Dear readers,

In the blink of an eye, the summer vacation has passed.  Most probably you will concur that the last term break was unrest and we have kept feeling powerless to end the turmoil. The current impasse seems to be the worst crisis ever faced by Hong Kong.  Blessedly, there remains a ray of hope that people of some kind insist to reject the seeds of hatred be implanted while they are fighting for social justice and political freedom.  Whether agreed or not, "Wo Lei Fei" (peace, rationality and non-violence) is still a force to give Hong Kong chances to start afresh.  To strengthen this force, "integrity" should be emphasised and nurtured among the young adults of whom many are receiving education in this University.

The "Fitness x Mentorship" Scheme associates "exercising" with "volunteering" to foster a serving heart of students and strengthen their understanding of the community.  Participants of the scheme will be trained with basic skills of a sports item and given chances to partner various members of the community in pursuing sports.  This will allow students to develop regular exercise habit and build up healthy lifestyle.  Above all, mutual understanding between students and the circle of their counterparts will be facilitated.  Details of the scheme in this academic year are as follows:

Organised by this Centre and with the support of The Office of the Arts Administrator, the I·CARE Theatre is presenting to you a fine selection of films in three consecutive months starting from September 2019.  These films include After the Storm; The Lives of Others; and Cloud Atlas.  Each of the screenings will be followed by post-screening discussion.

The I·CARE Social Service Projects Scheme encourages students to organise and implement self-initiated social services.  This Centre now invites applications for funding to support projects in this respect.  Details are as follows:

Launched by this Centre in 2015-16, the Social Enterprise Startup Scheme has been encouraging CUHK students and recent graduates to make good use of their expertise to establish or expand their social enterprises.  Participants will enrol in a mentorship programme through which valuable advice on formulating business plan and practical skills of running an enterprise will be offered by the experienced alumni.  The horizon and business network of participants are also expected to be widened.  Above all, they may receive from the CUSE Fund a maximum of HK$100,000 as seed money to start up an enterprise with social mission.

The 1^st session of A Walk in Community with I·CARE in this academic year will take place at Aoi Pui School* in Hung Hom next month.  Participants will tour around the campus and attend classes to learn about the school's implementation of the "Applied Behaviour Analysis" for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  They will also be given chances to communicate with the ASD students as well as their caretakers.

Chiefly funded by Tin Ka Ping Foundation, the I·CARE Achievers Programme is divided into two parts - "Value Exploration Series" and "Core Group Nurture".  While the former is open for all CUHK students and staff, the latter will serve 30 to 50 students a year.

The I·CARE Community Research Scheme aims to deepen students' understanding of the deprived communities and to foster their curiosity to explore ways of civic participation through small-scale research.

The I·CARE NGO Internship Programme (Hong Kong) offers local internship opportunities to CUHK students to facilitate their understanding of the values and practices of the attached NGOs and the context of social development.  Participants will engage themselves in current social issues and gain first-hand experience of interacting with different people of the community.  Details of the programme for this academic year are as follows:

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 provides students with an inventory of the informal learning opportunities on offer, and facilitate their planning of a fruitful university life.  University units could also make use of the SDP to facilitate students' enrolment for ELA and generate basic statistics for future planning of ELA.

The "Jockey Club Youth Programme" administered by Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, an affiliate of this Centre, is sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.  It is going to organise the Yunus Social Business Seminar 2019 this month.

The Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is an affiliate of this Centre, will launch various activities to encourage participants to advance existing services or products to meet social needs.  Through the activities like "Social Innovation Competition" and "Overseas Exchange", participants will gain in-depth knowledge of the underprivileged and adopt people-oriented approach to address social challenges.  Winners of the "Social Innovation Competition" will receive the S.I. Leadership Award (in terms of seed money up to HK$160,000) to implement their social innovation projects.  Details of the activities are as follows:

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 and organised numerous investigation trips on villages, bridge building projects and public health programmes with the help of CUHK students.

Organised by the Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer's Disease, the "Remembering Charles" exhibition will be launched on the 16^th of this month at The Rotunda, Exchange Square.  As one of the supporting units of the exhibition, this Centre has not only recruited students and staff of the University to help out with the preparation of and offer on-site support for the exhibition on a voluntary basis, but also coordinate details of the exhibition staged at CUHK.

The Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is an affiliate of this Centre, has introduced the S.I. Leadership Award for application by the CUHK students and alumni who are interested in social innovation.  This award, paired up with training activities and team coaching, serves to encourage participants to advance existing services or products to meet social needs.  The winning projects will each receive a maximum of HK$160,000 as seed money.

Please click on the image below for more information.