A new version of promotional video to introduce I·CARE was released this month. Students and alumni who participated in the shooting include: Mr. Asiama Aikins Amoako (year-2 student of PhD programme in Sociology), Mr. Lam Ka-wang Kelvin (year-2 student of MPhil programme in Sociology), Miss Li Yuen-yung Ada (year-6 student of MBChB programme), Mr. Man Chun-kit Jack (year-4 student of BSSc programme in Government and Public Administration), Miss Poon Hoi-lam Karen (graduate of BSSc programme in Psychology) and Mr. Wong Chung-ming Jack (year-1 student of MSSc programme in Social Work).  Except the first student, all of them shared in the video their gains from the participation in the I·CARE Programme, and how their chosen activities had brought about changes to the society.

Due to the pandemic, the beautiful landscape of Hong Kong has been revealed through forced domestic consumption.  Going on the local excursions with us, you will be amazed by the stunning nature of our home.

The “Fitness x Mentorship” Scheme for the second term of this academic year, which covered three sports items namely floor curling, orienteering and running, was drawn to an end in March.  In response to the enthusiastic feedback of the running buddies (i.e. residents of the Lee Yen & Lee Yuk Lun, BBS, JP, Father & Son Lohas Villa, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals), this Centre decided to offer three extended sessions to this item.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted the economic activities of Hong Kong and raised the unemployment rate, hence a surge in the homeless population.  As such, the Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is an affiliate of this Centre, co-organises the “Hong Kong Homeless Census 2021” with five NGOs, namely Christian Concern for the Homeless Association, The Salvation Army, Society for Community Organization, St. James’ Settlement, and Impact HK to obtain an idea of the number of homeless people in Hong Kong, the reasons for their living on the streets, their mental health and financial situations.  The results will be used as advocacy of public policies.

In last October, 129 students and recent alumni registered for the Social Enterprise Startup Scheme of this academic year, and subsequently some of them were eligible to form teams to be considered for participation in the mentorship programme under the scheme.  After the Stage 1’s Training Activities and the screening interview afterwards, 13 out of 26 teams were successfully admitted to the mentorship programme.  Over these months, altogether 45 members from the 13 admitted teams have been taken through a fulfilling yet hectic process towards the consolidation of their initiated projects.  Under the guidance of designated mentors, these teams are currently preparing for their business plan submission.  Very soon, they will be confirmed if the final presentation day scheduled for late-June has a place for them to compete for the CUSE Fund in order to obtain a maximum of HK$100,000 (per team) as seed money.

As one of the members of the CUHK Entrepreneurs Alliance (CUEA), this Centre has begun co-hosting the “Happy Hour” Talk Series with the related University units and alumni groups since June of last year in order to facilitate the exchange of entrepreneurial information among CUHK members.  The third round of this series was completed successfully and met with enthusiastic feedback.  Among them, one sharing session titled “The Rock ’n Road for Vocalising and Playing Music by Social Enterprises” was coordinated by this Centre on the 30^th of last month.

The Student Development Portfolio (SDP) is a university-wide electronic platform for capturing and presenting students’ Experiential Learning Activities (ELA) under the whole-person development framework namely I·CARE.  It facilitates students’ viewing and choosing of the ELA organised by the University units (UELA), as well as production of reports to showcase their non-formal learning achievements.  The platform also allows the University units to upload useful information and retrieve statistical reports for the sake of planning programmes and allocating resources.

Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme A Walk in Community with I·CARE of this academic year had failed to commence until the 15^th of last month.  On that day, the first session was held in a manner not violating the social distancing measures under “Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance”.

The I·CARE NGO Internship Programme (Hong Kong) offers local internship opportunities to CUHK students to allow them to gain first-hand workplace experience thereby identifying the direction for career development.  More importantly, the programme facilitates these students’ understanding of the values and practices of the attached NGOs and the context of social development.  Launched in the second term of this academic year, the programme is divided into term-time section and summer section, both of which had received overwhelming response.

The I·CARE Hong Kong Cultural Tours Project, which has been conducted for years, aims to facilitate the CUHK students’ discovery of the Hong Kong stories and to offer free cultural tours to serve the needy.  Both groups of people are expected to develop an enhanced sense of identification to this city.

The keynote of the I·CARE Cross-generational Integration Programme of this academic year lies on the reinforcement of communication between students and their senior family members for achieving a harmonious family relationship.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only breakout sessions (most of them are online) have been planned in this year for the programme under which plenary events were held for both elderly and youth (of the secondary schools and in our University) in the past.

Under the I·CARE Social Service Projects Scheme, periodic training opportunities are offered to students, who aspire to organise self-initiated social service and are interested in submitting applications for funding support, to equip them with relevant knowledge, skills and competence in actualising their ideas.  Prior to the commencement of the third round’s funding application of this scheme, two online training activities, namely “Workshop of Practice cum Sharing Session” and Sharing Session on “Empowering Vulnerable Communities through Social Innovation”, were conducted on the 31^st of March and the 9^th of April respectively.

The “Value Exploration Series” of the I·CARE Achievers Programme has conducted the Screening cum Sharing Session on I Still Remember on the eighth of last month to go through the good qualities such as perseverance and hopefulness with the audience.  Exclusive for CUHK members and friends, the event was held at the IMAX house of the Emperor Cinemas at iSQUARE.  To comply with the social distancing measures under “Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance”, only 180 seats were open and they had been fully filled.

CUHK Bridge to China Team is a university volunteering team formed under this Centre with the support and guidance from Wu Zhi Qiao (Bridge to China) Charitable Foundation.  Since 2009, the team has participated in and organised numerous bridge building projects, village investigation trips and public health programmes with the help of CUHK students.  Although the COVID-19 pandemic has precludes the team from partnering its cooperating institutions to carry out services in the Mainland last year and at present, members of it do not give up chances to enhancing themselves and to joining the local construction project lined up by the Wu Zhi Qiao (Bridge to China) Charitable Foundation for the first time.

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