From Social Work to Community Impact: Meet Lauren Towe
Volunteer Spotlight | YouMeWe NPO
Lauren Towe came to YouMeWe as a licensed social worker, and her background is in nonprofit service, disability support, hospice and palliative care, and community engagement. While living in Tokyo, she was looking for a way to use those experiences in a meaningful, hands-on way. What began as an opportunity to volunteer quickly became something much larger.
Today, Lauren supports YouMeWe across program coordination, outreach, volunteer and intern management, events, fundraising, grants, communications, and organizational development. Her work reflects the same principle that has guided her throughout her social work career: people thrive when they are given meaningful opportunities, practical support, and a community willing to invest in them.
Finding YouMeWe
Lauren’s path to YouMeWe grew naturally from her professional background. She is not only a licensed social worker but also holds a Master of Social Work and has spent much of her career and training working alongside people navigating difficult circumstances, including children and families, people with disabilities, individuals receiving hospice and palliative care, and communities facing barriers to opportunity. When she came to Japan, she wanted to continue doing work rooted in service, human connection, and social impact.
“I have always been drawn to work where you can actually see how relationships, resources, and opportunities affect someone’s life,” Lauren says. “YouMeWe immediately stood out to me because the mission is not about simply doing something for children in care. It is about helping create opportunities, experiences, skills, and connections that they can carry with them.”
She joined the organization and quickly found herself involved in nearly every part of its work. “I don’t think I ever really had a period where I was just watching from the sidelines,” she says. “There was work to do, and I wanted to be useful.”
Bringing Social Work Into Nonprofit Operations
Lauren’s role at YouMeWe extends well beyond any single program. She has helped coordinate interns and volunteers, communicate with children’s homes, organize events, research funding opportunities, support grant applications, strengthen internal systems, build outreach processes, develop communications, and connect YouMeWe with potential corporate and community partners.
For Lauren, these responsibilities are closely connected to social work. “Social work teaches you to look at the whole system,” she explains. “You are always asking: What does this person need? What resources already exist? Where are the barriers? Who needs to communicate with whom? What is preventing something from moving forward?” That systems perspective has shaped the way she approaches YouMeWe’s work.
A program for children cannot succeed without relationships with children’s homes. A donated computer only becomes meaningful when a young person knows how to use it. Volunteers need support and direction. Programs need funding. Events require planning. Partnerships need communication. And behind all of those pieces are people. “That is probably where I feel most at home,” Lauren says. “I like connecting the pieces and figuring out how we can make something actually work.”
Creating Opportunities Beyond The Classroom
One of the things Lauren values most about YouMeWe is the variety of ways the organization supports children and young people in care. Programs such as Designing Artists Academy, Skills for Life, A250, Empower Village, and Tanoshimi Circle give children opportunities to explore creativity, technology, independence, communication, digital literacy, mentorship, and community connection.
For Lauren, the importance of those programs goes beyond the individual activities. “Children in care deserve access to the same kinds of experiences, networks, technology, encouragement, and chances to explore their interests that other children may take for granted,” she says. “Sometimes one workshop, one mentor, one skill, or one person who takes an interest in you can open a door that did not seem available before.”
Her social work background has also made her particularly conscious of the importance of dignity and choice. “I never want the children we work with to be reduced to their circumstances,” she says. “They are artists, gamers, future professionals, students, creators, athletes, introverts, extroverts, kids who love technology and kids who could not care less about it. The point is to give them opportunities to discover who they are and what they want.”
Building Bridges Between Children’s Homes And The Wider Community
A significant part of Lauren’s work has involved outreach. YouMeWe offers programs and resources to children’s homes, but building new relationships takes persistence. Lauren has worked on outreach to homes, community organizations, companies, foundations, volunteers, and potential supporters.
She has learned that even when a program is free, creating a successful partnership requires trust. “You cannot just send an email and assume people are going to say yes,” she says. “Children’s homes are incredibly busy. Staff are responsible for the wellbeing of the children in their care, and outside organizations have to demonstrate that they are reliable, respectful, and worth making room for.”
That means following up, listening, adapting, and sometimes finding a completely different approach. Lauren sees that relationship-building as one of the most important parts of nonprofit work. “You can have the best program in the world, but if you cannot build trust with the people you want to work with, it does not matter,” she says.
Technology As Access, Not Simply Equipment
Technology has become another major focus of Lauren’s work at YouMeWe. The organization’s digital initiatives aim to make sure young people in care have access to devices, digital literacy, and the skills needed to participate fully in modern education and employment.
One recent milestone was the donation of more than 250 MacBooks from KPMG. For Lauren, the significance of that donation is not simply the number of computers. “A laptop can be a school tool, a creative tool, a communication tool, a job-search tool, or the first place someone learns a skill that eventually becomes a career,” she says. “But handing someone a computer is not enough. Access and education have to happen together.” That philosophy is reflected in YouMeWe’s broader digital-literacy work and initiatives such as A250.
Lauren believes technology education is becoming increasingly important as artificial intelligence and digital tools reshape workplaces and classrooms. “Digital literacy is becoming basic literacy,” she says. “Young people need to understand how to use technology, how to evaluate information, how to stay safe online, and increasingly, how to work alongside AI. Children in care cannot be left behind in that transition.”
The Work Behind The Programs
Some of Lauren’s most important contributions happen far from the spotlight.
She has spent substantial time researching grants and foundations, helping prepare funding applications, improving internal processes, organizing projects, coordinating communications, and creating clearer systems for volunteers and interns. She has also helped support major YouMeWe initiatives and events, including the organization’s annual Gala and the KIWL GoGo Run.
“There is a huge amount of invisible work behind every nonprofit program,” Lauren says. “Someone has to find the funding. Someone has to contact the partners. Someone has to organize the volunteers. Someone has to make sure people know where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to be doing.”
Lauren enjoys that side of the work as much as the public-facing side.
“I genuinely like organization,” she says. “Give me a messy process, a spreadsheet, a group of people who are not communicating, and a deadline, and I am probably going to start figuring out how to make it work.”
The Moments That Matter Most
For Lauren, the most meaningful moments at YouMeWe are not necessarily the largest events. They are the moments when the mission becomes tangible. It might be a child becoming interested in something new, a volunteer realizing how much they can contribute, a children’s home agreeing to participate in a program, a company deciding to donate resources, or an intern becoming more confident in their role.
“That is what keeps me interested in this work,” she says. “You can spend weeks sending emails, building spreadsheets, making calls, writing applications, organizing people, and trying to solve problems. Then suddenly one of those efforts turns into an actual opportunity for a kid. That is the point.”
Looking Ahead: Stronger Systems, Stronger Opportunities
Lauren’s goal is to help YouMeWe build stronger systems, expand its programs, and create more opportunities for young people in care. She wants to see the organization develop stronger systems for programs, volunteers, corporate partnerships, funding, outreach, and communication so that successful initiatives can reach more children and more homes. “I want us to make it easier for people to say yes,” she says. “If a children’s home wants to participate, the process should be clear. If someone wants to volunteer, they should know where they are needed. If a company wants to support us, we should be able to show them exactly what that support can accomplish.” She is also interested in expanding opportunities that connect children directly with professionals, technology, creative industries, and practical life skills. “The goal is not to tell young people what their future should look like,” Lauren says. “The goal is to give them enough exposure, skills, support, and options that they can decide that for themselves.”
A Message To Future Volunteers
Lauren understands why people sometimes hesitate to volunteer. They may worry that they do not have the right experience, that they do not speak Japanese well enough, or that they do not know what they could contribute. Her advice is simple.
“You do not have to arrive knowing exactly where you fit,” she says. “Bring what you know how to do, be willing to learn, be reliable, and be willing to help.”
YouMeWe needs people with many different skills. Volunteers can help with technology, mentoring, creative programs, events, administration, communications, fundraising, photography, design, professional workshops, and countless other areas. “People sometimes think volunteering has to mean doing something extraordinary,” Lauren says. “Most of the time, what organizations really need are people who show up, follow through, and care about the work.” For Lauren, that is ultimately what YouMeWe represents. “It is a group of people bringing different skills, experiences, cultures, and perspectives together around one idea: young people deserve opportunities. If you believe that too, there is probably a place for you here.”
Want to join Lauren and the YouMeWe team? Visit https://youmewenpo.org/ to learn how you can volunteer, partner with us, or support YouMeWe programs.
Lauren Towe brings her social work background to YouMeWe through program coordination, community outreach, volunteer support, partnerships, fundraising, and the behind-the-scenes work that helps turn ideas into opportunities for young people in care.
