Village Staff Will Travel to Japan as Part of Social Service Exchange
Nine of the 16 Participating in Travels Represent St. Vincent’s

   SAN DIEGO — Sixteen staff members of San Diego social-services agencies traveling to Yokohama as part of an exchange program will be introduced to members of the San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society at a luncheon on Sunday, September 21, at 11 a.m., at the Bahia Resort Hotel Stern Wheeler, located at 998 West Mission Bay Drive.

   Nine of the individuals participating in the exchange, which is sponsored by the international society, represent St. Vincent de Paul Village’s Toussaint Teen Center (TTC), a facility for homeless, abandoned and runaway youths.

   Other agencies whose representatives will travel to Japan include Teen Link Community Project, HomeStart, Inc., Cross Cultural Center UCSD, YMCA Youth and Family Services, International Student Orientation Assistance and Mentor Program and Students Actively Volunteering For You.

   The focus of the exchange will be the growing need for youth-oriented services in Yokohama, a growing metropolis of 3.5 million people, where the problem of at-risk and stay-at-home youths is on the increase.

   The San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society is a 46-year-old organization whose efforts include strengthening the bonds of friendship between the cities through cultural-gift, youth and zoological exchanges.

   The TTC – a facility where youths find refuge from the streets, receive an education and counseling, build trust and find hope – is located in a 40,000 square-foot, four-story building in downtown San Diego and comprised of a dining area, a spacious recreation room, a chapel and private and semi-private rooms for 30 teens between the ages of 14 and 18. Apartments are available for TTC graduates 18 and older.

   The 16 participants will be in Yokohama from November 13 through November 18. For more information on Sunday’s luncheon and introduction of the social-services professionals and non-profit volunteers taking part in the international exchange, please call Sherry Hughes at (760) 747-7711.

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