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Youth and Children

“From birth, children from the bottom 20% receive less access to financial and social resources than their peers from other socio-economic status. This gap widens with each year and its effects become evident by the time these children turn seven, when formal education begins.” – Cindy Ng, CNA, 10 Nov 2018

Children and Youth from disadvantaged families face significant drawbacks to their development and well-being due to inadequate care, protection or access to essential services and resources. Yong-en’s role in the community has been to provide opportunities for them to learn, excel and grow on equal footing through early literacy programmes, free tuition and offering bursaries to outstanding and improved students to encourage and ease financial burdens on their families.

Impact Stories

The pandemic has brought with it a new set of challenges – Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Woo et al. (2004) found a high prevalence of emotional problems amongst Singaporean, primarily school students; comparable to other developed nations at an alarming percentage (12.5%).

Many of our young beneficiaries are exposed to the psychosocial stressors related to COVID-19. Disrupted academic routines, reduced social and outdoor activities, and increased familial tension brought on by income loss are only some of their challenges (Chung, 2021). Furthermore, disproportionate amounts of time now spent on social media, as a means of escape, resulting in some youths left vulnerable to grooming and addictive behaviours when left unguided (Ng, 2020).

With the sponsorship of Deutsche Bank, we have been able to introduce BOLD+, a mental wellness programme for our Youth to support, equip and walk alongside them in these turbulent times – A 6-month journey to self-leadership and mental resilience. If you would like to find out more and join us as a volunteer on our programmes for youth and children, please get in touch with us.