.

Sumitomo Corporation supports the growth of youth prepared to take on challenging social issues not only by providing grants for the activities and research efforts carried out by volunteer teams of youth through this program but also by strengthening the horizontal ties among the grant recipients and creating opportunities for them to learn from each other.

As part of this approach, Sumitomo Corporation will be holding an open symposium in September in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture to allow 40 groups that received new grants in FY2014 to present interim reports and to deepen understanding of the significance of the roles and involvement of youth in the reconstruction process.

Circumstances in the disaster-afflicted areas are certain to change in future, requiring efforts to address individualized and diversified needs, and Sumitomo Corporation hopes that the youth engaged in reconstruction assistance through this program will, as leaders in the recovery of disaster-hit areas, take on the responsibility of building a better society.