2024 November Newsletter
What's the latest with Kizuna this Thanksgiving week?🦃
Mon, Nov 25, 2024 6:31 pm
Leadership in Action App Closes Soon!
Leadership in Action invites teens to explore civil rights and civil liberties by uncovering past violations, analyzing present-day challenges in diverse communities, and developing actionable solutions to combat injustices. Over 10 Saturday afternoons in Little Tokyo, participants will engage with community activists through interactive tours, presentations, discussions, and hands-on activities. The program culminates in group projects where students design and implement initiatives to address civil liberties issues, fostering awareness and change. Open to teens aged 13-18. Don’t miss the opportunity—apply by December 2nd!
2024 Taste of Kizuna: Wrapped!🥂
We are thrilled to share that this year’s Taste of Kizuna was a spectacular success! Held again at JAR Restaurant, the evening was filled with incredible cuisine, great company, and heartfelt support for our mission to empower the next generation of leaders.
Thanks to the generosity of our attendees and supporters, we raised $63,458.26 and counting to fund Kizuna’s programs for youth, teens, and young professionals. Your support of our biggest fundraiser of the year ensures that we can continue creating meaningful opportunities for our community.
Read The Latest Kizuna Blog Post!
In our latest blog, Vincent Yang shares his transformative experiences with Kizuna’s Leadership in Action program and the High School Diplomats cultural exchange. From exploring resilience in WWII Japanese American stories to building lifelong bonds with peers from across the globe, Vincent reflects on the power of connection, collaboration, and hope in shaping a better world. Discover how these programs inspired Vincent’s journey and why he believes our imperfections make the world worth fighting for. 🌱
Anime Expo Chibi Workshop
We had such an amazing time at Anime Expo Chibi 2024 in Ontario! 💞 It was such a fun and smooth workshop thanks to our participants, who really locked in and were not afraid to share their thoughts on perseverance, kansha (gratitude), and of course, their favorite spots in Little Tokyo!🍡🍜 We loved seeing everyone’s mini Koinobori (carp streamers) as well as teaching the cultural significance of the koinobori, Children’s Day, and the koi fish in general! 🎏
Giving Tuesday is 8 Days Away…
But Early Giving Has Already Begun!
Win Kizuna some cash prizes by donating BEFORE Giving Tuesday! This year, our Giving Tuesday campaign is focused on our beloved Nikkei Community Internship. You can help sustain this program that has impacted 145 interns as well preserve the legacy of our 3 remaining Japantowns by supporting our page today!
By clicking on the video above, you can meet Marisa, a 2024 NCI intern under Kizuna, who found a family within her kind and ambitious LA cohort! Hear how she was inspired by this internship to lead the charge in bringing back the Chibi-K Run to Little Tokyo, in hopes of creating a sense of community for the next generation of Japanese American leaders like herself.
Community News!
OCO Mochitsuki at Tanaka Farms!
Celebrate the end of the year with OCO club and your favorite organizations at the 2024 Mochi Pound Off!
When: December 29th, 2024, 7am - 12pm, Rain or Shine!
Where: Tanaka Farms, Irvine, CA
Takumi Alley Holiday Market 🎄 ✨
Sat, Dec 7th, 2024, 11-5 pm
Nellita’s Craft- 248 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
- The FIRST 50 GIVEAWAY -
- THE GRAND HOLIDAY RAFFLE 🎟️
- UGLY SWEATER CONTEST 👚
- LIVE MUSIC 🎷
- 11 WHIMSICAL ARTISTS ✏️ ✨
Emergence: Art from Life
October 8-December 15, 2024
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4pm
Emergence is open at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center and is among more than 70 exhibitions and programs to be presented as part of PST ART presented by Getty.
Emergence: Art from Life is singular among PST ART exhibitions for its presentation of living biological artworks and projects created in collaboration with a global cohort of synthetic biologists and medical researchers. Visitors will encounter human bones grown from synthetic mother-of-pearl; objects dyed with bioengineered indigo pigment; and living, microscopic human tear glands that cry. These works invite us to consider what it means to be human now: our aspirations, follies, entanglements, and impacts on symbiotic life forms, each other, and the planet.
