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6 Jun 05 Youth consultation leads to Youth Action Platform launched to fund, advise students on social projects Tor Ching Li chingli@newstoday.com.sg HERE'S the pitch: Schools can stop agonising over what community service to engage their students in, and students can get to enjoy community work a lot more. That's all thanks to The Pitch — a platform comprising the Youth Action taskforce and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Singapore — which will help students with their social projects and provide them with funding. Schools only need to provide a venue and a teacher to keep tabs on this newly-evolved community involvement programme. The Pitch will work directly with students. It is one of the three main initiatives the Youth Action taskforce will be rolling out in the next couple of months. Formed half a year ago, Youth Action is a result of the Government's island-wide youth consultation exercise tasked to explore ways to encourage youth to volunteer and have meaningful experiences in community work. Dr Chong Weng Chiew, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC and advisor to Youth Action said: "The Pitch will enable students to 'sell' their ideas to a group of community leaders, so that they can get support and advice on their projects ... other than from their own schools." The amount of money allocated to the proposed project — which can centre on any concept, so long as it aims to help others — will be determined by a panel comprising community stakeholders such as parents, teachers, students or even "the shop owner across the street", he added. The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, along with some private and corporate sponsors, has agreed to provide the first round of seed funding. Mr Steven Chia, YMCA director, told Today: "The emphasis is on encouraging students to come up with creative ideas no matter how unworkable they may seem. We want students to give it a try ... it's not about how well you do it, but how hard you tried." Any student can participate, there being no selection criteria except for a time limit, said Mr Chia. "As long as you live or work in the local community around the school, we want you to come and take part in this." For a start, he suggests that schools facilitate such projects two to three times a year. Youth Action has two other initiatives that include representatives from the People's Association Youth Movement (PAYM) and Heartware Network. They involve school-based co-curricular activities and a three-week youth festival, starting with a one-day carnival. The PAYM is leading one pilot programme to be worked out with 20 schools by the end of the month. Heartware Network is spearheading the one-day carnival called Urban Infest on July 2. Activities planned for Urban Infest include a skateboarding competition, graffiti drawing, wheelchair-dancing, street basketball and hip hop performances. links Related articles on Singapore: general environmental issues |
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