Recruitment Begins for Organizations to Implement the "Finding the Road to the Future! Project" for Fiscal 2026, a Program Delivering "Real" Experiences to Elementary School Students

NPO Afterschool (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo), which operates under the mission of "Turning after-school hours across Japan into golden time," in collaboration with BMW Japan (Minato-ku, Tokyo), is recruiting organizations to implement the "Finding the Road to the Future! Project" for fiscal 2026.

### Background of the "Finding the Road to the Future! Project" Through its connections with after-school facilities for elementary school students nationwide, NPO Afterschool has heard that "children have few opportunities to touch 'the real thing,' such as seeing actual objects up close or meeting the adults involved."

To help address this situation, NPO Afterschool and BMW are working on the "Finding the Road to the Future! Project," an experiential program for elementary school students that encourages them to think about "safety" and "future society" as personal issues while engaging with cutting-edge technology.

The program provides opportunities for enjoyable learning through activities like quizzes, workshops, and studying real cars. Furthermore, by having BMW employees interact with the children as "employee teachers," it creates encounters with diverse adults, fostering interest in work and society.

In fiscal 2025, the satisfaction rate among participating children reached 92%. Additionally, when staff at participating organizations were asked, "Would you recommend this to other schools or organizations?" the combined percentage of those who answered "would highly recommend" and "would recommend" was 95%, indicating extremely high praise.

This fiscal year, two programs are planned: "Safety Challenge for Everyone!" which focuses on understanding safety from a car's perspective, and "Future Planning for Everyone!" which considers the future based on the roles of machines, technology, and people.

### FY2026 Application Guidelines [Application Deadline] Sunday, May 24, 2026 [Eligible Applicants] Organizations conducting activities for elementary school students, such as elementary schools, after-school care clubs, after-school children's classrooms, and other after-school activity groups. [Cost] Free [Application Method] Please apply using the application form on the project website below. Finding the Road to the Future! Project https://npoafterschool.org/mirainomichi/ [Notification of Results] Only selected organizations will be contacted within approximately two months after the deadline.