More funds for youth to champion causes

If you have a passion project targeted at youth in mind, take note.

The National Youth Endowment Fund, which provides seed money for youth to champion ground-up causes, will soon be topped up, said Mr Lawrence Wong, the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, yesterday.

Details of the top-up are still being worked out, and will likely be provided in the Budget, said the minister.

He was speaking to reporters at the National Museum of Singapore, before he caught theatre play C.I.N.T.A by Teater Kami.

“We can and we should do more to support our young people,” he said.

“With the top-up, we are able to provide more support and resources to empower youth to take on initiatives they feel strongly about and causes they are passionate about.” The fund, administered by the National Youth Council, was launched in 1993.

It benefited 15 projects last year.

The fund comprises the Youth Development Grant for social movements and Youth Research Grant for youth- related studies. Youth organisations may also apply.

Possible projects include social enterprises that reach out to the less fortunate, or arts, culture or sports initiatives that help youth at risk.

Mr Wong shared that he was once a recipient of the grant for PromiseWorks, a youth mentoring organisation he co-founded “many years ago”.

“We got some seed money which helped us set ourselves up to recruit more volunteers and reach out to the community.

“It is not a lot of money… but it is enough to get started and do something, and then you can raise more funds through other sponsors.”

For more information on the fund, visit www.nyc.pa.gov.sg.

On the National Arts Council’s (NAC) proposal to privatise the Singapore Arts Festival, Mr Wong said the ministry “agrees broadly with the thrust of the recommendations”.

“I think it’s timely, given where it is today, that NAC doesn’t have to be at the forefront, but to have the art community take ownership of it,” he said, adding that more details will be given in due course.

Source: The Straits Times