Interest Groups

1) Community Care and Volunteering

Community Event on Community Wellbeing-Gift Packing and Distribution Exercise 2022

We have organised a gift packing and distribution exercise in collaboration with Boon Lay Youth Network on 13 August 2022 to bless 150 elderly resident homes of Boon Lay rental flats.  We invited SSS alumni, SSS faculty, SSS staff & CoHASS alumni and Boon Lay Youth Network volunteers to collaborate to pack the gift packs at Boon Lay Community Centre, add the encouragement notes hand-written by our SSS Alumni with the pencil calligraphy skills learnt from the pencil calligraphy workshop held in July 2021 and send the gift packs with the encouragement notes to the elderly residents of Boon Lay rental flats to let them know that they are loved and they are not alone. The gift packs comprise of milo packs, biscuits, ART kits, wet wipes, Vitamin C, gardenia bread and encouragement notes.

The recipients of the gift packs were pleasantly surprised and expressed their appreciation and thanks for this gesture of love. We are thankful for all who participated in this event and contributed to community care and volunteering.

Our grassroot advisor, Minister Desmond Lee visited and thanked the members of the Boon Lay Youth Network and NTU SSS Alumni Club who packed and distributed 150 care packs to the families living in our community. Minister Lee gave his addressing speech which includes the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF)’s flagship initiative, Community Link (COMLink).  COMLink aims to uplift families with children living in public rental housing, and support them to achieve Stability, Self-reliance, and ultimately, Social Mobility. Under ComLink, they reach out to the family proactively, through dedicated befrienders as a single touchpoint, to build rapport and trust, and understand the family’s needs and aspirations, hopes and fears. They pool data across agencies, with the family’s consent, to get a holistic view of their situation. They then work with the family, and across agencies and community partners, to formulate a common action plan for each family, and align their efforts.

You may find out more on the COMLink at this same webpage under Community Development through ComLink Initiative under MSF. We hope you will sign up as volunteers to contribute towards community building.

You may refer to Minister Lee’s Facebook post on this gift packing and distribution exercise: https://www.facebook.com/desmondtslee/posts/603122854511265

Click here to view photos taken for the gift packing and distribution exercise. 

We look forward to your participation in upcoming community engagement events. See you then.  

 

 

Project Refurbishment 2022

We conducted the Project Refurbishment 2022 exercise where SSS Club and SSS Alumni collaborated with Boon Lay Youth Network to clean some of the Boon Lay rental flats and engage with underprivileged residents on 22, 23 & 29 January 2022, ahead of the Chinese New Year. Our grassroot advisor, Minister Desmond Lee, visited on 29 January 2022 and thanked the young volunteers who spring cleaned 20 households in Boon Lay ahead of the Lunar New Year.

You may refer to Minister Lee’s Facebook post: Desmond Lee - Many thanks to our young volunteers, who... | Facebook

Click here to view photos taken on the refurbishment project. 

The refurbishment project is a collaboration between SSS Alumni and students of SSS Club on a community project in conjunction with Boon Lay Community Centre to reach out and serve low income households in rental flats in need of refurbishment and improvement in basic living conditions. It is a refurbishment project with a social scientific edge.

SSS CED Boon Lay Youth Network Project Refurbishment 2022 aims to assist the needy in bolstering the cleanliness and improve the living conditions of their homes. Volunteers have helped them with basic decluttering and cleaning of their homes and also imparting sustainable cleaning and organizational tips that residents can practice beyond the event.


The ComLink initiative under MSF aims to reach out to the families staying in HDB rental housing with children below the age of 21 years old, with the purpose of supporting families to achieve the 3 ‘S’ – Stability, Self-reliance and Social mobility. 

ComLink aims to uplift families and to reduce entrenchment of families in rental housing. They are planning to move them to home ownership in future for those with potential to do so. This is done through proactive outreach, closer case support, and galvanising the community to offer customised programmes and services to the families.

To achieve the goals of ComLink, a three-fold approach is taken:
1)           A needs assessment conducted for ComLink families,
2)           Conducting of needs analysis on the needs assessment to understand needs of the ComLink families, and 
3)           Developing of programmes and services that serve the needs of the ComLink families.

Community partners’ support and involvement is crucial for the three-fold approach to be rolled out effectively. 

The ComLink team @ Tampines, Pasir Ris and Punggol invite volunteers from NTU to be a part of the ComLink project to support them in achieving these goals. The involvement of the volunteers includes but is not limited to conducting needs assessment with ComLink families, befriending them and developing programmes to serve the ComLink families. This will also allow participants to better understand the social service landscape, hone their programme development skills, and contribute towards community-building efforts in our nation. 

You may visit the MSF press release at this link to find out more information about ComLink.

You may sign up as a volunteer for ComLink team @ Tampines at this link.

You may sign up as a volunteer for ComLink team @ Pasir Ris-Punggol at this link.

You may sign up as a volunteer for ComLink team @ other locations at this link. 

 

We look forward to your active participation in contributing towards community-building.   


Bilby Community Development Ltd, a not for profit youth organisation, set up with the goal of empowering youths, and reaching out to the less fortunate, underprivileged, and at-risk is calling for NTU Alumni and NTU students to be a mentor to students of their partnering schools. It is a registered charity since April 2021 and is a member of RAISE SG. 

Their programmes include Youth Engagement Programme, Motivation Programme, Leadership Programme and Community Project, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Workshops, Counselling Services and Youth Mentoring Programme. Their Youth Mentoring Programme is a new programme where it is a mentoring service for youths aged 12-24 which involve weekly or fortnightly face to face engagements between mentors and mentees to engage in sports or hang out over food and drinks.

They have also developed Bilby Cares App, an online text based mobile app for mentoring and counselling services to make sessions more accessible and convenient. Youths will be able to select their mentors or counsellors and make appointments through this app. Sessions are conducted through the app via messaging. Youths will be able to remain anonymous.

They are looking to partner with tertiary education institutes to recruit volunteers to support their programmes. They hope to expose these students to volunteerism and raise awareness of youth work and mentoring to promote the concept of “Community Development”.

They are recruiting part-time youth workers and calling for volunteers to work with youths.

  1. Part-time Youth Workers

Students or alumni studying/have studied social work, psychology, counselling, or any relevant discipline who are passionate in working with youths.

Roles and responsibilities:
* meaningfully engage and interact with youths in activity center, to conduct games and activities to promote cohesion, social interaction, values-based and experiential learning
* plan and conduct enrichment and skill-based workshops where necessary
* provide mentoring, support and guidance, intervention to the youths where necessary
* submit reports on programmes on a timely basis
* undergo the necessary training and supervision to improve and develop in their work.

Requirement:
* commitment till end of year 2022 and weekly commitment of 2-4 days of 2-3 hours per session between the hours of 1pm to 5pm.

Educational qualification:
* minimum diploma in relevant disciplines, or relevant working/volunteering experiences.

Application:
Please send your resume to [email protected]

  1. Volunteers

Students or alumni studying/have studied social work, psychology, counselling, or any relevant discipline who are passionate in working with youths or spending their time contributing to charitable organisations.

Requirement:
* minimum commitment of 6 months and weekly commitment of at least one day of 2-3 hours per session between the hours of 1pm to 5pm

Educational qualification:

*minimum diploma in relevant disciplines, or relevant working/volunteering experiences

Application:
Please fill up the online form using the QR code. 

Click here to visit their webpage. 

 

NTU Career and Attachment Office is calling for NTU Alumni to sign up as mentors to current NTU students from all schools and years to discuss, share, provide insights and impart knowledge in specific areas so as to prepare NTU students for work of the future. 

You may sign up as a mentor either by scanning the QR code above or through the weblink: https://ntu.jobkred.com/mentor.  

The mentors for these programmes are NTU Alumni or industry professionals who are not NTU alumni but have the passion to guide and mentor students and are from various industries. Industry mentors are carefully selected and invited to join this community to provide mentorship and guidance to students in their area of expertise.

NTU Career and Attachment Office envision for every NTU student to find at least one industry mentor before he/she graduates. They hope to connect NTU alumni and industry professionals with NTU students to build trusted and long-term relationship and for mentors to impart skills, knowledge through mentorship and to prepare the students to embrace the future of work.

The connections between mentors and mentees involve them being free to touch on any topics relating to careers, skills development etc. They are also free to choose their preferred mode of connections (F2F, email, phone etc). Regular networking events in various areas will also be held to strengthen the mentor and mentee relationship and to enhance learning.

CAO provided a summary of Connecting Minds that there are to date 700 mentors of which 80% are our NTU alumni. There are 28 mentors from School of Social Sciences.

 

NTU Career and Attachment Office highlighted a 3 months structured mentorship programme “LevelUP!” where students are paired with mentors to learn industry skills.

 

 

We look forward to your participation in this programme to mentor NTU students to help them develop their potential.