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MILK (Mainly I Love Kids) FundMILK reaches out to disadvantaged children and youth, both in Singapore and overseas, in the hope of developing them into contributing members of society. These children and youth come from troubled or low-income families and impoverished communities. Supporting them in their education, care and guidance, vocational and livelihood development, or other special needs so as to help them break out of the disadvantaged circumstances they were born into, MILK focuses on plugging gaps in the social service sector and plays the role of advocacy and fund raising while the partners focus on providing direct services for the children.

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MILK (Mainly I Love Kids) FundMILK reaches out to disadvantaged children and youth, both in Singapore and overseas, in the hope of developing them into contributing members of society. These children and youth come from troubled or low-income families and impoverished communities. Supporting them in their education, care and guidance, vocational and livelihood development, or other special needs so as to help them break out of the disadvantaged circumstances they were born into, MILK focuses on plugging gaps in the social service sector and plays the role of advocacy and fund raising while the partners focus on providing direct services for the children.

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expand the "earn and learn schemes" to secondary schools where the students are most at risk of dropping out. While it is not ideal for students to be working, those from poor families often work part-time to help the family or to earn pocket money. Schools or VWOs can introduce structured and supervised schemes to help these students juggle work and school. For example, a school can tie up with nearby employers to offer four hours of part-time work three times a week and offer tuition classes on the two days when the students are not working.

This helps firms overcome the labour crunch, allows students to earn pocket money without being exploited, and lets schools or VWOs supervise the students' progress.

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When I was in Primary 1, a teacher corrected me when I wrote in an English test that I slept under the bed. On the bed, not under the bed, she said, despite my protest that I was telling the truth.

I was born in a one-room Housing Board rental flat in Stirling Road and lived there for nine years with my parents, an older sister and two younger brothers. The mattress I slept on was partially tucked under my parents' bed.

Forty years later, there are still families living in such cramped conditions. My colleague Janice Tai and I reported in The Sunday Times this week the stories of a family of seven living in a one-room flat in Marsiling and a family of eight in a two-room flat in Clementi.

The breakthrough for my family came in 1978, when we upgraded to a three-room HDB flat in Queen Street, in which my parents still live in their twilight years.

My father, who dropped out of secondary school, worked extra shifts as a forklift driver and my mother, who is illiterate, had multiple jobs as a babysitter, maid and office cleaner. They scrimped and saved to put four children through university. Three of us are now married with our own families and homes.

As society progresses, it should be easier for families like mine to break out of poverty, not harder.

ST ILLUSTRATION : MANNY FRANCISCO

The social safety net today is much stronger than 40 years ago, as is the generosity of government help, despite it not having an official definition of poverty.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development is setting up Social Service Offices to provide direct help to those in need. ComCare provides short- to long-term financial help; Workfare tops up the earnings of low-wage workers and Silver Support gives stipends to help poorer elderly folk cope with costs of living.

Official statistics show lives have improved too. The incomes of the bottom fifth that stagnated between 2001 and 2010 have grown by an average of 2.1 per cent a year from 2010 to 2015 after taking inflation into account. The rich-poor gap has narrowed, especially after taking into account government transfers. Still, some are stuck in poverty.

The most heartbreaking story in The Sunday Times' feature was the four children whose parents are in jail for drug offences. The youngest child, now nine, was born in prison.

There was also a 22-year-old bride who moved into another rental flat in the same block as her parents.

It is an uphill struggle for these children to break out of poverty. How can these families be helped?

Not all poor children are like my siblings and I - blessed with hard-working parents who made sacrifices to give their children a good education and future.

Some parents we spoke to had made poor choices: repeated marriages and divorces, taking drugs and committing crimes that landed them in jail. Others were struck by illnesses rendering them unfit to work.

For some families, it may be courageous but ultimately futile to try to lift the parents out of poverty. The efforts can be focused on the children instead.

It is vital to give the children of such low-income families hope, said Mr Lawrence Tan, manager at Touch Community Services. The voluntary welfare organisation (VWO) runs a weekly tuition programme for children from poor families at 23 centres islandwide. "They start their lives disadvantaged. They need more help to break out of poverty cycle," he said.

Here are three ideas to pull the children of poor families out of poverty. One: Offer three-room HDB rental flats. The largest so-called "two room" rental flat for families has a living room and just one small bedroom. It is a squeeze for any family larger than five members. The children may sleep on mattresses on the floor. There is scant space or money for even a proper study table.

The heavily subsidised public rental housing is meant for interim help and the HDB wants even low-wage earners to own their own flat. The board is naturally fearful that once the families get used to cheap three-room rental flats, they may lack the incentive to move out.

A concession is to offer larger rental flats under strict conditions - for those with school-going children and only for the duration when the children are in school.

Two, expand the "earn and learn schemes" to secondary schools where the students are most at risk of dropping out. While it is not ideal for students to be working, those from poor families often work part-time to help the family or to earn pocket money. Schools or VWOs can introduce structured and supervised schemes to help these students juggle work and school. For example, a school can tie up with nearby employers to offer four hours of part-time work three times a week and offer tuition classes on the two days when the students are not working.

This helps firms overcome the labour crunch, allows students to earn pocket money without being exploited, and lets schools or VWOs supervise the students' progress.

Three, introduce affordable boarding schools for secondary students from low-income families. These hostels can offer a conducive environment and even a community of support that those from low-income families lack. Nothing can replace family ties, but when family support fails, a hostel environment can provide a lifeline. And secondary school is about the right age for boarding because the students are gaining their independence. Those under 12 may be too young for hostel living.

The secondary schools with boarding facilities now are mostly elite schools like ACS, Hwa Chong and Raffles Institution, and Boys Town for boys in trouble. What is needed is something in between.

These ideas merit further study. The main issue is cost: Should taxpayers foot the bill for the larger rental flats and hostels? But think of the alternative scenario: It is going to cost society much more if future generations of poor families sink their roots in rental flats, mired and trapped in poverty.

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Lifting families out of poverty: Focus on the children

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When I was in Primary 1, a teacher corrected me when I wrote in an English test that I slept under the bed. On the bed, not under the bed, she said, despite my protest that I was telling the truth.. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund was started in 2000 as a community project initiated by The Straits Times to provide pocket money to children from low-income families to help them through school. The children can use this money for school-related expenses, such as buying a meal during recess, paying for transport or using it to meet other schooling needs. The financial help also eases the burden of the many parents who are already struggling to feed their families on their meagre incomes.

The Fund supports more than 10,000 children and youth a year. Since the project started in 2000, the Fund has disbursed more than $60m and helped over 160,000 cases of children and youth in providing them with monthly school pocket money.

STSPMF was established as a Trust on 20 October 2010 with a Board of Trustees and was granted charity status on 14 November 2011 with Institution of A Public Character (IPC) status effective from 1 January 2012.

The funds works with the Ministry of Education, mainstream and special needs schools, youth centres, family service centres and children's homes in disbursing the funds to students from low-income families.

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The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund | About Us

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The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (SPMF) started in 2000 as a community project initiated byThe Straits Times to provide pocket money to children from low-income families to help them through school.

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Recently, the Ministry of finance has announced to give out GST vouchers to offset part of their utility bills. Different households will get different rebates with the most of $95 for one-two room flats and $55 for executive flats. This would reach out and help about 900000 households. These vouchers are distributed every 3 months hoping to help the low SES people staying in either one or two room flats
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/900000-hdb-households-to-get-u-save-rebate-of-up-to-95-in-april

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HELP Family Service Centre is a voluntary welfare organization and Divorce Support Specialist Agency (DSSA) that provides support to parents and children from divorcing and divorced families. They are an affiliate member of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), and they are supported by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), Community Chest of Singapore and others.

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School Meals Program under  MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS)

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School Meals Program under  MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS)

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Chen Yizhou MN301
Students who applies for FAS or IBS will also receive the help of School Meals Program initiated by Minister of Education (MOE). Aiming to help needy students to learn with a full stomach, students whose monthly gross household income does not exceed $2750 will be provided $2.5 subsidies per meal for ten meals a school week. From 27th June of 2016, the program was also expanded to secondary school students. 27'000 students would be benefited from the expansion according to the research in 2016.
Sources: https://www.moe.gov.sg/education/financial-assistance/moe-financial-assistance-scheme-(fas)
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/school-meal-subsidies-to-be-extended-to-needy-secondary-school-students
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/27-000-secondary-school-students-to-benefit-from-expanded-school-7970294

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MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS)
FAS is a system that helps students that are low ses by giving them subsidies or helping them pay for fees. A student is egligible for MOE FAS if they either have a Gross Household Income not exceeding $2750 per month or a Per Capita Income not exceeding $690 per month. The benefits students under this scheme will have in Primary School is a full waiver of $6.50 per month for standard miscellaneous fees, free textbooks, free school attire, 50% of school bus fares and $120 transport credit per annum. For Secondary School, they get a full waiver of $5.00 per month for school fees, a full waiver of $10.00 per month for standard miscellaneous fees, free text books, free school tires and a $120 transport credit per annum. For Junior College or Pre-U, they get a full waiver of $6.00 per month for school fees, a full waiver of $13.50 per month for standard miscellaneous fees, $900 bursary, and a $120 transport credit per annum. To apply for it, the students have to either obtain the application from their schools, or download a copy from online, and to submit to the student's school.

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Home Ownership Plus Education (HOPE) Scheme

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Home Ownership Plus Education (HOPE) Scheme

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Timothy Yong MN301
The HOPE Scheme is a scheme by the Ministry of Social and Family Development  that targets at helping low-income families. Benefits include training for better employment, housing and utilities grant, education bursaries and various incentives. Applicants must be families or widowed/divorced mothers with a monthly gross household income of up to %1700, one or two biologically or legally adopted children who are Singapore citizens. Divorced mothers should have child custody, care and control. For married couples, at least one spouse must be a Singapore citizen with the other being a citizen or a permanent resident with an employed husband. Mothers across both have to be aged 18 to 35 and for divorced/widowed mothers, they have to be a Singapore citizen and employed.

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The Community Development Council (CDC) is an organisation focused on bonding the people and community by helping the needy. They were established by the PA Act in 1997 to build a tightly knit community in Singapore. The CDCs work with grassroot organisation, government agencies, voluntary welfare organisations etc to strengthen the community in singapore. They reach out to low income households in their 5 respective districts and through social assistance schemes, elderly support programs, environment programs and health-social integration programs, have benefited 100,000 beneficiaries, aided 100,000 vulnerable and active elderly, had an outreach of 400,000 for environmental care and formed a briskwalking movement of 130,000 members.

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LCCS serves families, children and youths-at-risk through developmental, preventive and intervention work. Through counselling work, family intervention, life skills workshops and enrichment programmes, we aim to restore conversations for beneficiaries and their families.

As an Institution of public character, we serve the community-at-large regardless of race, language or religion.

In LCCS, we create new experiences through restorative engagement with our service users and their families that change their stories of relationships that are life transforming. Restorative Engagement helps our service users consider the impact of their words, actions and behaviours on the wider community.

LCCS is an affiliated partner of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) since 21 March 2013. The partnership makes available IIRP’s resources and training in Singapore and the neighbouring countries.

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MN301

MOE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SCHEME (FAS)

Singapore Citizens in Government and Government-aided schools can apply for assistance under the MOE FAS.  criteria:
Gross Household Income (GHI) not exceeding $2,750 per month or Per Capita Income (PCI) not exceeding $690 per month.

The introduction of PCI will enable students from larger families to benefit from financial assistance. PCI is computed by dividing the gross household income by the number of members in the household.

Students in primary and secondary schools on the MOE FAS will receive subsidies for seven meals and ten meals respectively per school week. Those in primary schools will receive subsidies of $2 per meal, while those in secondary schools will receive subsidies of $2.50 per meal. Application for meal subsidies is not required.
Students in secondary schools on MOE ISB and with gross household income not exceeding $2,750 (or PCI not exceeding $690) will also receive subsidies of $2.50 per meal for 10 meals per school week.

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Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF) is a non-profit organisation with a mission to improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their families and children impacted by cancer through enhancing their emotional, social and medical well-being.Founded in 1992, CCF provides children with cancer and their families the much needed support in their battle against the life threatening illness. Over the years, CCF has helped close to 3000 children and their families at different stages of the illness.

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Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF) is a non-profit organisation with a mission to improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their families and children impacted by cancer through enhancing their emotional, social and medical well-being.Founded in 1992, CCF provides children with cancer and their families the much needed support in their battle against the life threatening illness. Over the years, CCF has helped close to 3000 children and their families at different stages of the illness.

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This is a non-profit organisation founded in 2002. They provide help for families who have a gross household income of less than S$2,750 a month or a per capita income of under S$690 for the larger families. Services such as "Groceries-For-Families" and "Hot Meals" assist the poor by providing them with daily necessities while other services such as "Grant-A-Wish" allows donors to help specific children by sponsoring their education and healthcare. "Career GPS" which allows Secondary students to visit different organisations also helps expose them to all the career options and if interested, mentor them to fulfil those aspirations. Weekly tuitions are also held for the children by MOE-registered professional tutors who teach many different courses to equip them with skills and help them out of poverty. Working with many school and organisations, Children's Wishing Well provides relevant and meaningful programmes all free-of-charge to help those in need.

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"Groceries-For-Families" and "Hot Meals" help to alleviate poverty and provide timely assistance to their daily living.

"Grant-A-Wish" allows donors to help specific children of their choice by sponsoring necessities for their education, health, and basic living.

Our weekly tuition by MOE-registered professional tutors; Sports, Music and Drama workshops; and short courses in other life skills such as IT, cooking, social etiquette, etc. help to equip the children for their future, so that they are able to escape the poverty trap.

"Career GPS" allows secondary students to visit organisations in a variety of industries or sectors so that they are exposed to different career options. Following the visits, if there is a match of interest, work attachments and mentorship may be organized to help them fulfill their career aspirations.

We work in close collaboration with schools, other charity organisations, government agencies, and corporate organisations to organise our programmes and provide our services, so as to ensure that they are relevant and meaningful to the children. All our services are provided free-of-charge to the beneficiaries.

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About Children's Wishing Well - CHILDREN'S WISHING WELL

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Founded in 2002, we started as a help desk for latchkey kids. The Founder built a team that offered advice to students who seemed lost and lacked family support. Today, we provide a broad range of assistance. We offer monthly groceries, lunch pocket money and cooked dinners.

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Those who are Singaporeans with monthly per capita family income of $700 or personal savings of $6,000 or less will be able to apply for the Medical Fee Exemption Card.
This card covers standard medical and hospitalisation treatments at public healthcare institutions (including polyclinics) and intermediate and long-term care (ILTC) institutions for needy residents of MOH-funded nursing homes, or MSF-funded sheltered and disability homes.

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Workfare Transport Concession Scheme (WTCS)

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Workfare Transport Concession Scheme (WTCS)

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Those that apply for this scheme are able to get discounts of more than 15%  on adult fares on public transport. This was introduced in July 2014 to keep fares for public transport affordable for commuters of a lower income.

Recipients must be below 60 years of age. They can apply for this concession at this webpage. (https://www.transitlink.com.sg/PSdetail.aspx?ty=art&Id=95#4)

Sources:
https://www.transitlink.com.sg/PSdetail.aspx?ty=art&Id=95#4
https://www.reach.gov.sg/participate/discussion-forum/2017/03/16/transport-subsidies-for-lowincome-individuals

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Keeping Hope Alive is a private organisation that helps the underprivileged Singaporeans. Every Sunday, they distribute food and also used items (such as clothes etc, which are donated by the members) to needy 1-room flat residents in various parts of Singapore. Besides distributing food items, the members of the organisation also helps in the cleaning and renovating of one-room flats. It was started by Fion Phua and has grown into a community over the years.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KHAvolunteers/

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TOUCH Community Services is a not-for-profit charity organisation that was started in 1986 to help low-income and single-parent families with difficulties make ends meet. They have come up with Safe Home Scheme to assist island wide low income families by providing a subsidy of up to $600 per household, to install home modification items to make their homes safe and accessible to elderly and/or persons with disability and/or their caregivers.

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Viriya Community Services is a charitable organisation founded in 2001 by the Leong Hwa Monastery to provide community and social services to low-income families in Singapore regardless of race and religion. Every year, they serve more than 5,000 beneficiaries, including children and youth, families and the elderly.  In 2010, it launched a medical fund for children from these families who require long-term medical care.

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The Community Foundation Singapore (CFS) is a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) that has been set up in 2008 to encourage and enable philanthropy in Singapore. It helps bridge donors with charitable organisations to develop programmes and give out grants that support a wide range of needs in the community including the less fortunate. Since 2008, it has set up more than 110 charitable funds, giving out some $10 million in grants every year. Grants support various causes including education, health, arts and heritage, and social services for low SES families or individuals. With its deep understanding of local issues and evolving needs, CFS identifies gaps and opportunities in the community to foster more effective giving.

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Home Ownership Plus Education(HOPE) was introduced in 2004 to families who are at the low SES to help improve their financial and social situation through subsidies etc. For example, there is the conditional housing gant which is 60,000 dollars disbursed in annual installments of 3,000 into the mother's CPF account. Furthermore, there are annual bursaries of up to 3,000 dollars for each child attending pre-school to university to help pay for the child's expenses. This scheme helps improve the lives of those families who earn up to 1,700 dollars a month .

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One Singapore is a non-government organisation that aims to help people with low income and income inequalities, food and hunger , health , education , gender and migrant rights , discrimination and xenophobia. One Singapore  is developing a free and publicly available online platform, which will enable people to identify government and community assistance schemes. The Help Platform will be a one-stop shop for social schemes and make it easier for Singaporeans to apply for programmes that can assist with child and student care, disability care, elderly care, employment and training, family care, finances, information communication and legal aid. 1 in 10 Singaporeans are unable to meet basic needs in the form of food, clothing, shelter and other essential expenditures. The $10 Campaign alleviates poverty and inequalities in Singapore through a two-step approach:
First, the $10 Campaign creates an Emergency Fund to provide for the immediate needs of low-income individuals who urgently need help, by paying for items like diapers, school fees, utility bills, doctor visits and transportation. Second, research & advocacy is funded to create long-term solutions to eradicate poverty. One Singapore also has education programmes, Concrete action programmes , public forums to raise awareness.The "Through the Not-So-Rose-Tinted Lenses” Project a newly launched inter-personal learning project involving home visits and sharing sessions between volunteers and low-income families and individuals.

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ONE (SINGAPORE) is dedicated to raising awareness and taking concrete actions to Make Poverty History and create The World We Want. We envision a just world where no one lives in poverty - be it overseas or here at home.

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Individually, please research and find out either one policy that is in place OR one organisation that helps Low SES families/individuals with the daily challenges of everyday life.

When you have done so, you are to post on THIS padlet, the fruits of your findings. Each individual is supposed to create ONE POST. Thank you.

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This is the parody video differentiating between Low SES and High SES. NOTE: This is a parody of common stereotypes. It is not a factual representation of life.

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0:00 / 4:53•Watch full video

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Types of Singaporeans: High SES VS Low SES

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This is the CNA video shown in class for your reference.

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Raising 7 Kids in Singapore: Life in  a Big Family  | On The Red Dot | CNA Insider

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This is the video regarding the Free Mart program that is organised by Beyond Social Services (A Singaporean NGO).

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It's free?? How can!? Meet the people who will invite you to take first and contribute when you can. :)

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Article on the realities faced by Low SES in Singapore

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Article on the realities faced by Low SES in Singapore

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As per mentioned in class, do read through the article to better understand the realities faced by fellow Singaporeans.